Recipe: Cookies and Cream Cake

This cookies and cream cake does not hold back on the use of Oreos—they’re chopped up into the buttercream layers and sprinkled and placed in between piped buttercream dollops, combined with dark chocolate cake layers and creamy vanilla buttercream.

Ingredients

Dark chocolate cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated white sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1½ cups boiling water
• 1 tbsp instant espresso granules
• ⅔ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar

Filling and frosting

• 1 recipe vanilla buttercream 
• 24 Oreo cookies, chopped into  various sizes

Make It

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 7-inch round cake pans by spritzing them with vegetable oil and lining with parchment paper circles cut to size, and then spritzing again with oil to prevent sticking.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt until combined. Switch to the paddle attachment.

In a large bowl, combine the boiling water and espresso powder and whisk to combine. Whisk in the cocoa powder until combined. Whisk in the vegetable oil and vanilla extract. (Don’t worry if it won’t emulsify completely; it will all come together!)

Add the wet mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer and mix on low speed for about 20 seconds to combine. Add the apple cider vinegar and mix for another 15 seconds or until the batter is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Give the pans a light tap on the counter to reduce any air bubbles. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes back with only moist crumbs.

Frost the cake using the vanilla buttercream to the final frost stage. To fill the cake layers, pipe a thick layer of the buttercream on each layer first, then press in chopped-up Oreo cookie pieces in even intervals, pushing them down into the buttercream. Add another thin layer of buttercream over the Oreo pieces before placing the next layer of cake carefully on top.

Decorate the top of the cake with a piped spiral border or an artful array of piped dollops, drop stars and chopped Oreo pieces in varying sizes, or a border of piped buttercream dollops alternating with whole sandwich cookies.