We've been on the hunt for the perfect new sofa for our new living room for while now and I think we may have found it! We did quite like the Maxwell Sofa from Next but it looked a little too boxy and not as comfortable as the one we have seen now. The sofa we have our eye on is by FW Homestores and its called the Hoburne. Its grey with a slight Scandinavian look to it and I think it would look so nice with a few quirky statement cushions and throws on it. I'm not loving the floral scatter cushions in the images but I think it would look perfect with our feature gallery wall that we have planned. We have been in to our local FW Homestores and had lounge on the display sofa and it was perfect! Really comfortable and exactly what we had in mind!

125g / 1/2 Cup Butter 

170g / 3/4 Cup Caster Sugar 

5ml / 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla

2 Eggs 

190g / 1 1/2 Cups Standard Flour 

5ml / 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder 

2ml / 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

125ml / 1/2 Cup Milk 

First thing I did was mix all my dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl with my electric hand mixer and then added in my 2 eggs and vanilla extract. 

I didn't want to over mix my cake batter as I think this is what I did on my first cupcakes a few weeks ago and it makes them very thick and stodgy. I kept this batter light fluffy and airy. 

I then placed an Oreo at the bottom of my cake cases and then added around 2 heaped table spoons each of my cake mix on top of the Oreo's so that they where covered. Once the cupcakes are baked this will create the hidden surprise Oreo at the bottom. 

Carina's Buttercream Recipe

250g / 1 Cup Butter ( I only uses 125g Butter)

375g 3 Cups Icing Sugar

30ml / 2 Tablespoons Milk

The last time(my first time) I made butter cream icing it was lovely but tasted a overly buttery so not what butter cream was supposed to taste like so this time I halved my butter grams from 250g to 125g and it tasted much more like actual butter cream. Last time I also didnt beat my butter before adding the icing sugar which takes a lot of the yellow colour out of the butter so I made sure I didn't miss this step this time.

I then added my 3 cups of Icing super to my butter and mixed until creamy and light in colour. I also mixed in 2 tbs of milk just to make the consistency a little less thick so that it would be perfect for icing. It tasted amazing as I couldn't resist having a taste and I was much more impressed with this butter cream than my on last cupcakes. 

I then crushed up around 5-6 Oreo's into my Butter cream mix with a fork and then mixed it a little with my electric hand mixer. I didn't want to over crush or mix the Oreo's as I wanted some quite chunky Oreo pieces in my icing. 

The cupcakes baked really well at 180 degrees for 18 minutes, They were a little over brown on the tops as my halogen oven is a little dodge when it comes to baking and I haven't quite figured out yet if I should bake them at a lower temp for longer to avoid burning them.

And then...My Tala professional Icing bag split on me which was so frustrating as I had so many plans for my Icing on these Oreo Cupcakes. I had to then just spoon on my icing and make them look semi ok with a knife but I think they looked OK! Not brilliant but next time I will Ice them properly as I now have a new and improved replacement Tala Icing bag. 

I placed half an Oreo in the top of each of my cupcakes which I thought just finished them off nicely and tied in all the Oreo'ness in these cupcakes. I couldn't wait to present them to Craig who was eagerly waiting for them in the living room :)

They tasted amazing and I was so pleased when I cut them in half to find the hidden Oreo at the bottom of the cupcakes perfectly baked into each cupcake. 

I absolutely loved making these Cupcakes and even though my icing bag spit and made things very awkward, they really didn't take me very long to make at all. I think this is a super quick delicious recipe for everyone to enjoy making and eating.

Let me know in the comments below what you think of my 2nd attempt at baking cupcakes and also what your favourite cupcake flavours are as Id love to experiment some more with flavours...