Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes with Cookies and Cream Frosting
These Oreo cupcakes are made with dark chocolate and dark cocoa powder to give the distinctive dark look and taste of an Oreo cookie. Cookies and cream frosting makes them perfect for any Oreo lover!
When I make Oreo cupcakes, I start by using my chocolate cupcake recipe. My chocolate cupcakes have been tested by over 50 test bakers from around the world and over 60% of people who bake them say they are not only good, but the best chocolate cupcakes they have ever had. But, I make a few changes to the cupcakes to make them totally Oreo-y.
How to Make Oreo Cupcakes
To give the chocolate cupcakes an Oreo flavor, it’s important to use dark cocoa powder. Hershey’s Special Dark works really well and it is easy to find at most U.S. grocery stores.
If you want a really dark cocoa powder with a more nuanced flavor, try Cacao Barry Extra Brute [paid link] (you will never go back to your old cocoa powder once you try it!).
My Oreo cupcakes use both cocoa powder and melted chocolate for the strongest chocolate flavor. For the melted chocolate, you will also want to choose something really dark – any chocolate bar that is 70% of higher chocolate should do the trick. I used Lily’s Extremely Dark Chocolate.
I always frost Oreo cupcakes with cookies and cream frosting! I make my cookies and cream frosting with cream cheese so the frosting tastes like cookies and cream cheesecake!
Of course, it’s best to top Oreo cupcakes with an Oreo. I like to use my homemade Oreos. They have the same flavor profile as the real ones, but I fill them with my very vanilla frosting and the flavor can’t be beaten!
Oreo Cupcake Variation
When I first published this recipe in 2009, I came up with the idea of serving Oreo cupcakes with a built-in chocolate cup for milk! The idea went viral!
Aside from Oreos, chocolate liquor cups [paid link] are the key ingredient in this Oreo cupcake variation. The cups are the perfect size to fit inside the cupcakes and they are able to hold the milk (which soon turns into chocolate milk) without it leaking into the cupcake.
Use a small paring knife to cut a wedge out of the cupcake and then stick the cup in the void. I used some cake from the wedges to make the mouths on my cupcakes. The wedges are also perfect to simply snack on! Make sure that the cupcake is completely cool before putting the cup in so that the cup doesn’t melt.
I found that the easiest way to fill the cup with milk was to use a small funnel. Don’t fill the cups until right before you are ready to serve the cupcakes.
Just like there are many ways to eat an Oreo, there are many ways to eat an Oreo cupcake with built-in milk. However, there is one key guideline: Do not bite into the cup until you have drunk all of the milk or you will end up with mess! I had twelve cupcakes with cups and only one taster ended up with a milky mess – Alan of Patric Chocolate. Alan claimed that it had nothing to do with him biting into the cup and everything to do with his cup having a crack. I’m still inclined to blame user error.
You can use up the milk by dunking Oreos in the cup as shown below. This works best if you have mini Oreos. I used my homemade Oreo recipe and cut the circles with a smaller cookie cutter than that recipe specifies. You could also just break up full-sized Oreos into pieces.
Another idea is to break of the bottom of the cupcake and dunk pieces of the cake in the milk. To get those last few sips, just hold the cupcake up to your face and drink! Don’t worry if you get frosting on your face – just look in the mirror, smile, and then lick it off!
Best Tips for Making Oreo Cupcakes
- Use dark cocoa powder.
- Use dark chocolate.
- If you don’t have sour cream in the house, I’ve done extensive testing and found that yogurt works perfectly as a substitute for sour cream.
- Use any mild vegetable oil. I’ve used canola oil, generic vegetable oil, and safflower oil.
- You can make this recipe as a cake. You will just need to increase the baking time.
- I keep these on my counter for three days or refrigerate them for up to a week.
If You Like This Recipe, You May Also Like…
- Orange cheesecake with Oreo crust (I love anything with an Oreo crust, but it goes particularly well with this orange cheesecake.)
- Homemade Oreo cookies (Need I say more!)
- Homemade cookies and cream ice cream from Homemade Hooplah
Oreo Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder such as Hershey's Special Dark
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 ounces dark chocolate anything over 70%
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks room temperature
- 9 tablespoons vegetable oil This is the same as 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon - measure in a liquid measuring cup.
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream
- 1/2 cup water room temperature, measured in a liquid measuring cup
Frosting Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar use more or less depending on how stiff you want the frosting to be
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup finely crushed Oreos about 12 Oreos
Instructions
Cupcake Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder into a separate medium-sized bowl. Use a fork or a whisk to ensure that the ingredients are mixed well after sifting. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix butter and sugar until fully combined. The end result should look like wet sand.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler.
- Once the melted chocolate is cool enough to touch, add it to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until just combined.
- Mix in eggs and egg yolks one at a time until just combined.
- Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream until just combined.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in three additions, mixing until just combined after each addition.
- Mix in water until just combined.
- Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and put in the oven.
- Check for doneness at 18 minutes - a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake should come out clean. If they are not done, check again every three minutes until they are done.
- Immediately remove cupcakes from the cupcake tin and place on a cooling rack or on the counter to cool to room temperature. Although they are really good when they are hot, be sure to wait until they are room temperature to give your evaluation.
Frosting Instructions
- Whip cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on high speed with an electric mixer.
- Mix in powdered sugar one cup at a time.
- Min in vanilla extract.
- Mix in crushed Oreos.
- Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
Notes
- Use dark cocoa powder to mimic the Oreo flavor.
- Use dark chocolate to keep the flavor as close as possible to an Oreo.
- If you don't have sour cream in the house, I've done extensive testing and found that yogurt works perfectly as a substitute for sour cream.
- Use any mild vegetable oil. I've used canola oil, generic vegetable oil, and safflower oil.
- You can make this recipe as a cake. You will just need to increase the baking time.
- I keep these on my counter for three days or refrigerate them for up to a week.
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