Oreo Chocolate Cake

This decadent Oreo chocolate cake is made with cookies and cream buttercream sandwiched between layers of rich chocolate cake. It's wrapped up in more Oreo buttercream, topped with pretty swirls and Oreo cookies. 

Make the Oreo buttercream and bake the chocolate cake

To make the Oreo buttercream is really simple. Make one batch of my 4 Minute Buttercream for an 8 inch cake and you'll need 16 Oreos. Crush 4 Oreos in a food processor or in a sandwich bag and bang them with a rolling pin. Then pour them into the buttercream and stir them in. 

Stir this buttercream as little as possible. If you over-mix, instead of white frosting with black specks you'll make unappealing grey frosting.

Bake your cake layers and when they cool, it's time to layer your cake!

Layer the Oreo chocolate cake

Spread some buttercream onto the middle of a cake board to attach your first cake layer. You can level the layers if you want to, but they bake quite flat so it's not necessary. Leaving them as they are will make the tallest cake!

Spread on the Oreo buttercream as filling, going right up the to the edges of the cake. Spin the cake to smooth the buttercream with your offset spatula or palette knife at a 45 degree angle. This will level the filling so even if your cake layers aren’t perfectly level, the cake will be straight. 

It’s easiest to frost cakes when they’re cold so put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes. This will chill and set the Oreo buttercream, which will hold the cake in place. If you skip this step the cake can start to lean as you frost it. It will also wobble and slide around on the cake board. Another benefit of cold cake is that it's less crumbly so it’s easier to spread the buttercream on.

Frost the Oreo chocolate cake

It’s best to cover the cake with a crumb coat first. This is a thin layer of frosting to trap any crumbs that come off the cake. Then put the cake back into the fridge or freezer for another 15 to 30 minutes to set the crumb coat. When you touch it, it should be firm, not sticky. 

While the cake is in the fridge, cover the bowl of Oreo buttercream with plastic wrap. This is really important because it keeps the buttercream soft. If you leave the buttercream uncovered it will crust and dry out.

When the cake is cold, takeout out of the fridge and spread on the rest of the Oreo buttercream.

This final layer of frosting takes much longer than the crumb coat because it needs to be smooth. For this cake, the crumb coat took me nearly 5 minutes but the final coat took almost 9 minutes. Smooth frosting takes patience and practice! After scraping around the cake several times, spread more buttercream over any gaps or indents in the frosting. Then scrape again and again until the frosting is smooth. For the top edge swipe sideways with your offset spatula or palette knife to flatten the frosting there. Wipe the blade clean after each swipe before using it again. For more tips on smooth frosting, check out my tutorial on How to Frost a Cake.

Add decorations

Now it’s time to decorate! Drop a star shaped piping tip like a 1M into a piping bag. Score around the tip with scissors about half way up the tip. Next, push the piping tip out of the way and cut along the line you scored. Then push the piping tip through the hole. It should be about halfway out of the bag. 

Spoon the leftover Oreo buttercream into the piping bag. I like to fold the top of the bag over so it doesn’t get covered in buttercream which will then get all over my hands. A tall glass is great for holding the bag open while you spoon the buttercream in.

Unfold the bag and your hands will have no buttercream on them! Grip the top of the bag and push the buttercream down to the end. Then twist the bag to keep the buttercream pressed down, which makes it easier to pipe.

But before piping onto the cake, arrange the remaining 12 Oreo cookies on top of the cake. It’s easiest to position the cookies first and pipe the swirls afterwards, so that you can space them evenly. Stand them upright and so that the sides go out to the edge of the cake. I put four around the cake first, at 12 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 3 o'clock and 9 o’clock. Then I added two more cookies into each gap between the cookies.

Now pipe swirls between the cookies. Pipe out to the edge of the cake and all the way up to the cookies on each side. Stop piping when you get to the top of the cookies. This is another reason for putting the cookies onto the cake before piping these swirls! They act as a guide to make each swirl the same width and height.

Here’s a quick hack if you find that the buttercream is clogging and not coming through the piping tip. This happens because chunks of Oreo cookie are blocking the tip. Pry the prongs of the piping tip out a bit with a knife so the crushed cookie pieces can get through!

How to store and serve this cake

If you make this cake in advance, keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Take it out 2-4 hours before you serve it, so that the cake and buttercream come to room temperature. That’s when they taste the best!

