Preheat the oven to a 350°F (180°C) and line your cupcake pan with liners.

In a big bowl, sift together 1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour, 1 ½ cups of granulated sugar, 1 ½ tsp of baking powder, 1 ½ tsp of baking soda, ¾ cup of dark cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of salt.

In another bowl, mix up 2 large eggs, ¾ cup of buttermilk, ¼ cup of vegetable oil, and 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract until combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and give it a gentle mix.

Slowly introduce the hot water into the whole mix while giving it a stir. The batter might look thin, but that’s normal.

After scraping off the white centers, roughly chop 1 cup of Oreo cookies and add them to the mix. You can also use a food processor if you want smaller cookie pieces in your cupcake batter.

Pop your cupcakes into the preheated oven and let them bake at 350°F (180°C) for about 20 minutes, or until they bounce back when gently touched.

Let the unsalted butter soften on the counter for around 1-2 hours. In a large mixing bowl, whip out your trusty hand mixer or stand mixer and cream the butter in a large bowl until it's smooth.

Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, into the creamed butter and keep mixing until there are no sugar crystals remaining.

Pour in the pure vanilla extract and mix again.

Now, add the heavy cream bit by bit while cranking up the mixer speed. Add only as much as you need to get the desired consistency for piping on top of your cupcakes.

Add food coloring drop by drop until your cupcakes are the right shade you’re looking for.

If you need a more in-depth tutorial on how to make these, check out my full recipe for Chocolate Dipped Oreos here.

Melt the blue candy melts according to the package instructions.

If your blue candy melts are too thick to dip the Oreos into, add some vegetable oil one teaspoon at a time.

Dip the Oreos one at a time with a fork and tap off excess chocolate.

Place them on a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper to dry.

Melt the white candy melts, and put them in a piping bag then cut off the very tip. Drizzle the white over the top of the blue dipped Oreo and then add sprinkles before it sets.

Once the Oreos are completely dry and set, use them as cupcake toppers whole, or cut them in half with a sharp knife.

Once your fudgy chocolate cupcakes are fully cooled to room temperature, decorate them with vanilla buttercream frosting. Then add sprinkles and the chocolate-covered Oreos on top of the frosting.

You can use a small open star piping tip like #21 and a piping bag or pastry bag filled with buttercream frosting. I made mine blue for a baby shower, but you can use whatever color you want. Pipe a swirl onto your cupcake starting at the outer edge and working in towards the center. Add half a blue chocolate covered Oreo and white or blue sprinkles to finish the decorating.