Chocolate Oreo Cake
I seem to find myself surrounded by people who love an Oreo. No matter where I work, there is always a group of them, I find this strange.
As much as I love the biscuit, is it really better than a custard cream or a chocolate bourbon?? Apparently so, but give me a slice of cake over a biscuit any day, don't you agree?
One of my favourite things to do, which is an excellent time filler, is day dream about cake or what to bake next. Reading the cookbooks and magazines that fill my shelves, seeing what everyone else is baking on Instagram is a constant distraction for my sweet tooth. One of these moments led to the thought - If it is such an excellent biscuit then surely it must be a 'to die for' cake also.
I then took it upon myself to create the oreo cake of dreams. It turns out that Oreo cake is insanely sweet, who would have thought?!
In my research to find the perfect recipe I tried lots that I came across, most on American blogs which looked too good to be true, adorned with their Frostings and decorations ready for the Super Bowl or some sunny family afternoon get together. Not very realistic of the Oreo requests received from fans in Birmingham!
A few cakes in and I wasn't satisfied, I even tried my favourite chocolate cake recipe with an Oreo buttercream, not a success, it just wasn't right.
This was last Summer. I ended up with a very pretty cake, 4 layers high with a delicious icing, even if I do say so myself, but for me, too sweet! And I wince saying it for I believe I could live on sweet things...
2016 passed by and January 2017 saw another request for an Oreo cake, maybe I shouldn't keep offering to make cakes...
Sometimes there is nothing worse than offering to make a cake, the expectation builds up, will they all be disappointed, will it make it in the car or suffer a tragic mishap on the way, what if it's just dry and miserable, the cake that put's you off cake forever...?
Your mind can do terrible things. Then you remember - oh yes, of course you can, it's a cake, you love cake.
So with my packets of Oreo's purchased I set about altering last years recipe. I've been reading about using less sugar in baking and the results that decreasing the percentage of sugar has on the sponge. With my own trials in banana cakes I felt fairly confident in my maths with this one.
The final cake used 25% less sugar than the original, success, given that we are now in February which seems to have been re-named 'Sugar Free February', a slight nod in the right direction. Obviously the Oreo's knock up the sugar content to sky high, so it's not a cake to consume light heartedly, just with joyful abandon!
With a few more slight adjustments with the recipe we had a beautiful shiny black moist cake, singing with the smell of Oreo's ready for icing.
As a baker, what can be better than being proud and satisfied with your creations? I'd say being able to eat it! Luckily, this was the case for me and the Oreo Cake.
Stuffing my face with a rather generous slice I was happy to look around, the room silent and the air sweet with cake, everyone was tucking in. Another cake, more happy faces.
I wanted to share the recipe as it's so easy to make and slightly different from most cake recipes. Let me know if you try making it and how you get on.
(It really is worth using the right size and good quality cake tins otherwise too much mixture in a small tin will just cause your cake to dome on top which isn't helpful when icing! Likewise, know your oven and the temperature you are aiming for, having it set too high will cause the cake to cook to quickly on the edges leaving no room but up for the rest of the mixture!)
Chocolate Oreo Cake
Ingredients -
For the cake:
260g self raising flour
300g caster sugar
385g good quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3large eggs
170ml natural yoghurt
80ml vegetable oil (sunflower)
1 tsp vanilla extract
240ml boiling water
half a packet of Oreo's blitzed in a food processor
For the icing:
1 packet of Oreo's blitzed in a food processor
525g Icing sugar
175g unsalted butter (at room temperature
130ml double cream
Method -
Preheat the oven to 150C and prepare the cake tins, 3 8 inch tins work well, grease the sides and line the bases with baking paper.
In a large mixing bowl sieve the flour and cocoa powder, then add the remaining dry ingredients including the blitzed half pack of Oreo's and stir well.
In a large measuring jug, combine the oil, yoghurt, vanilla extract and eggs, whisking with a fork to break the eggs up. Add this liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together well with a hand whisk, you don't really need an electric beater for this cake although sometimes I use the KitchenAid just for ease!
Next add the boiling water to the cake mix, ensuring that it's incorporated well. The mix will seem very runny but trust me, it will be delicious.
Divide the cake mix evenly between the 3 cake tins and bake for about 25-30 minutes until the cake is springing to the touch and a cake tester comes out clean. You'll be able to tell because you'll smell Oreo's coming out of the oven and the top of the cake will be beautiful and shiny.
Take the cakes out of the oven and cook for around 10 minutes to let the sponge firm up a little and the tins to cool, then remove the cakes from the tins and leave on cooling racks until the cakes are completely cold.
If the cakes have domed, now is the time when cool to use a serrated knife to take off the tops, enjoy them as a cooks treat!
Whilst the cakes are baking, you can make the buttercream. In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric whisk for 4 minutes until very soft and creamy. Add half of the icing sugar and about 1/3 of the cream and whisk again to combine. Start on a low speed or you'll end up covered in icing sugar!
Then add the remaining icing sugar and another 1/3 of the cream and repeat the process. Once incorporated you can increase the speed of the whisks up to high and beat for about 2 minutes. The buttercream will start to become light and fluffy. Add the remaining cream as you see fit, it will make it softer and lighter for icing the cakes the more you use.
Once you have your buttercream, add the blitzed packet of Oreo's and mix well. Use to decorate the cake as you see fit!
I sometimes use extra Oreo crumb as decoration and chopped up Oreo's on top of the cake nestled in roses of icing. We'd love to see how you decorate your cakes!