There are two sizes of this recipe - this tall 8” cake and a smaller recipe. Use the smaller recipe for a shorter 8 inch cake or a tall 6 inch cake.

Oreo Chocolate Cake

---

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

• Author: Emily
• Yield: one three-layer 8 inch cake 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

This decadent Oreo Chocolate Cake is made with cookies and cream buttercream sandwiched between layers of rich chocolate cake, wrapped up in more Oreo buttercream, topped with pretty swirls and Oreo cookies. 

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

For the chocolate cake:

• 2 1/2 cups hot water
• 1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 5 eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/3 cups plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Oreo buttercream:

• 2 1/2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 lb powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons cream or milk
• 16 Oreo cookies (4 for the buttercream plus 12 for decorating)

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

To make the chocolate cake layers:

1. In a bowl, whisk together hot water and cocoa powder until the cocoa has dissolved. Set aside to come to room temperature.
2. In a mixer with a beater attachment, mix butter with sugar on medium speed until pale and creamy, about two minutes. Scrape down to the bottom of the bowl once during mixing to make sure no butter is stuck at the bottom.
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on the lowest speed after each addition until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
4. Add vanilla and mix on lowest speed for about 30 seconds to combine.
5. In a bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add a third of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and mix on lowest speed to incorporate.
6. Add half of the cocoa mixture to the mixing bowl and mix on lowest speed to incorporate. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture, then the remaining cocoa powder mixture, and then the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until the ingredients are combined.
7. Grease the inside (base and sides) of three 8" pans with non-stick spray, butter or oil. Divide batter between the cake pans.
8. Bake at 175ºC or 350ºF for 38 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
9. Let cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to loosen cake from the edges of the cake pan and then turn onto a wire cooling rack. Leave to cool completely.

To make the Oreo buttercream filling and frosting:

1. Sift the sugar to remove any lumps and check that the butter is at room temperature - you should be able to slice through it easily with a spatula.
2. In a mixer with a beater (paddle) attachment, mix butter for a few seconds until smooth. Add a quarterof the powdered sugar and salt and mix on the lowest speed until incorporated, about one minute.
3. Scrape down to the bottom of the mixing bowl with a spatula to loosen any butter and sugar and add the next quarter of powdered sugar and mix for another minute on low.
4. Scrape down to the bottom of the bowl, add another quarter of the powdered sugar, mix for one minute on low, scrape, and add the final quarter of the powdered sugar. Mix for one more minute on low, adding the vanilla once everything is mixed together and continuing to mix until it's incorporated.
5. Add the milk or cream and mix for about 30 seconds until it's combined with the buttercream. Check the consistency and add more milk or cream a tablespoon at a time until the buttercream is smooth and easily stirred.
6. Crush 4 Oreos in a food processor or you can put them in a sandwich bag and bang them with a rolling pin or something heavy to crush them. Pour them into the buttercream and fold them in, stirring as little as possible to avoid making grey buttercream. 

To put the cake together:

1. Spread some buttercream onto the middle of a cake board to attach your first cake layer. Spread on the Oreo buttercream as filling, going right up the to the edges. Spin the cake to smooth the buttercream, holding your offset spatula or palette knife at a 45 degree angle. 
2. Chill the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes and then spread Oreo buttercream to frost it with a crumb coat. Scrape around the cake with a cake comb to get the frosting fairly smooth and swipe sideways with your offset spatula or palette knife to level the top edge. Chill for another 15- 30 minutes in the fridge to set this crumb coat.
3. Spread Oreo buttercream to cover the cake with a final layer of frosting. Smooth with a cake comb.
4. Push 12 Oreos into the top of the cake to stand upright around the edge, spacing them evenly apart from each other. I arrange 4 cookies at 12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock and then add 2 more cookies in between each of those.

5. Fit a piping bag with a star shaped piping tip like a 1M and spoon the leftover Oreo buttercream into the piping bag. Pipe swirls between the cookies, going out to the edge of the cake and all the way up to the cookies on each side, and stop when you get to the top of the cookies.

6. You can keep this cake in the fridge for 3 days. Take it out 2-4 hours before you serve it so that the cake and buttercream come to room temperature and that’s when they taste the best!

Notes

You'll find a smaller or shorter version of this Oreo Chocolate Cake below! 

Here's a video on how to make this Oreo Chocolate Cake:

To make a shorter 8 inch cake or a tall 6 inch cake, use these recipe quantities instead!

Save this recipe to Pinterest for later with one of these pins: