I never liked Oreos growing up. In fact, in elementary school, I was thoroughly disgusted when a classmate ate the cream-filled cookies during snacktime and got crumbs and cream all over her face. It was gross and I will never forget it. The fact that I remember this 20 years later shows how impactful this scene was on my life. But over the years, I’ve grown to enjoy the taste of cookies and cream, even more so in ice cream. Then, I thought, why not make a cookies and cream cake?
Also, I recently learned how to makes gifs on GIPHY and I am OBSESSED! Get ready for a ton of gifs of things that probably didn’t need to be gif-ed (gif-tified?)
Anywho, I was in Michigan for the holiday season and I had plenty of taste testers. Rakim, my parents, my brother, and two of my cousins (plus a lovely maybe future cousin-in-law?) were all home for the holidays and I couldn’t have asked for a better crew. From the incessant cries of, “Does this have walnuts in it?” from my dad to my brother’s “I will only eat chocolate cake”, these folks keep me on my toes. Rakim was also contemplating giving up flour and carbs for the new year so I had to act (bake) quickly!
About the Recipe
Believe it or not, it took me a LONG time to find a solid vanilla cake recipe. My go-to recipe was objectively delicious, but it never baked up as nicely as I wanted it to. The batter was super thin and the cake texture was never quite right. Of course, it could be user error, but after a few disappointing trials, I decided I needed to go back to the drawing board (read: internet) and find another recipe. That’s when I came across the Sugar Geek Show’s Moist Vanilla Cake Recipe. Liz Marek, the founder of Sugar Geek Show (along with her husband), and I are apparently in one of the same Facebook cake groups so I feel like I’m a step closer to knowing a celebrity π
Anyway, in these said facebook groups, people RAVED about her vanilla cake recipe and praised the consistent results. So I finally caved and tried it. However, as I said, I was in Michigan and while my father is a very good cook, I’m pretty sure he’s never baked anything in his life so my tools were a bit… lacking to say the least. So when I saw Liz’s recipe in ounces and grams and her suggested baking temperature, I knew I was going to have to improvise. Bake at 335 degrees? LOLZ!
Especially when I know for a FACT that some people’s oven’s dials look like this:
But I appreciate her attention to detail and I totally understand why things should be measured in weights and not volume. I do, in fact, own a kitchen scale, that I love with all of my heart. But for today’s purposes, I just needed a solid vanilla cake base and Sugar Geek Hero provided.
Another fun fact, I also made a video of me baking this cake, hence all of the action shot photos in this post. If my video editing skills DRAMATICALLY improve in the next week, perhaps I’ll post it.
Back to the recipe, the ingredients are your typical flour, eggs, sugar, and whatnot, but I 100% LOVE the reverse creaming method. The reverse creaming method consists of combining the dry ingredients first and mixing in the fat (in this case, butter), before adding any liquid. That way, the butter is coated with flour and reduces the amount of gluten formed during the mixing process. More gluten = tougher cake. Less gluten = fluffy cake. Fluffy cake = good π
I also liked the idea of mixing in a small amount of milk and oil into the dry ingredients before adding in the rest of the liquid ingredients. While I was mixing, I could see the batter fluffing up before my eyes!
Of course, this post is not about baking a vanilla cake. It’s really astonishing what a cup and a quarter of oreo pieces will do to a cake. Magic, I tell you!
After a few good stirs, the mix was ready to go into my 350 degree oven (sorry, Liz!). Protip #1: to ensure even baking, make sure you remove the air bubbles from the mixture. I do this by filling my tins and slamming them on the counter 3-4 times. You can actually see the air bubbles burst at the surface. Protip #2: Plan to mute your recording at this point if you’re trying to make a video. It’s a little loud.
Anyone can put sugar, butter, and vanilla in an oven and it’ll smell good, but this cake smelled AMAZING while it was baking. I could hardly wait to taste it! Protip #3: Make sure you have a wire rack to cool your cakes. As I mentioned, I made this cake in my childhood home in Michigan. I missed my Massachusetts-based Kitchen Aid and my wire racks dearly.
However, I wouldn’t change anything for the world. This cake was FANTASTIC! I decorated it with cookies and cream frosting, a chocolate ganache drip, and some Oreos, of course! The flavors melded together so nicely and it made a super satisfying dessert.
But just don’t take my word for it! Try it out π Also, I’m curious to know how folks like the reverse creaming method. Comment, questions, concerns? Talk to me π
Happy Baking!
Cookies and Cream Cake
Ingredients
Cookies and Cream Cake Recipe
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 3 tsp Baking Powder
- ΒΌ tsp Baking Soda
- 2 sticks Butter
- 3 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1ΒΌ cup Milk, room temperature I used 2%, but typically I like to use whole milk
- Β½ cup Vegetable oil
- 3 large Eggs, room temperature
- 1ΒΌ cup Oreo Cookies, crushed It took about 13 double stuffed Oreos
Cookies and Cream Frosting
- 4 sticks Butter, room temperature
- 8 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature full fat, in block form. Not the whipped kind
- 8 cups Powdered sugar
- ΒΌ cup Heavy Cream
- 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder for color
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 cup Oreo Cookies, crushed
Chocolate Ganache Drip
- 1 cup Chocolate Chips
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour three 8-inch round pans
- Combine ALL dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
- Combine Β½ cup of milk and Β½ cup of vegetable oil in a separate bowl and set aside
- Combine remaining milk, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl
- Add room temperature butter, in chunks, to the dry mixture and blend until combined. Mixture should look crumbly. This should take about two minutes
- Add the milk and oil mixture into the dry ingredient/butter mixture and mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes. You will see the mixture increase in volume and look fluffy. This will ensure that the cake rises properly
- Add Β½ of the milk/egg/vanilla mixture and mix until combined. Then add the remaining liquid and mix until combined
- With a rubber spatula, fold in the 1Β½ cups of crushed Oreo Cookies
- Divide mixture evenly between the three prepared pans
- Bake the cakes for approximately 30 minutes, checking for doneness at 25 minutes.
- Remove cakes from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
For the Cookies and Cream Frosting
- Combine butter, cream cheese, and salt in a bowl and blend on medium for 1 minute until smooth.
- While blending, add powdered sugar one cup at a time, alternating with splashes of heavy cream. (if using a stand mixer, keep the mixer on a medium, speed)
- Once combined, add cocoa powder and vanilla and mix on low for 1 minute
- Fold in crushed Oreo Cookies
- Frost and decorate cake as desired
For the Chocolate Ganache Drip
- On the stovetop, slowly heat 1 cup of heavy cream on low. The cream should just be warmed, not boiled!
- Removed cream from heat and add 1 cup of chocolate chips. Let mixture sit, unstirred, for 1 minute
- After a minute, slowly stir the mixture until a thick, smooth texture is achieved
- Let cool to room temperature before using on cake to prevent melting
- Once cooled, put ganache in a tipless piping bag and create a drip around the cake for decoration.
This was a wonderful read! I must try this recipe.
Thanks so much, Jazzy J! I had a blast making this cake and I hope you will too π
The cake looked amazing and tasted even better!
Thank you so much, Fry King! Iβm so glad you liked it π
Looks delicious can’t wait to bake it. Thank for the recipe
Thank you so much for the comment, Tonja! Let me know how it turns out π
Awesome post! Keep up the great work! π
Thank you!!