Chocolate + Oreo Layer Cake
I’m really fighting the urge for the forced quarantine to propel me into a 24/7 life of sweats, messy hair, and just an all-day//everyday very casual look. & calling it my “casual look” is generous. Like - it’s a fun break for a day or two, but on day 3 or 4 of seeing my undone self in the mirror, the “get it together” mental note starts setting in. I call it the look good feel good method, and I’m giving it the full college try. These days, it means getting ready for the day & being able to feel like a put together girl ready for anything the world has in store for me, even if household projects & chores, dog-mom-ing, & diving into Disney + are the only things on the agenda. No excuse to let it all go! I’ve gone as far as finally putting on the dress I’ve been saving for our next date-night out on the town (I deemed a virtual Zoom party with our 2 best friends a worthy occasion), diving head first into make-up tutorials that result in me looking like I’m going to prom, & on this particular day, getting myself good & ready to bake a cake in style. A Chocolate + Oreo Layer Cake to be exact.
First things first - this cake is really simple to make, and is going to be kept in my back pocket as an option for when we’re having people over and need a sure fire hit. The cake itself is easy, the cream cheese filling is not temperamental at all, and the ganache finisher just takes a little patience and attention. No really crazy elements, & to nail each bit that goes into the final product, all that’s needed is time and a moderate amount of concentration, & what is so comforting about this recipe is there is no part of it - from prep to assembly - that takes resiliency & determination. Simple instructions and a lot of crowd pleasing, chocolate flavors that any dessert lover is guaranteed to like. That’s this cake in a nutshell.
This is a cake very much dedicated to my sweet, chocolate loving husband, who very rarely gets a dessert that is chocolate on chocolate on chocolate, which I know is what he truly loves. So nailing something that would truly appease his chocolate loving tastebuds was a top quarantine priority number. Jordan a purest, so when I say he’s a chocolate on chocolate kind of guy, I mean that if he were in charge of picking out his own birthday cake, 99% chance he’d be all in on the chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. Which, to be honest, is a cake I’d be so unexcited about. The result is me forcing a change up in flavors to the situation while trying to keep in mind that this cake is not about me, it’s a quarantine treat for Jordo, so keeping it chocolate heavy is still key. Queue the Oreo cookies & cream cheese, and we’ve got ourselves an ideal filling!
The cake itself is a classic chocolate cake, & it’s everything you’d expect it to be. Sweet, a little bitter, and chocolate heavy. When it comes to a chocolate dessert, peanut butter & salted caramel are my go-to add-ins, but Oreos are like the sleeper hit I forget about. I mean - hello Cookies n’ Cream ice cream. Always so good, & so satisfying to get that Oreo chunk in a spoonful. This is like a the cake equivalent. A tangy & sweet cream cheese layer filled with Oreo chunks. What is not to love? & shout out to our friend Jeff who recently reminded us how amazing cookies n’ cream ice cream is, because it was the sole inspiration to this filling.
This is an easy cake to make, and I say this strictly because the process of icing the cake is eliminated. Icing is my make or break process during any at-home cake making, and it’s determining factor as to whether we’ve got a cake success or one that did not turn out ok. But ganaching is f*cking fool proof (& a really good cheat if you’re like having company over or don’t want to have the pressure of frosting a cake). It’s a fudge-like icing and so delightfully rich, and just an ideal final touch. I used dark chocolate and melted that into heavy cream to make this variation, and it was so good. Not too sweet, but unmistakably dark chocolate, and I simply loved it.
The key to pulling off a smooth ganache that will look neat & clean on top of a cake - just keep whisking. Literally - can’t stress this point enough. Trust that the warmed heavy cream will be enough to melt the chocolate, and then just keep whisking until you have super smooth melted chocolate. You’ll go through the kind of scary phase of having a clump of semi melted chocolate chips that have just formed this glob on the end of the whisk, but just keep whisking & whisking, and you’ll move to the smooth, shiny, & perfect ganache phase.
