Oreo Baby Cake

My sister in law had a new baby recently, and so I wanted to make her a cake for the blessing. I was excited   because I had recently ordered a silicone baby mold off the internet and have been waiting to use it! Babies on cakes are an interesting thing - people either think they're really cute or really weird. I think they can sometimes be cute, but done wrong they look awful, as evidenced by the large number of baby cakes that show up on cakewrecks.com! My husband doesn't ever think they're cute, and so I knew from his reaction that his family would feel the same! I was excited to present the cake and see their reactions, and I was not disappointed! Much joking and playing with the baby ensued.

It was a 4-layer chocolate cake with oreo Swiss meringue buttercream, chocolate ganache glaze, and of course, the baby, which I molded out of modeling chocolate.

I also brought 4 dozen matching oreo cupcakes to the party. They were a hit, and got eaten all up... it's no wonder - oreo buttercream should probably be labeled as an addictive substance! 

Best Chocolate Cupcakes

makes 12-15. Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

3 oz semisweet chocolate chips (recommended: guittard)

1 oz (1/3 cup) cocoa powder, preferably dutch-proccessed

3/4 cup boiling water

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp white vinegar

6 Tbl vegetable oil

3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Stir together chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and boiling water until melted in a large mixing bowl. Place in the refrigerator to cool while the oven preheats. Heat oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. When oven is preheated, add eggs, vanilla, vinegar, and oil to the chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth. Stir flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl, then add the dry mixture to the wet, folding in until incorporated. Scoop with a 1/4 cup measuring cup or ice cream scoop so muffin cups are 2/3 full. Bake 15-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a middle-position cupcake comes out clean. Cool in the pan 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.