Can I start by apologizing for that photo? Yeah, sorry about that. But the cake tasted so good I decided to blog about it anyway – even with a mediocre photo – sue me ;). Sometimes by the time I get a layer cake finished I don’t have much energy left for food styling. That’s exactly what happened here…
I don’t make many layer cakes when I’m in Johnson City mostly because it’s just me and Jordan – pretty hard for two people to clean up a towering layer cake. (And this cake is towering. It was so tall the lid wouldn’t go on my cake stand haha). But also because cupcakes are so much easier to transport…and because cupcakes are so cute! =) For this cake though, I made an exception. I thought about turning it into cupcakes but since my friends were all coming over to my house, transporting it wasn’t an issue. It was definitely a hit! Moist chocolate cake with creamy oreo filling and chocolate ganache – delicious! It’s a good thing I ran 8 miles that morning ;). It looks like an oreo and tastes even better! Enjoy!
Oreo Cake
for the cake:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate , chopped
1/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups water (boiling)
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Adjust oven rack to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, grease three 8-inch cake pans and line bottom of each pan with parchment paper round.
2. Combine chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl; pour boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt onto large sheet parchment or waxed paper; set aside.
3. Place butter in bowl of standing mixer and beat at medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl with rubber spatula.
4. Increase speed to medium-high and add eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce speed to medium; add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl.
5. With mixer on low, add about one third of flour mixture, followed by about one half of chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix gently to thoroughly combine.
6. Divide batter evenly among cake pans (about 15-16 oz per cake pan), smooth batter to edges of pan with rubber spatula. Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes for 8-inch cakes. Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes. Run knife around pan perimeter to loosen. Invert cakes onto large plate; peel off parchment, and reinvert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely.
*adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
for the filling:
6 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
35-40 oreo cookies, coarsely chopped
1. In bowl of stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup whipping cream until smooth.
2. Add the rest of the cream and beat until it has the consistency of whipped cream (don’t overmix). Stir in oreos.
for the ganache:
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine cream and chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until chips are completely melted.
To Assemble:
Place one layer of cake on serving dish. Top with 1/2 of the filling. Repeat. Place final cake layer over filling. Spread evenly with ganache. Store in refrigerator.
