Oreo White Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm back!  For good this time, I hope :)

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of atypical schedules.  Right after Thanksgiving, we entered tech for the last show of the semester, for which I choreographed a piece.  On top of that, my poor fiancé got food poisoning so he needed care.  After that, final practicals and exams began, so studying took top priority (yaaaaay...).  Only an hour after I picked up my last exam, a take-home test for my criticism class, I was in the car on the way to the airport.  After two hours of insanely fast typing, my semester was officially finished; another two hours later, I landed in Florida to reunite with Jon, meet his dad, and go to his best friend's wedding.  We spent a fantastic weekend at Universal Orlando together and had a great time hitting the parks and celebrating the marriage with everyone - it was honestly the best time I've had in months!  I wish we could've stayed there longer.
My parents came down and met us Sunday night, and the next morning I continued south with them to Vero Beach to visit my brother and his wife (and their new dog!) for the next week.

And that's where the cupcakes come in.

Thanks to crazy schedules and an insanely long distance between us, I missed my brother's birthday at the end of November, but I promised him a treat of choice while I visited.  I knew he loved white chocolate so I wanted to include that, and Oreos were a natural choice since he keeps them in the house all the time.  I had made the cupcake base before, but I decided to use a white chocolate frosting on them this time.

It was a good choice :)

The cupcakes are fluffy and full of vanilla flavor and huge chunks of Oreos - including an entire Oreo half on the bottom!  (I'd suggest finding someone totally ace at twisting apart Oreos to help with that part, or you can use a paring knife to separate the halves.) The white chocolate cream cheese frosting has fabulous flavor without an overpowering sweetness from the white chocolate - this is the stuff I could eat with a spoon.  Or a bunch of animal crackers.  Together, the combination is delectable!

If you're already all cookie'd out for Christmas or you're looking for something unique for the dessert spread, try these!  Maybe use the winter Oreos and some holiday sprinkles on top for a festive touch!  Regardless, I can tell you that they'll be enjoyed by everyone with tastebuds.

Oreo White Chocolate Cupcakes

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
Source: slightly adapted from Annie's Eats
Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
12 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
1 heaping cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 + 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
10 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (quartered is a good place to start)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and place an Oreo half in the bottom of each cup, cream side up.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt with a fork.  Set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy.  Add the egg, mixing until it's fully incorporated, then mix in the vanilla extract.  Add half the flour mixture, beating until just incorporated.  Beat in the milk until just combined, then the rest of the dry mixture.  Fold in the chopped cookie pieces with a spatula.
Scoop the batter by quarter cup-fulls into the prepared muffin cups.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool five minutes in the pan before removing to a cooling rack until ready to frost.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Source: adapted from Baking Bites

Ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (half a stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 oz white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp heavy cream (more if needed)
2-3 cups confectioner's sugar
5 Oreo cookies, crushed (for topping)

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and melted white chocolate.  Mix in the cream, then gradually add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency - make it stiffer if you plan to pipe it onto the cupcakes.  Frost the cupcakes as desired and top with cookie crumbs.  Enjoy!

Italian Cream Cake

Necessary Background Information: I've always been a chocolate girl by inclination.  Not chocolate candy as much, though - just chocolate baked goods.  If a dessert has chocolate in it, it gets preference over the others.  I get chocolate cake cravings on a regular basis, and sometimes all I want in life is a jar of Nutella and some pretzels to dunk into it. 

This coming weekend is my birthday, and it's a big one - my 21st!
Finally.
Since my birthday's in the middle of the summer, and Virginia's not known for amazingly mild summers, I've had store-bought cake or ice cream cake (all chocolate of course) for the vast majority of my birthdays.  Last year I made my own cake (and what a cake that was!) but this year, I really wanted a homemade cake that I didn't have to bake myself.  My mom volunteered and had me choose exactly what I wanted.

Wonder of wonders: I chose something with no chocolate in it!

And what a fantastic choice that was.

As she was making the cake, my mom told me the story of a family vacation she took in Texas.  For most of the trip, she felt awful, and the only thing she could stomach was this Italian Cream Cake.
So she had it for three meals a day.
Not like she would ever let me get away with that, but it was a cute and envy-inspiring story.  And after tasting the cake, I fully understand why.

