Cookies and Cream Cake | Cookies and Cups

This cookies and cream cake turns a favourite chocolate cookie into an excellent decadent layer cake! It has wealthy chocolate cake layers frosted with fluffy do-it-yourself buttercream and crammed with Oreo frosting inside. You solely want two spherical pans!

I like trying to my favourite treats and desserts for layer cake inspiration. Do that Neapolitan cake and this triple-decker cannoli cake, subsequent!

Why You’ll Love This Cookies and Cream Cake

I turned my son’s love for Oreo cookies right into a decadent quadruple-layer cookies and cream cake! You solely want just a few straightforward components and two spherical pans to make it. Right here’s why you’ll like it:

• Layers of Oreo goodness. This cake combines extra-fudgy chocolate cake layers with the fluffiest chocolate cookie-filled frosting, completed off with a beneficiant coating of vanilla buttercream. I couldn’t resist adorning it with additional Oreos, too.
• Simple to make. Don’t let the thought of a 4-layer cake intimidate you. You may make this cake with two spherical cake pans. I’ll present you learn how to halve and stack the muffins, and it’s nice apply in the event you’re simply stepping into making layer muffins.
• Versatile. In fact, in the event you’re not up for the duty of constructing a layer cake, don’t let that cease you both! Make chocolate cupcakes smothered with cookies and cream frosting as an alternative.

Components You’ll Want

This cookies and cream cake just isn’t for the faint of coronary heart: it’s a wealthy and chocolatey, Oreo lover’s dream! And it’ll 100% fulfill any yearning for chocolate or cookies. And the most effective half is, you don’t want something fancy to make it. 

I’ve included some notes on the cake and frosting components right here, and you should definitely scroll to the recipe card for a printable record with quantities.

For the Chocolate Cake

• Butter – Dropped at room temperature.
• Sugar – I like to make use of each white and brown sugar, however you need to use all of 1 or the opposite in the event you’d like.
• Eggs and Vanilla – It’s worthwhile to convey your eggs to room temperature, too. For the most effective taste, follow actual vanilla extract over imitation.
• Buttermilk – Sure, buttermilk in chocolate cake! It brings all kinds of moisture and a contact of tanginess to the crumb. In the event you don’t have any, make a do-it-yourself substitute with common milk and white vinegar (or lemon juice).
• Bitter Cream – Together with buttermilk, bitter cream is the second secret to moist chocolate cake. In the event you don’t have it, use Greek yogurt as an alternative.
• Brewed Espresso – Rounding out our trio of “secret” components for the right chocolate cake is a smidge of espresso, or espresso, to bloom the chocolate flavors. I exploit immediate espresso, however any brewed espresso works. In the event you’d choose a caffeine-free cake, nevertheless, use milk as an alternative.
• Dry Components – These are your baking necessities, like all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Cocoa Powder – My first selection is at all times Hershey’s Particular Darkish unsweetened cocoa powder, however you need to use any cocoa powder within the pantry.

For the Buttercream Frosting

• Butter – Just like the butter you employ to make the cake, you’ll need your frosting butter at room- temperature for straightforward whipping.
• Shortening – I exploit vegetable shortening, like Crisco.
• Powdered Sugar – Also called confectioner’s sugar. Measure out the powdered sugar first, after which sift it.
• Heavy Cream – The creamiest buttercream frosting requires full-fat heavy whipping cream. You should use entire milk, however the texture gained’t be fairly as wealthy.
• Vanilla – Once more, go for the true variety and never synthetic vanilla. 
• Oreos – A portion of your frosting shall be crammed with crushed Oreo cookies, so that you’ll want about ⅔ of a bundle. Alternatively, use any store-brand chocolate sandwich cookies, whichever you could have available.

The best way to Make a Cookies and Cream Layer Cake

Right here is an summary of the steps to make this fudgy cookies and cream cake. Scroll to the recipe card for printable directions. 

• Get your batter components prepared. You’ll cream the butter and sugar with eggs and vanilla in a single bowl. Sift the dry components right into a second bowl, and in a 3rd bowl, whisk collectively the buttermilk, bitter cream, and occasional.

