Wednesday, August 13, 2008

boys ruin things

today i found out my friend's boyfriend broke up with her :[ so to cheer her up, i baked her a cake.

well, actually, two. i had some oreos leftover from the last batch of brownies that i tried out so i decided to make oreo cake.

the first was made using my new wilton "tasty-fill" mini cake pan set. this allowed me to bake the cake in two pieces that had little wells in their centers.


see what i mean? here you can see the two pieces, the mini bundt in the back, and the pieces i cut off to level the cakes. i filled the wells with a chocolate ganache, refrigerated a bit, and turned one on top of the other [so that the two wells were put together in the middle of the cake]. then i frosted the cake with a homemade vanilla buttercream frosting and decorated with crushed oreos.


i had leftover batter so i got to use my mini bundt cake pan. i topped this one with a chocolate glaze and some more crushed oreos.


both the cake and the frosting turned out really well and tasted really yummy. kinda comfort-foody...exactly what i was looking for. ashley enjoyed it until tristin accidentally stuck her leg in the cake, got frosting all over her pants, and somehow got hair stuck on the glaze. oh well, at least she has a second cake :]

both recipes are from baking bites.

Oreo Cupcakes

ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cups crushed oreo cookies (10 cookies)

directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 24 muffin cups with baking cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla extract, then beat in the egg whites one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.

Working in 4 or 5 additions, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk to the sugar mixture. Keep the mixer on low speed while you do this. When just combined, stir in the crushed oreos. Spoon batter evenly into muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick comes out clean (a few chocolate cookie crumbs are fine, but not batter). Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. Store in an airtight container if not serving the same day.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Note: If you only have a 12-cup muffin tin, the batter will not suffer from sitting around for a few minutes while the first batch bakes. Just be sure to let the pan cool completely before filling it up again.

Variation: To make plain vanilla cupcakes, simply omit the oreos. You might end up with only about 18 cupcakes, but as long as you fill the tins about 2/3 full, the baking time will be the same.

Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

ingredients:
1 stick butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat, with an electric mixer, until frosting is creamy, 3-5 minutes.

Frost cupcakes with frosting using a butter knife or offset spatula. Add as much or as little frosting as desired. If making oreo cupcakes, garnish with additional chunks of Oreo.

2 comments:

Clumbsy Cookie said...

I can see we share the same love for oreos! Both cakes look adorable and I hope they made your friend feel better! Oreos cupcakes must be delicious, I wish i could be eating one right now!

grace said...

i would consider breaking up with my boyfriend if i knew that i would have something like this to make me feel better--it's fantastic!