Oreo Cupcakes

So I was shopping the other day, and Mini-Oreos were on special. Now I'm sure these have been around forever in the USA, and actually I'm not sure how long they've been available here (the first time I saw them here was about six months ago). But I just think they are So Incredibly Cute. I kind of have a thing for miniature things.

Anyway, when I first saw them, I couldn't help but think they'd be awesome as a cupcake topper, and the idea of making Oreo cupcakes has been floating about in my head ever since. Not that it's a New Idea. I'm aware of that. But I have never done it before, and I just happened to have a party to make cupcakes for, so...


Oreo Cupcakes

Cupcakes (adapted from "The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating", which incidentally is a book I really like. It has cakes in lots of different styles, as well as how-to technique pages for newbie decorators)
190g butter
195g dark chocolate
1 tsp instant coffee
140mL water
3 eggs
110g SR flour
110g Plain flour
40g Cocoa powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g chocolate cookies (I guess you could actually use Oreos here, but I had leftover Choc Ripples and I was going for the flavour of the cookie part itself. If you try it with Oreos, let me know how it turns out!)
420g caster sugar
30mL oil
95mL milk

Whizz cookies in a food processor until fine crumbs.
Combine butter, chocolate, coffee and water in a saucepan and stir over low heat until all melted and smooth. Set aside to cool. While mixture is still warm (but not hot), add lightly beaten eggs, stirring vigorously to combine (you don't want the eggs to cook in the chocolate, but they will thicken it a little and make it easier to handle).
Sift flours, cocoa and bicarb soda together, and stir in cookie crumbs and sugar. Add chocolate mixture, oil and milk, and stir until smooth.
Spoon/pour mixture into cupcake cases and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for around 20 minutes, or until they test clean. Cool, then top each cupcake with frosting and a Mini Oreo cookie.


Frosting
100g butter
100g Copha (two reasons: for whiteness, and for that unmistakable flavour that it gives - not usually something I consider desirable in frosting, but I was trying to make this frosting taste as much like the filling in an Oreo cookie as possible, and I think this did the trick)
300g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large heaped dessertspoonful of double cream

Cream butter, Copha and icing sugar until very pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Beat in cream.

These turned out pretty much exactly as I'd hoped - a yummy chocolate cake (with something vaguely cookie-ish lurking in the background of the flavour), topped with a sweet vanilla frosting and a little Oreo to bring it all together. Not an original idea, granted. But still good.

Now here's the question: Sprinkles? Or No Sprinkles? I thought No Sprinkles, although I thought the ones With Sprinkles photographed better. Husband & The Muffin both liked them better With Sprinkles. Opinion was somewhat divided at the party... What do you think?