Cookies and Cream Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Cookies and Cream Cake is a fluffy, soft vanilla cake, layered with vanilla buttercream frosting, and studded with chocolate sandwich cookies- what’s not to like? Cookies and cream is such a popular flavor combination that this delicious cake will please most any palate.

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This cake starts with a lovely homemade vanilla cake recipe. This recipe makes one of the most deliciously moist yet fluffy vanilla cakes I’ve ever had. It’s a pretty standard vanilla cake recipe, but the addition of the chopped cookies takes it over the top. It’s important not to chop the cookies too finely, for both the cake and the frosting, to prevent an unappetizing gray result. I prefer the texture of the cake with the cookies chopped in bigger pieces as well.

Cake Pan Strips

One of my favorite tips is to use cake strips around the cake pans for an even rise. The cake strips I use can be found here: Cake Pan Strips. You simply soak the strips in water and wring them out a bit before wrapping them around the cake pans. This helps prevent the outsides of the cake from cooking faster than the insides, which ensures the middle doesn’t rise up in a dome shape while the edges get too brown and crunchy. See how the cakes are even across the top in this picture? This way you don’t have to fuss with trimming off the tops of the cakes before frosting them. (Although it can be a nice treat to enjoy eating the cake tops!)

Once the cake is baked and the layers are cooling, I like to start preparing the frosting. Again, this is a standard vanilla buttercream recipe with the addition of chopped cookies. The frosting is so creamy and tastes like the middle of an Oreo cookie to me. Which was perfect because those are my preferred cookies to use for this type of dessert.

Types of Cookies to Use in Cookies & Cream Cake

You can use either the standard sized Oreos or the mini ones to decorate this cake. I had both on hand, so I used the standard sized ones to decorate the top edges and chopped the mini ones to put in the center and around the bottom edge. Again, make sure you don’t chop the cookies too finely for the buttercream or the frosting will turn gray. Which is great if that’s what you’re going for! But I wanted this cake to be creamy white with the contrast of the dark cookies. I think it makes a stunning appearance.

A Beautiful Presentation

This really is a beautiful cake. It would be perfect for a birthday cake for Oreo lovers, or just about any occasion really. You can see how fluffy the cake layers are. I love how the chopped cookies look inside the cake itself. They actually stay surprisingly crunchy inside the baked cake instead of going soft. They stay pretty crunchy in the frosting as well. I’m sure after a few days the cookies soften, but since I share the cakes and other bakes that I make, we often don’t get to find out.

Just looking at this cake again makes me want a huge slice with a big glass of milk. And I don’t even really drink milk straight. I can just imagine how happy your family or loved one would be if they came home from work or school to a big slice of Cookies and Cream Cake.

And really, that’s the best part of baking for me- the sharing. I love sharing what I bake with others. Baking feels really special these days when you can buy just about anything ready-made at the grocery store. Doesn’t it feel like a special, heart-warming treat when someone bakes something from scratch? Don’t you want to go for the homemade goods on the dessert table at a pot luck instead of the store-bought ones? I know I do. And I always appreciate the time, effort, and love, that went into baking it.

Have you tried my Cookies & Cream Cake recipe? Let me know in the comments below!

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Cookies and Cream Cake

A fluffy, soft, vanilla cake studded with chocolate sandwich cookies and layered with cookies and cream buttercream frosting.

4.60 from 10 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Cooling Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 12 servings

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 1/2 cup butter Salted or unsalted, your preference
• 1/2 cup oil Canola , vegetable, or other light oil preferred
• 1 1/2 cups sugar Granulated or caster sugar
• 4 eggs, medium to large Room temperature
• 2-3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour Cake flour substitute: measure one cup flour (120g), remove 2 tablespoons flour and add 2 tablespoons of corn starch or corn flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, room temperature May substitute with 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice per cup of whole milk, but real buttermilk is best here
• 1 cup Oreo cookies, chopped

Cookies & Cream Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup butter, room temperature May use salted or unsalted
• 4 cups powdered sugar Might need more or less
• 3 tbsp cream or milk Depending on consistency
• 1-2 tsp Vanilla To taste
• Pinch of salt May skip if you use salted butter
• 1 cup chopped Oreo cookies Don't chop too finely

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350F / 177C / gas mark 4. Lightly grease two 8" cake pans with Baker's Joy or grease and flour. If using baking strips, place them in a bowl of water to soak.
• In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla until combined.
• With the mixer on low, or by hand, gently alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk, adding a third of each at a time, beginning and ending with the flour. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and avoid over-mixing.
• Gently stir in chopped Oreo cookies by hand. Do not over mix or the cake will take on a gray shade.
• Pour the batter evenly into the prepared baking pans. Remove the baking strips from the water and squeeze as much water out as you can. Secure a strip around each pan.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick or skewer inserted near the center comes out clean with no wet batter. (Some moist crumbs are to be expected.)
• Allow to cool in the pans for up to 20 minutes. Then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Cookies and Cream Buttercream

• In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or a large bowl with hand held mixer), beat butter until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, 3 tbsp cream, vanilla, and salt if using. Beat slowly at a low speed until the powdered sugar is incorporated. Increase to medium speed and beat for 2-3 minutes. Test the texture: if it's too stiff, add more cream or milk. If too loose, add more powdered sugar.
• Stir in chopped Oreos to make Cookies & Cream Buttercream frosting. (Be careful not to stir too vigorously or the cookies will break up too much and the frosting will have a gray tint.)
• When cakes are completely cooled, frost with Cookies and Cream Buttercream frosting in the middle, top, and sides, and decorate the top with extra cookies.

Keyword buttercream, cake, cookies and cream, dessert, oreos, vanilla

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!