Back when we lived in the US, I never ever made cake from scratch, unless it was cheesecake. Honestly I never found a recipe that tasted as good as a Betty Crocker box. Since you can usually buy a cake mix for around a dollar I never saw the point of doing anything else.
Now that we've been living in Germany I've had to experiment with cake. But since it's not a family favorite (my family prefers pie or cheesecake for special occasions) I haven't made it a lot.
That being said there are times when cake is preferred to our favorites. Taking cupcakes to school or having a birthday party with friends are two times we've run into the need to have cake. To say it's been a struggle would be an understatement. I have tried countless recipes in order to find a good one. But I must admit, sometimes you can find a cake mix here and eventhough they cost 6 euros (which is over 8 dollars!!!) I totally pick up a couple for such occasions.
We'll not any more. I have found the best cake recipe. It all began with a series of unfortunate events. I met some friends downtown for lunch and afterwards we picked out cupcakes for the family. Since I was bringing home an extra 4-year-old and it was raining, the cupcakes got lost somewhere along the way. James realized they were gone (up to this point I had forgotten about them too). He was so sad that the cupcakes he had so lovingly picked out for his dad and sis were now somewhere lost in Munich.
It was time to go pick up Hailee so I did a quick search on Pinterest for Oreo cupcakes. Once we got home he helped me make them.
Now the first time we made these they turned out ok. Not amazing. The chocolate flavor wasn't amazing but they were so incredibly moist and the texture was absolutely perfect I thought they deserved a second chance. I had been out of the good cocoa powder when I made them so I decided to give them a second chance with the really nice powder. And that made all the difference.
Cookies and cream cupcakes
Serves 24
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 20 minutes
Total time 30 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped Oreos
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cake
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
3 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
3/4 cups butter (softened)
4oz cream cheese (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4-6 heaped tablespoons milk
1/3 cup crushed Oreos
Directions
Cake
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350
In a large mixing bowl combine all cake ingredients except the Oreos. Mix well. Stir in the Oreos by hand. Fill lined cupcake tins about 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
Step 2
In a mixing bowl beat the butter, cream cheese, vanilla and salt until creamy and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and 4 TBS of milk. Beat well. If too thick add more milk, one TBS at a time. Stir in Oreos. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Store covered at room temp for up to two days or refrigerate up to 5 days.
Read more at http://backforsecondsblog.com/2013/06/chocolate-oreo-cupcakes-with-cookies-and-cream-frosting/#wcdR3CXSCGhQXza4.99
These can be made without the chopped Oreos in the cake batter. I only made cupcakes so far, but next time I am going to try it as a cake to see how that works. I also didn't add the Oreos to the frosting but sprinkled them on top. I thought it looked prettier that way.
The most important thing about the recipe is the cocoa powder. My favorite is Valrhona cocoa powder. And I did check to see if I can buy it in the US and I did find it on amazon.