Dark chocolate cake layers with cookies and cream filling, Oreo buttercream and chocolate drip.
This Oreo-inspired Best Ever Cookies and Cream Cake is truly that! BEST EVER!
Before You Begin
This chocolate cake is my go-to chocolate cake. I’m in love with it. I worked on it for years and it’s truly one of my favorite cakes of all time. If you haven’t made this cake before, you’ll notice the recipe calls for “dark” cocoa powder, which will make the cake nearly black and create a beautifully rich flavor.
I typically use Cacao Barry Extra Brute Cocoa Powder, but you can also use Hershey’s Special Extra Dark Cocoa Powder if you’re in a pinch and can’t get Cacao Barry. Just be sure to use dark cocoa powder. It not only creates a rich, dark color in the cake, but the flavor is slightly bitter and pairs so well with sweet, American buttercream.
Cookies and Cream Filling
If you’ve had my Grasshopper Pie Cake and loved it, I’m about to make your day! The filling in my Best Ever Cookies and Cream Cake uses the same base – sans mint emulsion and mint Oreos. Instead, it’s just whipped cream and Oreos folded into a mixture of cream cheese and powdered sugar. It’s super simple and utterly delicious. I’m not sure how I didn’t devour it all before actually making my cake… because I was certainly trying!
The filling can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge. Just don’t add the cookie chunks until you’re ready to assemble the cake.
Oreo Buttercream
For the buttercream, I’ve started with my classic Vanilla Buttercream and worked in some crushed Oreos. I think it’s really important and helpful for smoothing the sides of your cake to make sure you’ve really crushed the Oreos. I recommend using a blender or food processor to create sand-like crumbs out of the Oreos. That way, you won’t have a ton of chunks in your buttercream.
You’ll top with the chocolate drip, extra frosting and cookies and have the Best Ever Cookies and Cream Cake!
Enjoy!
Is the cookies and cream filling also the frosting on the outside of the cake or did you use a plain vanilla buttercream?
Yes, it’s the same, but split the recipe and put oreos in some for the filling and leave some plain for the outside of the cake.
Is The outside frosting a basic vanilla buttercream? Or is the frosting with the oreos that is used as the filling?
It’s the same frosting but without the oreos.
Looks delicious!!! Will this need to be stored in the fridge?
Yes, if you’re not serving it within a few hours of making it.
Hi! I want to make a 3-4 layer 9” cake. How much batter do you recommend for this cake?
I am looking at using 9inch pans — did you make it using 9inch? How much batter did you put in each pan?
If you’re using 9 inch, you need to 1 1/2 the recipe or only use two pans.
I am wondering if this cake could be made ahead and assembled all except the cookies on top and frozen for a week? Will the cookies in the filling and frosting get soggy? Will the cream in the filling separate?
If the cake is frozen, everything will still be good a week later, cookies and all.
In the Cake Method you mention adding water OR coffee but there was no mention of coffee in the list of ingredients. Please clarify?
Thank you!
I’ll fix that – but you can also use 1 cup coffee instead of the water if you want
Do you have a video on how you do the drip? This cake looks amazing and I think I can do it all but I want the drip to look perfect!
Yes, if you go to my instagram page, I have a tutorial in IGTV
Made this today for a birthday and it was a huge hit!! Great recipe and I will definitely be making it again!
The batter for the sponge is so soupy is it supposed to be this way?
What sponge?
How long will the filling last? 3 days? Should I add a stabilizer?
I didn’t add a stabilizer and froze it for a couple days and it was great. I wouldn’t store it at room temp or the fridge for super long because the cookies would become soft.
I found the filling very sweet. I wish I’d started with maybe a third the sugar and worked up. It would be nice if some of the comments posted were recipe reviews rather than just questions so I could have been aware before using up my ingredients.
Hi,
How far in advance can I assemble this cake without the filling being ruined?
Thank you !
Perhaps a silly question, but do the Oreo cookies for the filling and frosting include the icing center? Or do we scrape that off and just use the cookie part?
You can use the whole cookie!
Hi! Looks delish! Sometimes when I use softer fillings like this I tend to have bulging or issues with stability once the cake comes to room temperature. Even with the buttercream dam. Cold they always look perfect! Haha! Do you just always cut and serve these kinds of cakes cold? Any tips that might help? Thank you!
Take it out of the fridge an hour before you are about to serve it!
Did you add the oreos with the filling or just the black cookies?
With the filling.
Can I use cake flour instead of AP flour?
No, on this one you want to use AP flour.
