Owl Cupcakes

I made these cute little cupcakes for a friends baby shower yesterday and wanted to quickly post them. Sorry about the picture. I had literally 2 minutes to throw these on a plate and take a picture of them before I had to load them up and head to the shower. So I would have liked to take a better picture, but oh well.

I used my Death By Oreo Cupcake recipe for the base, cause being that you decorate the cupcakes with Oreo's, I just though it all went well together. The frosting is a little finicky, just a heads up. I had to add additional powdered sugar, and then refrigerate it to finally get it to be the consistency I wanted. I also added that as a note at the end of the recipe, but if you do need to add extra sugar to thicken your frosting, I wouldn't add more then 2 cups. At that point throw it in the fridge and see if it helps it to set. Other then that, these cupcakes are a little tedious, but so worth the work, and turn out so stinking cute. Enjoy!!


Owl Cupcakes
Death By Oreo Cupcakes (Recipe below)
Chocolate Frosting (Recipe below)
30-34 Oreo's
50 candy-coated chocolates (M&Ms)

Split the sandwich cookies in half crosswise, keeping the cream side hole (microwaving 5 cookies at a time for 3-5 seconds helps to keep the cream side solid). A frosting spatula help to split the cookies most cleanly. Use the dull side of a paring knife to remove any excess crumbs from cream filling and to smooth the sides of filling that has shifted during splitting.

Collect the remaining sides of the cookies without cream to use for the ears. Make 2 parallel cuts with a serrated knife in these cookies 1/2 inch from each rounded side, discarding the 1/2 inch strip that remains from the center of the cookie.

Pair up the cream sided cookie halves so that those with similar amounts of cream are together. Gently push brown M&Ms, "m" side down, into the cream of each cookie.

Use a small spoon or spatula to smooth chocolate ganache frosting onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes. Place the cream sided cookies, cream side up, on the middle of the cupcakes, making sure that the eyes are oriented the way you want. Push gently to make sure they've adhered to the frosting.

To make the ears, attach the cut cream-less cookies to the cupcakes above the "eyes", textured side facing up and round edges inward. These should hang over the edge of the cupcakes, but be sure to press them into the frosting where possible to make sure they adhere well.

Lastly, press M&M candies (standing them up on their sides) between and slightly below the cookie "eyes" as beaks.


Death By Oreo Cupcakes
1 package Oreo Cookies
1 package chocolate cake mix (mix according to directions on box)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix packaged cake mix according to diretions (do not bake). Line cupcake tins with liner, place a regular size Oreo cookie in the bottom of each liner. Take 1/2 of remaining cookies and chop coarsely and add to cake mix.

Fill the cupcake tins. Bake for 15 minutes (or according to box directions). While cupcakes are baking make the frosting.

Cooked Chocolate Frosting
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 ounces dark chocolate
1 cup butter, (2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk 1 cup milk, 3 tablespoons flour, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small saucepan over medium heat until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool.

Melt 8 ounces of dark chocolate. Set aside to cool. Beat 1 cup butter, 1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder together until light and fluffy. Beat in the cooled chocolate and add milk mixture and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth and fluffy. If necessary, add additional powdered sugar to bring frosting to the right consistency. You may have to refrigerate it for a little to get it to set.

Printable Recipe

Frosting recipe from countryliving.com. Owl Cupcakes idea and directions from 6bittersweets.com.