This is the most addictive cake I've ever tasted.

Three layers of moist vanilla buttermilk cake are held together by thick layers of vanilla cream cheese frosting, and all of the above are chock full of chopped pecans and angel flake coconut.  It's both light and satisfying, and no matter your sugar tolerance or flavor preference it's just plain amazing - my best friend can't usually finish a full slice of layer cake, and my dad doesn't like coconut...and both of them adore this cake.  I could easily eat this cake for three meals a day.

Not that I will.

I just could.

See?  The cake even wants to eat itself!

Italian Cream Cake

Source: my mother's Aunt Sis

Ingredients:
For the cake:
5 eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

For the frosting:
8oz cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lb (approximately 4 cups) powdered sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Grease and flour three 9" round cake pans.
Separate the eggs.  Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and shortening until smooth and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat until smooth.  Add the egg yolks and beat the mixture till well-combined.
Sift together the flour and baking soda.  Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk and mix until everything is combined and smooth.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.  Stir in the vanilla, coconut, and pecans.  Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Divide the batter evenly between the three cake pans and bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan before turning the cakes out onto racks to cool the rest of the way.
To make the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter.  With the mixer on the lowest speed, gradually add the powdered sugar.  Once combined, beat on medium-high speed for around 1 minute.  Beat in the vanilla, then stir in the coconut and pecans.
To assemble, place one layer of cake on a cake plate or cardboard cake circle.  Frost the top of the layer with a generous amount of the frosting and place a second layer on top of the first.  Repeat with the second and third layers.  Frost the top and sides of the entire cake generously.  Enjoy!

**NOTE: This frosting recipe makes just enough to fill and frost the cake.  We ended up making an extra half recipe, and I highly recommend you do the same.  The frosting's WAY too good to skimp on it :)

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Story time:
Once upon a time,  a young girl new to the blogging world had two ripe bananas to use up.  She thought and thought, tossed and turned, and still couldn't come up with a unique way to use them.  First she tried to find healthy recipes, but those wouldn't satisfy her sweet tooth.  She thought of a bundt cake, but then realized her bundt pan was far, far away in the land of Buffalo.  Whatever could she do?
But then, she stumbled upon a magical cookbook.  It was small, but within its pages it held recipes of every flavor and taste she could imagine.  And inside this book, she found a recipe for Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting - the answer she had been seeking!
She followed the recipe directions to the letter, scooped the batter into the pan, and slid the pan into the oven.  When the DING of the oven timer came, she took them out...only to discover 12 strangely colored, misshapen little cakes!  She began to despair, but then remembered that they were meant to be quite brown, and their shape would not matter once they were topped with swirls of rich and creamy frosting.  Just a few twirls of her mixer later, the cupcakes were finished.
And my, were they delicious!


Another GEM from Alice's Tea Cup.  I'm convinced the Fox ladies can do no wrong.  Just remember - they're supposed to get darker than most cupcakes.  And honestly, who cares what they look like underneath the frosting?  The flavor combination most definitely makes up for the oddness of their shape, and they actually only get better with time!

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Source: Alice's Tea Cup by Haley and Lauren Fox
Yield: 12-18 cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2 very ripe bananas
3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used Tahitian vanilla, but you don't need to be that fancy)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (12oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. 
Mash the bananas in a small bowl, then set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine the oil and sugar until fully mixed.  Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla; mix until smooth.  Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium-sized bowl.  With the mixer running on the lowest speed, add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing until it's all combined and the batter is smooth.  Fold in the bananas with a rubber spatula.
Fill a nonstick or paper-lined muffin pan half-full of batter and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.  Set aside to cool completely in the pan.
As the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese until fully combined and smooth.  With the mixer set on its lowest speed, slowly add the confectioners' sugar, mixing until it is completely incorporated and the frosting is smooth (and delicious!)
Use an offset spatula or piping bag to frost the cupcakes generously with the cream cheese frosting.
Enjoy!