• Mix. Subsequent, slowly combine the dry components into the butter/sugar combination, alternating with the buttermilk combination, till the batter is easy. 

• Fill the pans. Switch the chocolate cake batter to 2 8” greased and lined baking pans.
• Bake. Bake the muffins in a 350ºF oven for 20-25 minutes, till they’re set within the middle. After, let the muffins cool within the pan for 10 minutes earlier than eradicating them to a wire rack. The muffins might want to cool fully earlier than you’ll be able to frost them.

Make the Frosting

I like to make use of my stand mixer when making frosting, however you need to use a handheld mixer, too. To make your vanilla buttercream, beat butter and shortening for a couple of minutes, then slowly add powdered sugar. Lastly, beat in heavy cream and a touch of vanilla. Enhance the mixer pace till the frosting varieties whipped, stiff peaks.

Put aside about 2 cups of your ready buttercream for frosting the cake. Mix the remainder of the frosting with crushed Oreos to make the filling for the cake.

Assemble Your Cookies and Cream Cake

In the event you’re new to creating layer muffins, you’ll be able to try my good chocolate layer cake for suggestions. You’ll discover that if you may make a single-layer cake, including one other layer (or three) is simpler than you suppose! Let’s assemble this cookies and cream cake:

• Put together the layers. Use a serrated knife to halve every baked cake horizontally, in order that you find yourself with 4 skinny layers.
• Stack the cake. Unfold Oreo frosting generously over the primary chocolate cake layer, stack the second cake over high, and repeat two extra occasions. End with the fourth and last cake layer.
• Frost. Lastly, use the vanilla buttercream put aside earlier to frost the edges and high of the cake. I used a piping bag to make just a few swirls, plus additional Oreos to embellish. Get as artistic as you’d like! In the event you’re feeling fancy, drizzle the completed cake with a straightforward pourable chocolate ganache.

Ideas for Success

• Prep the pans nicely. I like to recommend greasing the cake pans with nonstick spray, however you need to use butter (or shortening) as nicely, lining the bottoms with parchment paper, after which greasing and flouring the entire pan. It’s simply additional insurance coverage to keep away from a cake getting caught.
• Don’t overmix. This chocolate cake is dense and fudgy as it’s, so watch out to not overmix the cake batter. Combine simply till the dry components and moist batter come collectively. Overworking the batter will result in deflated, overly dense layers.
• Crush the Oreos. You are able to do this in your meals processor, or you’ll be able to crush the cookies up utilizing a sturdy zip-top freezer bag and a rolling pin. I like to go away just a few bigger cookie chunks for texture.  
• Check for doneness. Desserts are completed baking when a toothpick caught into the middle comes out clear, or with just a few moist crumbs connected.
• Make a 2-layer cake. In the event you’d choose to make a 2-layer cookies and cream cake as an alternative, skip the step the place you trim the muffins in half. You can even cut back the quantity of Oreo frosting because you’ll solely be filling in between the 2 layers.

Can I Make Cupcakes As a substitute?

Certain! This recipe makes sufficient batter for an 8” layer cake or roughly 15 cookies and cream cupcakes. Cupcakes require much less baking time than muffins, so I’d use a toothpick to check for doneness after about 17 minutes and go from there. I even have a straightforward chocolate cupcakes recipe which you can consult with.

You’ll additionally have to scale up the frosting, whether or not you add Oreos or not. I like to recommend doubling the recipe simply to be protected. It’s at all times higher to have an excessive amount of frosting than too little!

Correct Storage

• To retailer. This cookies and cream layer cake might be saved in an hermetic container or cake provider for as much as 3 days at room temperature. It’s additionally positive to maintain within the fridge, although I like to recommend bringing the cake again to room temperature for serving.
• Freeze. In the event you’re planning to freeze the cake, the easiest way to do it’s earlier than assembling and frosting. Wrap the baked and cooled cake layers tightly in a double layer of plastic wrap and freeze them for as much as 1 month. Defrost within the fridge earlier than assembling.

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