Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes

Ahhh... chocolate cupcakes... the staple of our family's birthday party repertoire.  I find that whenever someone has a birthday, I end up making several cakes and cupcakes to mark that special day.  If the kiddies have a birthday on a school day, then I make cupcakes.  Then I make a cake to celebrate with extended family members on the weekend for a family party.  On the actual day of the birthday, we celebrate again with the "real" birthday cake.  That's a lot of cake!!! 

We could be eating 3 different kinds of cake/cupcakes for a week!  It gets interesting if we have a 3 birthdays over a period of 2 months when the girls and daddy have birthdays in September and October!  After that binge, we are happy to go without goodies until Christmas.  This gives me a break from cake and we focus on Christmas treats instead.

Last month, my son had just turned 7 years old and wanted chocolate oreo cupcakes to take to his class for his birthday...again.  I made this last year and I guess it was a hit! 

This is the most kid-friendly moist chocolate cake recipe I stumbled across.  It makes a wonderful chocolate cake and for big and small kids, it makes a scrumptious, moist cake.  The batter is very runny, but somehow it works and becomes a beautiful cake begging for frosting, or whipped cream.  It is the perfect base for a black forest cake.  In place of the boiling water, you can use coffee for a deeper, almost black colour and flavour. 


Extreme Chocolate Cake

2 cups white sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water, or coffee (decaf for kiddies). 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans, or 1 9"x13" pan, or  36 cupcakes, half filled (they rise considerably).               

Use the first set of ingredients to make the cake. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Stir in the boiling water by hand. Pour evenly into the two prepared pans.

Bake for roughly 15-20 min for the cupcakes, 30 to 35 minutes for 9" pan, 40-50 min for 9"x13" pan in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.
                                   
Split the layers of cooled cake horizontally, cover the top of each layer with frosting, then stack them onto a serving plate. Frost the outside of the cake.

- Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/extreme-chocolate-cake/

For luscious, whipped fluffy frosting, I followed a vegan frosting recipe.  For that soft, fluffy frosting that stays the same in the fridge, I used regular soft margarine instead of butter.  Also, the trick is in the beating of the frosting.  I used my KitchenAid mixer and it worked a charm.  Adjust the sugar for sweetness. 

Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup nonhydrogenated margarine (I used Western Family Soft Margarine, not light)

1 1/2-3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy 

3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 Tbsp milk (1% or homo, whatever I have in the house)

Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes. Add vanilla and milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.

 -  Adapted from http://www.chow.com/recipes/10856-vegan-fluffy-buttercream-frosting

How do I pipe the frosting into luscious, irresistable swirls?  My best friend bought me
a cake decorating kit complete with pastry bag and decorating tips.  I didn't have the classic "1M Wilton tip" for perfect cupcakes but I was able to find it at my local kitchen store.

Make sure it is compatible with your pastry bag.  You may need a coupler or a smaller pastry bag, or just use the tip in a ziplock sandwich baggie.

This is the THE frosting cupcake tutorial that started it all!  It explains all you need to make your cupcakes look amazing!  I've had someone ask me if I bought the cupcakes and boy, was she surprised when I told her I made them from scratch. 

I topped it with a mini oreo cookie, just to finish it off. 

Enjoy!