This moist Oreo cake is made of decadent layers of Oreo cake, Oreo buttercream, and a dark chocolate drip and of course with lots of Oreo cookies! This recipe is almost too simple to be true. Try it also out with a spiced up cake box mix (instructions in description tips). Perfect for the cookies and cream lover in your life!
How to make OREO Buttercream
OREO buttercream is actually just a vanilla buttercream with added OREO pieces. You want to sift your OREO cookie crumbs so that there are no large pieces of cookies in the buttercream that would clog the piping tip.
For this cake I decided on making a Swiss meringue buttercream, it is less sweet and super easy to work with! If you prefer a standard ABC American Buttercream you can do that, too! I am sure you already have a great recipe for that but if not here is one of my favorites.
To make a Swiss meringue buttercream you need to heat up sugar and egg whites until the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites reached a high enough temperature for a long enough time to be pasteurized. I used to whisk it while heating it up but I found out there is no need to whisk it while it is getting to temperature. After 8 minutes fill it into the bowl of a stand mixer or use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whip it until stiff peaks form on a high speed. Keep whisking it until it reaches about room temperature. It is the easiest to use a stand mixer but a hand mixer will work just fine!
When it has cooled off add small slices of a bit colder than room temperature butter little by little until mixed in completely. You will see a change in consistency of the butter cream. It will get a bit runny but whip back up. Keep mixing it with a pedal attachment of a stand mixer or regular mixing attachments of a hand mixer for about 10 minutes to get a smooth and silky buttercream. When it is nicely whipped add vanilla extract and sifted OREO cookie crumbs and mix it in on a low speed.
These are the cheesecake pans that I always use in my recipe videos: Springform pan and Removable bottom pan
A 8 inch springform pan is the traditional choice to make most cheesecake recipes. I usually use it for no bake cheesecakes. For baked cheesecakes I prefer the removable bottom pan. It has the advantage of fitting a water bath snuggly around it.
Pro tip: to get rid of any air bubbles use a silicone spatula and smooth the buttercream against the mixing bowl to smooth it out. When filling the piping bag smooth the frosting against the bag to smooth it out even more and avoid any trapped air.
OREO Chocolate Drip Cake
Ingredients: for 2 9-inch layers
2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (75 g) dark or black cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup (50 g) oreo crumbs
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar
1 cup (250 ml) butter milk
1 cup (250 ml) vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (250 ml) hot coffee or hot water
Oreo Buttercream:
6 egg whites, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups (170 g) sugar
2 cups (454 g) butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups (200 g) oreo crumbs, sifted for piping
For the drip:
1/4 cup (75 ml) heavy cream
3 oz (100 g) dark chocolate
Check out my full recipe tutorial
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 320 °F and line and grease 2 9-inch baking pans or you can use a cake ring and fold parchment paper around tightly. Start with a big mixing bowl and whisk together eggs, salt, and sugar until doubled in size with a hand mixer or stand mixer. Add vanilla, butter milk and oil. Mix it until well combined.
Step 2:
Add the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and dark cocoa powder. Fold it in until it is just combined.
Step 3:
The last step is adding the hot coffee that will intensify the chocolate flavor of the cake without leaving a coffee note (trust me in this!).
Step 4:
Fill the batter in the prepared baking pans and bake it at 320 °F for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If you bake the batter in one tall baking pan increase the baking time to around 55 minutes. Let it cool down completely in the pan on a wired rack.
Step 5:
In the meantime, prepare the icing. This is a vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream recipe with oreo crumbs. Combine egg whites with sugar in a heatproof bowl and place it on top of a pot with boiling water (bain-marie). Cook it for 8 minutes or until it begins to thicken. Stir it continuously with a whisk or spatula.
Step 6:
Remove it from the water bath and fill it into a big cold mixing bowl (for more details check the paragraph above the recipe). Whisk it with a hand or stand mixer with a whisk attachment until stiff peaks form and it reaches room temperature. It is time to add the cold butter in small pieces. Take your time for that. After adding the butter keep whisking the buttercream with a hand mixer or stand mixer until it reaches a smooth and silky texture. Switch from a whisk to a standard mixing attachment or paddle attachment from a stand mixer. Add vanilla and Oreo crumbs and fold it in.
Step 7:
When the cake layers have cooled it is time to decorate the cake. If you baked the cake in one pan cut it one time horizontally to get two layers. Remove any dome before. Spread a generous amount of buttercream in between the cake layers and then decorate the outer part. Use a bench scrape or spatula to flatten the buttercream. Place it in the fridge and let it set for at least 40 minutes.
Step 8:
For the cake drip prepare a ganache with hot cream poured over chocolate. Let it sit for 3 minutes, then whisk it until it comes together. It should have a smooth consistency but not be runny. Decorate the cake and place it in the fridge for another 30 minutes to let the drip set. Finish decorating with buttercream swirls (I used a Wilton 1M piping tip) and OREO cookies!
Enjoy!
**Pro Tips**
Sift the Oreo crumbs for the buttercream if you want to use it in a piping bag.
Heating up the egg whites in a water bath for 8 minutes until it reaches 160 °F ensures to make them safe to consume as bacteria cannot survive. No need for a sugar thermometer: when the sugar is dissolved, it reached the desired temperature.
If the chocolate drip (ganache) is too thin add some more chocolate and heat it up in the microwave in 10 second intervals with stirring it in between until it is smooth.
Fill the drip in a piping bottle for better handling and to ensure a neat drip.
Using a cake box mix: use two devils food mixes, 2 more eggs than written on the box, exchange water with milk and add some vanilla. Bake it as written on the box. Use a skewer to check if the cake is baked through.
The cake is even tastier at room temperature. Try it out since the frosting is stable at room temperature for up to 2 days.
