The Best Ever Cookies and Cream Cake with Oreo Buttercream
Cookies and Cream Cake – Dark chocolate cake layers with cookies and cream filling, Oreo buttercream and chocolate drip.
This Best Ever Cookies and Cream Cake is truly that! BEST EVER!
The Most Delicious Chocolate Cake Recipe
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!
Cookies and Cream Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (88.5 g) good quality dark cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons (8g) baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon (3 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (109 g) vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup (236.6 g) hot water
- 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) vanilla extract
For the Filling
- 3/4 cup (173.25 g) heavy whipping cream
- 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups (250 g) powdered sugar, measured and then sifted
- 8 Oreo cookies, broken into chunks
For the Buttercream
- 6 Oreo cookies, pulverized into fine crumbs
- 2 cups (452 g) unsalted butter, slightly cold
- 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar, measured and then sifted
- 3 tablespoons (43.3 g) heavy whipping cream
- *This buttercream recipe makes enough to fill and cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping you’ll want to make an extra ½ batch.
For the Drip
- 1 cup (150 g) semi sweet or dark chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup to 1 cup (173-231 g) heavy whipping cream
- black food gel optional
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray the bottom of the three 8-inch or four 6-inch round cake pans with cooking spray and line bottoms with parchment. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl or measuring cup, combine the eggs, buttermilk, water, oil and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for another 10 to 20 seconds. Divide batter equally among the three cake pans (about 16 ounces of batter in each 8-inch pan or 12 ounces in each 6-inch pan).
- Bake the layers for about 25 to 30 minutes (time may vary depending on your oven) or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs on it. Let the cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, and then turn onto a rack to cool completely. When completely cooled, wrap the layers in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour in the freezer. Cakes can be make a week ahead of time and wrapped in plastic wrap. If you'd like to store the cake layers longer than a week, wrap in tin foil, as well, and then place in a zip lock bag.
For the Filling
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the heavy whipping cream on high for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the cream forms stiff peaks. Transfer the cream to another bowl and set aside.
- In the now empty bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese for a couple minutes until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Beat for a couple minutes until smooth.
- Fold in the whipped cream until no streaks of whipping cream remain. Fold in the crushed Oreos.
- Best to make right before you assemble the cake so the cookies don’t get soggy. If you want to make this ahead of time, just leave out the Oreos until you’re ready to assemble.
For the Buttercream
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed for about two minutes.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the sifted powdered sugar until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix for another minute.
- Add the heavy cream (one tablespoon at a time). Once the cream is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and beat the frosting for five minutes. It should get lighter in texture and color.
- Stir in the cookie crumbs.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a wooden spoon and mix by hand to stir out the air bubbles.
For the Chocolate Drip:
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat the cream for about 1 minute. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for about 5 minutes. Mix the chocolate and cream until smooth and shiny. If needed, microwave the mixture for an additional 30 seconds.
- Add one drop black food gel (optional). This will make the drip as dark as the cookies.
- Let cool slightly before adding to the cake.
- Best to add the drip when the cake has been chilled.
Assembly
- Place the first cake layer top side up, in the center of the cake board. Pipe a rim of Oreo buttercream around the edge of the cake and then fill the center with about 1 cup of the cookies and cream filling.
- Place the second cake layer on top of the buttercream and filling. Repeat piping and filling.
- Place final cake layer, top side down.
- Crumb coat the entire cake with a thin layer of the Oreo buttercream and freeze for about 10 to 15 minutes to set this layer of frosting.
- Once the crumb coat is set, continue to frost the cake with the remaining frosting. Chill the cake again for another 10 minutes before adding the drip.
I plan on making cupcakes for my sons birthday party using this recipe. Do you know about how many cupcakes this recipe should make? And what frosting would you recommend using? The filling or the buttercream?
About 24. Use the buttercream for frosting.
How do I go about separating the batter if using 9” pans?
Use a food scale
Hi! I’ve always wanted to bake one of your recipes! I wanted to start with this recipe but I was wondering if there is a substitution for the vegetable oil? I typically use avocado oil or olive oil for cooking but for baking do you have any recommendations for people that don’t use vegetable oil?
Canola
This filling and buttecream came out DELICIOUS! Has anyone tried freezing the filling? I used three 6” pans so I had a bunch leftover! I don’t want it to go to waste
Did you try to freeze the filling, or get a reply? I want to make this cake this week and on September 17th so freezing the leftover filling could help!
Hello, I currently am letting the cakes cool on the rack. They seem kind of thin like they didn’t rise much. I used 8” round 2” deep pans. I also tried to evenly disperse the batter as instructed but there wasn’t enough.
This cake doesn’t rise a ton! it’s ok!
This is one of the favorites in my home! I need to bake 3- 9 inch round layers. How much should I add the recipe by?
1.5x the recipe
hola Courtney me encantan tus recetas, sino consigo suero de leche como lo puedo preparar ya que la receta indica 1 taza de suero, en caso tal cuales serian las cantidades para prepararlas yo misma,
quedo atenta a tus comentarios saludos
hello Courtney I love your recipes, if not I can get buttermilk how can I prepare it since the recipe indicates 1 cup of buttermilk, if so, what would be the quantities to prepare them myself,
I remain attentive to your comments, greetings
As a substitute for buttermilk, you can mix 1 cup of regular milk with 1 tablespoon of either white vinegar or lemon juice. Let sit for about 5 minutes and you will notice it slightly curdle. At this point, you can use it as buttermilk. Hope this helps!
I made this cake yesterday and got rave reviews from my entire family. There were 16 of us. I could have eaten bowls of the Oreo filling and buttercream. They were so delicious! And the dark chocolate cake was moist and wonderful.
Thanks for a wonderful recipe!!
Made my day to hear how much you loved this cake! Thank you for the review.
I just made this cake yesterday for the Fourth of July and everybody LOVED it. I didn’t have time to make the drip but it was still so delicious! I was just wondering what size piping tip you used for the decorating because I kept getting Oreo clumps stuck in my tip and I had to use a round tip instead of a star tip.
This recipe is the best ever! So detailed to make sure you get that perfect cake!
I’m planning on making this revolver using 3 9inch round pans. Do I need to double the recipe?
I would only 1.5x the recipe.
Hey Courtney!
Just wondering if I need to add a pinch of salt and some vanilla extract to this oreo buttercream? I’ve made a few of your buttercreams on other cakes, and I was surprised not to see these ingredients on this recipe. I just want to make sure!
This one you don’t need to!
My family flipped for this cake – it’ll be remembered for years! It is so delicious and special for a tween boy’s birthday. I ended up getting 5 layers in 6 inch pans. I added a little extra Oreo crumbs into the buttercream for maximum cookies and cream! I used Ghirardelli Dutch Process cocoa which gave a rich dark flavor. The cream filling is sooo delicious. Thanks for such a great recipe!!
Yay!!
Made this for my hubby a birthday and it was a HIT! I substituted butter for the oil and used 9” pans (it’s all I had) so my cakes were thinner since I didn’t up the batter quantity. It was so good, cake was so moist, butter cream was so good! Hubby said the buttercream tasted like cookies & cream ice cream. Had a bunch of buttercream left over but made for a delicious dip for gram crackers that night! Will definitely use this recipe again!
The cake is delicious only in my opinion you should but less butter!!!!
For the buttercream, Do I separate the Oreo cookie from the Oreo white filing to make the cookie crumbs?
Thanks
TM
Nope you don’t need to!