This chocolate cake is wonderful. Best chocolate cake recipe ever for sure. I only made 1 change to this recipe. I added 1 teaspoon of expresso powder to the 1 cup of hot water. Perfect, perfect dark moist delicious, dense chocolate cake. The filling was yummy, but I did have leftover filling. I doubled the receipt to get four 10″ cakes. I made the cake 3 layers, and had one cake left so I could sample before giving it. Tasted amazing. I will never use another chocolate cake recipe again. This is the one to use. However, I thought the frosting was a disappointment. Was dry and too thick. I add to correct the frosting and thin it out, so I could spread it. I would not use the frosting recipe again. Yes to the cake, and filling. No for the frosting.
Hi Deedee! I’m so happy to hear how much you love the cake and am bummed to hear you had problems with the frosting. This is definitely a creamy, fluffy frosting. If it came out thick, I’m wondering if you may have accidentally added too much cookie crumbs or it needed more cream and beating time. It’s amazing how the extra beating on medium-high will change the texture of the frosting so much.
Do you put the cake back in the freezer after the drip? Or can you do the piping design right after the drip?
You can pipe right after the drip.
I made this cake a couple days ago, and oh my goodness. It we beautiful and it tasted perfect. I got rave reviews from my husband and friends who tried it! Thank you for a great recipe! Can’t wait to try out more of your cakes!
This cake turned out phenomenal! I made everything the day before which helped save on time. Only thing I wish I would’ve done differently was to make the Oreo buttercream right before assembly. When I refrigerated overnight, it lost its fluffy texture and white color. I tried to whip it again the next morning and the fluff went away and it turned the frosting brown because the crumbs basically dissolved. This recipe will remain on my favorites list!!!
Is this amount of butter correct for the buttercream? I made this for my son’s birthday. Beautiful and delicious cake, filling was light and lovely, ganache made it extra special. The buttercream was, dare i say, too buttery? I followed the directions exactly.
It is correct.
Hello,
I was just curious if you had a good substitute for the cream cheese that’s in the filling? Is it okay to just leave it out? Cream cheese isn’t my favorite 😬.
Thanks!
There isn’t a substitution but I promise you can hardly taste it.
How many eggs go in the cake? The instructions say add the eggs, but the ingredients doesn’t list them.
So sorry! It’s fixed. There are 3 eggs!
Hi, your recipe doesn’t have the eggs listed in the ingredients but it is listed in the recipe. Can you advise?
My apologies! I just saw it in the comment above mine. Thank you!
It says there are 3.
Hi! I love this recipe and I was wondering if you had to change anything to make this into cupcakes?
No! Just fill the liners about 2/3 of the way full and watch the timing in your oven.
Am I able to substitute regular milk for the buttermilk?
If you want to do regular milk, you have to mix it with greek yogurt. Equal parts milk and yogurt. Otherwise it needs to be buttermilk.
I made your cake last year for my husband’s birthday before your redid the recipe and it was so good. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be great again this year. (Though I’m pretty sure the cake doesn’t require 6 eggs. 😉)
Woah. Thanks for catching that! Not sure how that happened!!
Hello!
This recipe looks amazing and I was hopping to make it for my dad’s bday coming up.
Am I able to assemble this cake the day before and just keep it chilled in the fridge or would you not recommend that?
Keep it in the freezer. Then the morning you are serving it, move it to the fridge and then take it out a couple hours before serving.
I notice that the flour and sugar amounts differ between this recipe and your go-to chocolate cake recipe. Have you found that this ratio works better than the other?
It’s pretty much the exact same.
I only have 9¨pans. Can I use them? How would I modify to accommodate the extra inch on each layer? I also have Guittard dutch processed cocoa, can I use that in this recipe since it has both baking powder and baking soda in it? And can I replace the hot water with 1 cup brewed coffee to bring out the chocolate flavor more?
You can either 1.5 the recipe or just divide the regular recipe into two 9-inch pans. You can use that cocoa but still add all the ingredients that I use as well. You can use coffee instead of water.
Everything was delicious – but just a note that the drip recipe makes ALOT! After putting drip all around and covering the top I have a bowlful of ganache left over that I have absolutely nothing to do with. Feels wasteful to put it down the sink or let it go bad. So maybe start with a half batch on the drip.
I used a 9 inch pan and a 9inch spring form pan and added about 10 min to cooking time. But as I only had one layer to fill cane up with lots of ‘extra’ cream cheese filling. I hadn’t made the butter cream yet so used it as my frosting too. Tastes great. Doesn’t need the extra sugar of fat.
Does the water really need to be hot? Concerned about scrambling my eggs.
Yes it needs to be hot. Just hot not boiling. It won’t scramble them.
Hi, is it possible to use the filling to frost the cake as well? Not a huge fan of buttercream but still want the cake to hold together.
The filling wont work as frosting. It’s too soft.
