Oreo Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes {A Guest Recipe from Curves and a Camera}

Happy Friday Foodies. I'm so excited to be guest blogging for Carrie here at the Frugal Foodie Mama. I have been following her blog via Facebook and Twitter long enough and figured it was time to start joining in the fun. So here I am guest blogging and visiting over from Curves and a Camera; where I do food/recipe posts, but also blog about being a plus-size fashionista, my love for classic/vintage inspired items/life and my journeys as a 30-something woman.

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Recently I started having Friday's be my "Foodie Friday" weekly post so when I had the chance to guest blog (thanks to being a Frugal Foodie Mama sponsor this month) I knew right away I wanted to do a recipe.

Last Saturday, my Portland family got together to acknowledge and celebrate the six mothers and five May birthdays. Since I'm pretty much the "designer baker" in the family I volunteered to do the "cake". What I ended up doing instead was Oreo Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes. Because who doesn't love a cupcake?

The entire family loved them! Even my sister K who doesn't like cake said they were delicious.

I will be honest they took me three days to make....BUT only because I made the cupcakes one night after work, the mousse the next day after work and then Saturday morning made the whipped cream and assembled them. Because there are so many steps, if you decide to try making them, set aside the better part of the day.

However, I will be honest....they were simple to make. I used boxed cake mix (although I doctor it up as you'll see below) and the mousse and whipped cream go by pretty fast. They are worth the effort I will tell you that!

If you've never done a filled cupcake before, here's my trick: wait until the cupcakes are completely cooled and then using a measuring tablespoon, carve out about two tablespoons worth of cake. I don't try to put the top back on - it's just being covered in frosting anyway. Hollowing them out this way allows for more of the mousse to be put into the center and prevents the cupcakes from splitting our their sides when just piping the cream directly in.

I found that putting the mousse into a pastry bag and piping it in was the easiest - use your largest tip and make sure to fill them FULL!

A word of caution (learn from my mistakes) make sure if you are folding cookie crumbs into your whipped cream that they are completely broken apart and very fine (no chunks). I ended up having one piece that kept clogging my pastry bag and I had to attack with a chopstick. (Yes, you read that correct. Attacked. With. A. Chopstick.)

In the end the cakes were moist (that's the trick with baking them at a cooler temperature), the mousse smooth and rich,  and the chocolate whipped cream fluffy and light. My family fought over how many they each got to take home after the party.

That's my last tip: Make extra because you'll want left overs!

Want more Curves and a Camera? I'm on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Bloglovin'. Hope on over to www.curvesandacamera.com to follow through multiple avenues.

Thanks, Carrie for letting me take over Frugal Foodie Mama today!