Cupcakes:
3 cups cake flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
16 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1-1/4 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
20 Oreo cookies (halves, with the cream filling attached)
Frosting:
8 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
½ cup vegetable shortening
4 cups powdered sugar (1 pound)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
6 Tablespoons Oreo cookies, finely crushed (I used the halves from the cupcakes without the filling)
Oreos cut in half for garnish, or Mini Oreos
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Twist Oreos in half and set aside the extra cookies for crushing for the frosting. Place the side with cream filling in the bottom of each cupcake liner, cream side up.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat after each addition. Combine the buttermilk and vanilla. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the liquid to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Fill lined cupcake tins with the batter. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes in pan before transferring to a cooling rack.
For the frosting, in the bowl of electric mixer, cream the butter and shortening on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar, about ½ cup at a time, until thoroughly mixed. Add the vanilla flavoring and the Oreo crumbs and mix well. ***This was a very stiff frosting and because I wanted to pipe it on the cupcakes, I added a little bit of milk to get the consistency that I desired.
Frost the cupcakes as desired and top with half of an Oreo or a mini Oreo for garnish.