We have a cupcake place not too far from me that has very pretty cupcakes. Very, very pretty cupcakes. And very dry, not so great, pretty cupcakes. I have no idea how these people stay in business other than the cardinal rule of location, location, location. I know people who have had their cupcakes and say they aren’t good, so it’s not just me. Yet oddly enough they go back. And when I ask why they say, well its right there and they look so cute is the response I get.
We have become a society of what is convenient and what looks good over what tastes good and what is worth it. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty cupcake cakes that taste pretty freaking awesome….Cupcake Royal makes an awesome strawberry flavor that only comes out one month a year that is swoon worthy. But for the most part I find the good ol’ cupcakes I make at home to be significantly better than what you find out there. My friends tell me all the time when they bite into one how much better mine are than the ones they buy at the fancy shops. Yep, I know this. 🙂
We are a society of visual creatures. Look at the dating world. Beauty gets the attention. Always does. But let’s remember this. Beauty may get the attention but personality gets the heart. There is a lot of pretty ugly out there. You know who I mean, the women who look gorgeous and spend their time and money (well usually not their money) to look hot…but two minutes into talking to them and you want to slap them silly. Though sometimes it doesn’t always come out right away. I have what I call the 6 month rule when I dating. Anyone can be anything for 6 months (give or take a few months). After that unless you’re a sociopath your true colors will eventually shine through.
I frosted my cupcakes two different ways to prove a point. They are the same recipe, same everything but some of the cupcakes got frosted with a knife and the other had frosting piped on to them. Anyone want to guess which ones went first?
We need to stop looking at pretty people/things and start seeking out the beautiful people/things of the world. If you are smart you know the difference.
I’m only giving the recipe for the frosting this time. These are just devils food cupcakes you can find a million recipes for those. This frosting is based off of the Cold Stone ice cream flavor of the filling of Oreo Cookies. Not cookies and cream but the actual filling. It tastes just like it and it is so wrong yet so right all at the same time. 🙂 I felt a little guilty scraping all the middles out but that guilt went away when I was eating the cupcakes. 😛
Double Stuff Oreo Filling Buttercream Frosting
6 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
Double Stuff Filling from 25 Oreos
5 Double Stuff Oreos
3-4 cups of powdered sugar
Milk to thin
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and Oreo filling for about 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Make sure you can’t see any filling bits.
Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time until you reach desired consistency.
Add Oreos and beat until they are crushed into the frosting, you don’t really want too many chunks.
If frosting is too thick, thin with milk.
Bobbi says
Ha! The cupcake with the cute top is what I’d see in the store. The cupcake with the flat top is what my kids get when *I* frost. I think I’ll take the one that looks like it was made with love for people not fancy for a sale. Sounds delicious but maybe too sweet for me. It was a sad day when I found oreos were not so tasty anymore.
angimcb says
Oh, how glad I am that you said this. We have a cupcake place close to us that the kids won’t even go back to because the cupcakes were soooooo bad. You know if kids don’t go back there’d some issue. This double stuff frosting looks awesome!Keep up the great work 🙂
Jaden says
*faint* My goodness – oreo filling is my faaaavorite!!!
CT says
That icing looks amazing!
A Tablespoon of Liz says
I totally feel you… It’s so annoying when people choose looks over taste… While you eat partially with your eyes, I would never sacrifice flavor for looks!
Lynn says
This frosting looks wicked good! Sadly, I too would reach for the pretty one. But if someone else got there first, I’d be just as happy with the knife-frosted one.
I am wary of beautiful people for that reason, assuming that they’re going to be vacuous and/or vicious. Not always true, but pretty is as pretty does.
Adam says
Sadly with the way a lot of people are these days, I think many would prefer the vapid 2 or 3 month relationship instead of something a little more sincere, intimate and long term. At least until they mature (though I think many don’t). This also feeds into the other problem that our society faces today which is the quantity over quality ideology.
And I love your mini sociological experiment :). Though I’m pretty sure I would have taken your flat frosting cupcake since that’s how mine always turn out :). Not to mention I have a problem with anthropomorphizing things and I would have felt a little bad for that one :).
P.S. I think your love of Oreos has started to impact me, it seems each day I enjoy them a little more:).
Sourkraut says
But… doesn’t the cupcake with the piped frosting look like it has more frosting on top? Is that just an optical illusion? Because I’d go for the one with more frosting any day of the week. However, I do get your point and would gladly take either cupcake if it were offered. I too have encountered a few boutique cupcakes that have obvious flaws yet the places manage to stay in business despite that. I was so excited when we got our first cupcakery near here until I realized that their frosting all tasted the same, regardless of what flavor it was meant to be.
