oreo chocolate cake

Often, my older daughter will ask if what I'm serving her for dinner is "healthy". She's not concerned about her own health, but rather trying to judge the likelihood of me giving her an oreo cookie for dessert if she asks. I'll often give in if she has eaten a balanced meal beforehand, and it just makes her day. So while trying to come up with a cake for her birthday party, we thought that an oreo cake would be perfect for her. Plus, I have had my fill of cake decorating lately, so I was happy to leave the food coloring in the cupboard for once!

The last few times I baked a chocolate cake or cupcakes, I used new recipes, and I happily went back to my old standard chocolate cake recipe for this one. It is so superior! I really think I have found THE chocolate cake recipe! It's moist, it's not too sweet, so easy to make, and it comes out perfect! I've blogged about it many times before, so i'm not going to repost the recipe. This time, I had just the right amount of batter to make two 9-inch layers, and two 6-inch layers that I stashed in the freezer for another use.

The oreo filling is quite simply american buttercream with chopped oreo cookies in  it. Before adding the cookies, I removed some of the plain vanilla frosting to a piping bag so I could decorate the top.

Oreo Frosting
recipe adapted from Wilton

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup softened butter
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
8 tsp whipping cream
1 pound powdered sugar
8 oreo cookies, each chopped into about 6 pieces

Cream the shortening and butter together. Add the vanilla and whipping cream and mix until incorporated. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. If the consistency of the frosting is too stiff, add some whipping cream until desired creaminess is achieved. Fold in the chopped oreo cookies.

I simply sandwiched the filling between the two layers of chocolate cake, then added a layer of ganache to the top of the cake. Ganache is basically equal parts heavy cream and chocolate. Chopped chocolate is put into a bowl while the cream is heated to near boiling. The cream then gets poured over the chocolate and left to melt the chocolate for a few minutes. Then, by stirring the mixture from the center of the bowl outwards, a  perfectly smooth and creamy chocolate glaze is created. I find it added a nice element to this cake, and would not skip it. It was delicious!

So happy that this cake concluded my daughter's four birthday parties! Moving on!