This recipe is so good! I could eat a bowl of this frosting! I do have a question about the weights/measurements for your baking soda and baking powder. Which measurements do you use when baking? I like to weigh my measurements, but the weights and spoon measurements in this recipe don’t seem to add up. TIA!
I use measuring spoons.
Hi, Courtney! I am so excited to make this cake for my son’s 25th birthday next Saturday! I’m wondering, if I bake the cakes on Friday, do I still chill them for at least an hour in the freezer on Saturday when I’m ready to decorate? How/where do I store the cakes from Friday until decorating time on Saturday? I want it to be perfect, like yours! You are so talented, and I’m so happy to have found you! Thanks a bunch 🙂
Bake them friday, wrap them in saran and leave them in your freezer. Take them out about 20 minutes before decorating.
Hello,
If I used 9 inch round cake pans who much batter should I put in each pan? Also, would I still be able to make it 3 layers or would I only do 2 layers?
Thank you
If you’re using 9 inch pans only use two or 1 1/2 the recipe if you want to use three pans.
This cake was amazing! Made it for my husband’s bday and everybody loved it. I was a little concerned about the cake when I initially put it in the oven. The batter was really liquidy. I did have to bake it longer than 20 minutes; an additional 15 minutes. But it was very moist and was absolutely delicious! I didn’t use the cream cheese filling. I used more of the frosting and sprinkled with some crushed Oreos between the cakes.
Mid Baking this for my brother’s 19th! However my cake is raw in the middle after half an hour! Is it 350o F or C?
Thank you!
350 f
I love your recipe catalog however would like to make in 9 inch double layer. I fear tweaking the measurements. Do you have info available to convert? Thank you.
It’s all the same recipe for a 2 layer 9-inch cake.
Could I substitute the dark chocolate cocoa powder for the natural unsweetened cocoa powder from Hersey?
Yes!
Hi! I am planning to make this later on this week and was just wondering what piping tip did you use for the swirls on the top of the cake? Thanks 🙂
Wilton 1m tip
This is the best cake!! Its always a hit everytime I make it. Thanks Courtney!!
Thank you so much!
This is the 6th cake I’ve made from your blog! I let my 3 year old pick what he wanted for his birthday. Thank you for your time and recipes and for empowering home bakers. You da best.
Thank you so much!
Made this cake yesterday for my daughter’s birthday. Cookies and cream anything is her favorite. We all loved it! The directions were easy to follow and flavor was great! I will definitely make this again!
I’m so glad!!
I need to make this dairy free as much as possible. I know I can use d-f butter, but can you use almond milk and vinegar to make the buttermilk dairy free?
I would use equal parts coconut milk and coconut yogurt.
Can you make this a day ahead of time or will the cookies in the buttercream and filling get too soggy?
Yes you can!
I have two 9 inch pans. How long should I bake the cake?
It’ll take a little bit longer. Maybe 10-15 minutes. Keep your eye on them!
I’m admittedly a bit of a cake snob… and am even more critical of it when I make something. Holy smokes- this is the BEST cake I’ve ever eaten. Absolutely amazing!! Thank you for sharing.
I love to hear it!!
Hi Courtney, is it ok to use 3 7in round pan? would it be too thick?
Totally fine!
Can I make this cake a day ahead or will the cookie pieces get too soggy?
You can!
Not sure what happened as I have made many of your recipes before and they’ve all turned out great. Made the filling for this the night before (minus mixing in the Oreos). Kept it in the fridge overnight, when I went to assemble the next day my cake was lopsided and the filling was leaking out even with a dam of icing. Is the filling normally so soft?? I put it on straight out of the fridge and followed direction exactly
That’s weird! It’s soft but shouldn’t fall out of the cake. Did you put in too much?
Is this cake nut free?
Yes.
Have you done this as a sheet cake?
Go check out my instagram. I have an IGTV there where I walk you through it.
Have you ever made these as cupcakes? If so, what adjustments did you make? Also, when I made it as a cake, the filling didn’t seem firm enough to hold the weight of the cake and frosting. It squished out. What did I do wrong? Great taste though! I especially liked the cake and the frosting!
Yes! Just bake at 325. It’ll be about 18-20 mins and make around 24. For the soft filling you need to make sure you are piping a rim of buttercream on your cake to keep your soft filling in.
I made this cake for my fiance’s birthday and it was absolutely to die for! I used the Hersheys dark cocoa powder and thought it worked to make the cake slightly bitter. Was easier than I thought it would be to make which is a nice bonus.
I’m so glad!
We’ve got to be dairy free & I’m wondering if you could suggest any substitutes for heavy cream, by chance? Do you think I could use vegan frozen whipped topping (comparable to cool whip) in place of the heavy cream for the filling/frosting?
I don’t know if it would be stable enough but if you did add some gelatin or EZ gel. If you don’t want to do that, use coconut cream.