I gotta be honest, cupcakes aren’t usually my dessert of choice. I just find them kind of “meh”. Cake is for sure my least favorite dessert, and most cupcakes are just kind of dry cake with boring frosting on them. “Meh” city.
But these! These are absolutely fantastic. The cake is a doctored up cake mix that yields fluffy yet moist cupcakes studded with chocolate chips. The cupcake recipe is easy, fast, and only requires a bowl and a spoon to mix up. Excellent taste to effort ratio.
And the frosting. THE FROSTING. This frosting really steals the show. It tastes just like Oreo cream filling, and I could pipe it straight into my mouth and be happy. 
This frosting contains an ingredient that may cause some of you to clutch your pearls. But please bear with me and withhold your food purist sensibilities for just a minute in the name of Oreo frosting. If you think Oreo creme filling is made of natural ingredients, you are living in a fantasy world. This frosting contains… don’t judge me… shortening.
I know. Shortening and margarine are both kind of pariahs of the baking world these days. I only have 2 recipes that call for shortening but darn it all; they are amazing. I’m not saying you should buy a tub of crisco and slather it on a sandwich. But if you want to make cupcakes with Oreo Buttercream that really tastes like the most amazing Oreo filling… Suspend your judgement for the stuff and just dive on in.
And bonus! If you need to make an amazing Slip N Slide or grease a squeaky hinge, you’ve got the Crisco on hand. It’s fine; don’t think about it too much, just eat cupcakes and be happy. 
Piping cupcakes is not really a gift of mine. But with a fat tip and an Oreo garnish, anyone can pull this off. Just don’t use a small tip or a tip with little openings, because the oreo crumbs will get stuck and then you will keep squeezing the bag and frosting will come out of the top of the bag and spill all over the floor and the dog will eat it and children will be crying and it’ll be a whole thing. …Or so I would imagine.
Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Buttercream
Ingredients
FOR THE CUPCAKES
- 1 package devil's food cake mix
- 1 3.9 ounce package instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- 1 c butter softened (2 sticks)
- 1 cup shortening 1 stick
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- 4-6 tablespoons very cold milk
- 8 crushed Oreo cookies with the cream removed before crushing
Instructions
FOR THE CUPCAKES
- 1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water.
- Stir in the chocolate chips and fill cups about 2/3 full with batter.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool cupcakes completely before frosting
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- Cream the butter and shortening and vanilla in a large bowl, with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar, mixing thoroughly between each addition.
- After all of the sugar is mixed in and mixture is thoroughly mixed, add the very cold milk, one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition, until you reach the desired consistency.
- Fold in the Oreo cookie crumbs.
- Pipe the frosting onto cooled cupcakes- Use a large frosting tip, as the Oreo crumbs can clog smaller tips. Garnish with half an Oreo or a mini Oreo.
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