The effortless part of the cake is just pouring the ganache over the top of the cake, and this takes the place of carefully applying a buttercream or other traditional frosting. Pour slightly cooled & still runny ganache, and let it organically spread across the top layer of the cake, gently nudging the chocolate to the edge of the cake with a flat edge spatula if needed. Letting it lightly drip down the sides of the cake is the only semblance of frosting that coats the whole thing, and the final product is a semi-dirty iced cake with bits of the cake & the cream cheese filling poking through, and is it pretty. To keep it looking perfect you just need to resist the urge to f*ck with the cake. No trying to smooth is out once it sets or spread with a flat edge spatula. Just give it a light spread right after pouring on the runny ganache, let it set, & let it be.
A couple tips for making this cake, and nailing it with ease:
Go overboard with the cream cheese filling. Spread the filling slightly past the edge of the cake so it aids in a dirty iced look and fills up any gaps between the two layers of cake.
Don’t get worried about a crooked cake. My cake was a little off when I stacked the two layer, but the final layer of adding ganache really fixed the problem. So main point - ganache fixes all when it comes to this cake.
Don’t skimp on the Oreos. They’re truly the fun surprise of the cake. So if you’ve a few extra cookies laying around, throw em in! The more the merrier.
As with every time some type of chocolate dessert goes down at our house, it’s a labor of love for my husband. The ultimate chocolate lover around these parts who doesn’t often get a true chocolate dessert. But this cake - a chocolate cake with a chocolate(ish) filling and a rich chocolate ganache to glue it all together - is layers and layers of fun chocolate flavors. Putting this one together was fun, & both cleaning myself up a bit to break-up the unremitting casual vibe of quarantine & ending the day with a sweet treat made this day feel like it was a free day well spent.
For the cake
1 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 c. flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp baking powder
3 c. sugar
3/4 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c. almond milk
1 1/2 c. hot water
For the Oreo filling
1/2 c. heavy cream
about 15 Oreo cookies, crushed (plus extra for garnish)
1-8 oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature
For the ganache
1 c. heavy cream
1-12 oz. bag of dark chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease & flour 2 cake pans & line the bottom with parchment paper. Set the pans aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking soda, & baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar. Next, add in the eggs & vanilla, mixing until combined. Whisk in the oil. Add in half of the the flour mixture & half of the almond milk, whisking until fully combined, then adding the remainder of both. Last step is whisk in boiling hot water, mixing until you have a lump free, fully mixed cake batter. Divide the batter between your two greased pans, and bake for 50-55 minutes.
When the cake has finished baking, let the cake sit and cool in the pan for an hour. Run a knife along the sides of the cake pan, and remove the cakes from the pan. Let them sit on a rack of cutting board to cool for an additional 2 hours. Once completely cooled, cut off the domed portion of cakes, and snack on the scraps.
Move to making the filling. Place the heavy cream in an electric mixer, and place on high. Whisk the heavy cream until it becomes whipped cream. Add in the cream cheese & crushed oreos, and gently mix in both with spatula until just combined. Add the filling right on top of one cake layer, spread to the very edge of the cake in an even layer, and place the second layer of cake on top. Use a flat edge cake scraper to spread any overhanging filling onto the cake, creating a dirty iced kinda effect. Refrigerate the cake.
In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream over medium heat. Once simmering, turn off the heat and pour the cream over half of the chocolate chips in a large bowl. Whisk until melted, then immediately add in the remaining chocolate chips - gotta act quick! Whisk until you have a smooth ganache that looks just like melted chocolate. Let it at room temp cool for 30-45 minutes.
Bring the cake out of the fridge, and pour the ganache right over the top. Gently spread the ganache with a flat spatula to the edge of the cake, and let the ganache drip down the sides. Sprinkle a few crushed Oreos over the top, & you’ve got a cake that’s ready to go!