Oreo Cake

Presenting my brother's birthday cake for this year! For a good month before his birthday, I was asking my brother what he wanted to eat on his birthday and nearly every day, he changed his mind. He went from lasagne to homemade pizza, takeaway to beef wellington, rice to creamy pasta and then macaroni. But there was one thing he was certain of from the onset, "I want an Oreo cake please." He even went on to tell me what he wanted it to look like, and I copied 90% of the image he showed me. The Oreo cookies on top were meant to be standing on piped double cream in an angular fashion but I am absolutely rubbish at piping, I guess I don't have the finesse for it. So, in the end, I cut out the piped double cream and laid the cookies flat on top of the cake. I was thinking of changing that as well but my brother said he loved the way it looked so it stayed as I am showing you today. For the cakes, I used the same chocolate cake recipe I used in Chocolate Caramel Cake and 'I Reject the Devil' Food Cake. And then for the filling and icing, it was a combination of Oreo cookies, double cream and mascarpone for extra creaminess. I was worried about the sugar content of this cake, but the creamy exterior cut through the sweetness and actually made a light cake heavy on chocolate flavour. 

The process of making this cake was exactly the same as the other chocolate cakes I mentioned above. The oven was preheated at 180 degrees and two sandwich tins were buttered and lined with greaseproof paper. 

In a medium-sized bowl, I placed 50g of cocoa powder, 100g of dark muscovado sugar and 250ml of freshly boiled water from a kettle. 

This was whisked together and left to the side. 

In the standalone mixer I creamed 125g of butter with 150g of sugar until it was pale and light in texture.

In another medium-sized bowl, I put in 225g of plain flour, 1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and quickly mixed this together. This was also placed to the side for a minute.

Going back to my creamed butter and sugar, I added in two teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Then with the mixer on, I added in one of my eggs followed by a few tablespoons of the flour mixture, then my last egg followed with the rest of the flour mixture.

This was mixed together until all the ingredients were fully incorporated and created a plain sponge batter. 

Then taking the hot chocolate mixture I made at the beginning, I poured this into the plain sponge batter. 

With the mixer on the lowest setting, I carefully mixed this together until the chocolate was fully mixed in. I also made sure to use a spatula to scrape the sides as some cheeky bits of plain sponge batter always try to escape its chocolate fate. 

This was poured into the prepared sandwich tins to bake for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes, I checked to see if they were ready by sticking a toothpick into their centres. They came out clean, so I knew they were ready. 

I left my cakes to cool completely for a few hours so that they would be ready for the creamy filling and icing.  

When the cakes were cold, I got started on the filling. Taking seven Oreos, which is half a packet, I roughly broke them by bashing them with the end of a rolling pin. You can easily do this with your hands if you wish. 

These were left to the side while in another bowl, I had 100g of mascarpone and two tablespoons of icing sugar. 

This was whisked together until smooth. I then took 150ml of double cream, poured this over the mascarpone and whisked until thickened. 

The roughly bashed Oreos were folded into this and then spooned onto the bottom layer of cake which sat on a cake stand. I then took the second cake and sandwiched the two together. 

Now for the outer part, I did the same thing with two packets of Oreos in a large bowl but bashed them as finely as I could. If you have a food processor, you can just whizz the Oreos into crumbs. 

In a separate bowl, I whisked 400g of mascarpone with 4 tablespoons of icing sugar until smooth. And then I poured in 450ml of double cream and whisked until thick. And then taking the fine Oreo crumbs, I dumped this into the creamy mixture and folded them in. 

As you start to fold this together, the creamy mixture absorbs the chocolate from the Oreos and turns a chocolatey brown. 

This Oreo cream was then carefully spread all over the cake until it was completely covered. The best advice here is, 'slow and steady wins the race', and you will completely cover the cake. You can go for an overall smooth look, or if you can, add in some swirls, or go for the homemade look like I did. 

And the last thing to do was sit some Oreos from that half packet I used from the filling around the edge of the cake. You can design the top and sides of your cake however you want with as many or little Oreo cookies as you'd like. 

If there's anything this cake has taught me, it's that I should probably learn how to pipe. I did buy some piping equipment, but when I practised, it didn't look appropriate at all and the piping equipment is actually in the bin now. The most important thing is that the birthday boy liked the look of the cake, had two slices and said it was the best cake he'd ever eaten. And I'm proud of myself for creating a creamy filling and icing based on a picture! I've made it so you only need to buy three or four packets of Oreos, one carton of 600ml double cream and two 250g tubs of mascarpone - always thinking of ease.

Serves: 10-12 people 

Prep Time: 35 minutes 

Baking Time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients:

    For the Cake:

• 50g Cocoa Powder, sifted 
• 100g Dark Muscovado Sugar 
• 250ml Boiling Water 
• 125g Unsalted Butter, softened 
• 150g Caster Sugar 
• 225g Plain Flour
• 1/2tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 2tsp Vanilla Extract 
• 2 Eggs 

    For the Cream Filling:

• 7 Oreos, roughly broken  
• 100g Mascarpone 
• 2tbsp Icing Sugar 
• 150ml Double Cream 

    For the Creamy Icing:

• 2x 154g Packet of Oreos, finely broken 
• 400g Mascarpone 
• 4tbsp Icing Sugar
• 450ml Double Cream 

    For the Top:

• As many Oreo cookies as you wish 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and butter and line two sandwich tins with grease-proof paper. 
2. In a medium-sized bowl, put in the cocoa powder, muscovado sugar and boiling water and whisk together. Put this to the side while you get on with the cake batter
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and light in texture. This can be done in a standalone mixer, with an electric hand whisk, or by hand with a wooden spoon. 
4. In another separate medium-sized bowl, place in the flour, baking powder and bicarb and mix together. 
5. In the large creamed bowl, add the vanilla extract. Then, while mixing, crack in an egg, followed by a few tablespoons of the flour mixture making sure it's fully mixed before adding in the last egg. Add the rest of the flour mixture, mixing very well until it's fully incorporated. 
6. Take your hot chocolate mix and pour this into the cake batter and fold this in until the chocolate is completely mixed in. 
7. Divide the batter equally into your sandwich tins and bake for 30 minutes. Check the cakes are ready with a skewer or toothpick, it should come out clean. When the cakes are ready, leave them to completely cool in the tin or wire rack. 
8. When you're ready to serve, place the bottom layer of cake on a plate or stand. In a small bowl, roughly bash seven Oreos with a rolling pin. In a separate bowl, whisk 100g of mascarpone and two tablespoons of icing sugar until smooth. Pour in the 150ml of double cream and whisk until thick. 
9. Spread this over the bottom layer of cake and sit the top layer on top of this. 
10. In a large bowl bash two packets of Oreos as finely as you can (or with a food processor). In a separate large bowl, whisk the remaining mascarpone with four tablespoons of icing sugar, again until smooth, and pour in the remaining double cream until it has thickened. Pour the fine Oreo crumbs into this and fold them together. 
11. Spread this all over the cake as smoothly as you want and decorate with Oreo cookies in any design that you wish.