Erin says
That’s so weird how bad cupcake places stay in business just because they are pretty. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be going back! And that’s too funny about your experiment. Sad, but true. As for the leftover oreos without stuffing, make a crust out of it!
Jackie says
Hey…..did you win????
Peabody says
@Jackie- I don’t get to find out until the 8th…
paula says
So true we have become a society where mediocre(or down right bad) is fine as long as it looks the way people think it should. I mean just buy anything from a grocery store bakery…bllckkk.
Your cupcakes look and I’m sure taste great!
Heather of Kitchen Concoctions says
For the most part I find a lot of store bought or restaurant food is disappointing. I mean don’t get me wrong there ARE a lot of amazing restaurants out there, but there is just something about the flavors of homemade that can’t be beat.
Oh and this frosting sounds amazing. I have made an Oreo frosting before but used all crushed Oreos not just the Oreo filling, and it is amazing! I will totally try this version next time.
KB @ Home-Baked Happiness says
It’s amazing how impressed people get by appearances — I bring cupcakes to work sometimes, and people are always saying “oh my goodness, they’re too pretty to eat! They look professional!” Of course, they taste good, too, but still, somehow, a quick pipe job will earn more raves.
Mrs. L says
There is a cupcake chain out here that gets a lot of hype and their cupcakes look nice…but I find them dry and not that tasty. Of course the same thing goes on in the food blog world…the pretty pictures get all the attention but I’ve made wonderful things from blogs where the photos weren’t the best.
Diane says
I would be more likely to grab the flat frosting, because it doesn’t look like it came from the store with their nasty whipped cream frosting that I hate. But… If I was assured first that neither had whipped cream frosting, I would grab the fancy one first… because it looks like there’s more frosting 😀 When I make cupcakes or cake I try to make sure there’s extra frosting, that way when I grab one… I grab a big blob of frosting to go with it. 😀
Panya says
See, I would rather eat unfrosted cupcakes, *then* eat the Oreos. Two treats, way less work! 😉
Erika says
I’m amazed by the people who spend $4 on one cupcake and act like it’s the best thing ever. Those ppl have obviously never had one of my cupcakes – hahaha!
Oreo filling in icing??? YUM!
Elizabeth says
True words spoken by Peabody!!!
I bet it felt sacrilege pillaging all of those Oreos. Yummmm
shaffy says
there’s a cupcake outlet near my place, where the cupcakes are one dimensional and taste like damp sugared cardboard. the crowd puller? you can frost your own cupcake. sheesh… my kids and their friends have more fun (and polish off everything) whenever i have a cupcake-frosting get-together in my humble kitchen. even if it’s just a cake-box mix and colored buttercream.
Peabody says
LOL at the frost your own cupcakes…which sadly I can totally see people being into. Do it at home…save money!
Nicole says
I was “treated” with some cupcakes from a local cupcake place recently for my bday. When I tasted them (5 different flavors) they all tasted like box mix/canned frosting. Which is fine, except not for $2.50/cupcake. (Later found out they do use a mix for the cupcakes…still waiting on the mole..aka employee…to see if they get their frosting by the bucket).
A quick clarification question: for your 5 Double Stuff Oreos in your ingredient list…is that the whole oreo, or the filling-removed cookies?
Peabody says
@Nicole= 5 whole Oreo’s…gives it the cookies and cream look
Amy @ What Jew Wanna Eat says
I’d take either cupcake- I just want one right now!
Becca says
Mmm, the frosting sounds soo good, it may not even need to cupcake underneath it! And I wouldn’t mind scraping out the muddles of the oreaos because that just means you get to eat the cookies!
Lauren at Keep It Sweet says
Wow, now that frosting sounds amazing! Substance is SO much more important that appearance.
kita says
Maybe it’s the college town – maybe it’s just because people don’t know better but I have taste tested cupcakes at every bakery in my county and they are all dry! The buttercream hard! And bland. Oh – not to mention the oily one I had – Oily – it was sooo gross. But the stores are adorable with over priced nick nacks and pink everywhere. Marketing at its finest. And I hate it.
These bad boys look great – and I don’t care how they are frosted.
Jeanne H says
It doesn’t surprise me that the cupcake shop cupcakes are dry if the frosting is piped on. You gotta figure that they were baked the day before and so have been sitting around drying out.
When I was growing up, my mother (who was not especially a baker) always said to be sure to frost the entire top of the cupcake (in the muffin papers) to keep it from drying out.
So I know better: the completely frosted cupcake will be moister! 😉
julia says
I just made the frosting. My teenage boy, the pickiest person I know, LOVES it. He’s getting a cookies and cream ice cream cake and thinks this is EXCELLENT!