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Chocolate Oreo Cake

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This Chocolate Oreo Cake has layers of moist chocolate cake filled with creamy Oreo frosting and topped with more crushed Oreos and chocolate shavings. An easy homemade cake recipe that’s an Oreo lover’s dream!

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A 3 layer chocolate cake slice with Oreo frosting laying

An EASY Homemade Chocolate Oreo Cake

If I could pick a second wedding cake to have, it would have been this Chocolate Oreo Cake.

Two things my husband loves most: chocolate cake and Oreos. And I guess I’d have to list Rice Krispie treats if we’re being fair here.

This isn’t the first Oreo cake I’ve made – if you haven’t seen my Oreo Cookies and Cream Cake, it’s a show stopper. There’re so many things you can do with Oreo frosting though, that one cake recipe wasn’t enough. Plus, pairing Oreos with chocolate cake is absolutely necessary. Would you agree?

A whole Oreo cake sitting on a marble cake stand, the cake is topped with crushed Oreos. There's a white and grey polka dot cloth sitting next to the cake plate.

Is it Hard to Make an Oreo Cake?

Making this Chocolate Oreo Cake is easier than you think. It starts with a recipe for my Moist Chocolate Cake recipe, baked in 3, 8-inch layers. However, if you only have 9-inch pans, that will work too, but the cake will have a much higher dome.

The cake recipe is super simple. It’s an oil-based cake, so all you need to do is mix your oil, sugar and eggs and then mix in the dry ingredients.

A 3 layer chocolate cake with Oreo icing on a large white cake plate sprinkled with chocolate shavings

Why I Love This Recipe

Aside from how easy it is, there are a few things that make this homemade Oreo cake really stand out:

  • It’s a nice and stable cake, which makes it great for a layer cake.
  • It’s really fluffy with lots of air bubbles throughout.
  • The cake itself isn’t super chocolately or overly sugary. This means that when it’s paired with a sweet frosting, it’s the perfect combination.
  • It’s flexible. Although I prefer to use Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa, which helps (gives this cake a nice dark color), you can use any unsweetened cocoa powder.

Tips for The Best Chocolate Cakes

  • Use a large measuring cup to portion out the cake batter. It’s about 1 2/3 cups per pan. This will help get evenly baked layers.
  • I also recommend using bake even stripes. These baking stripes are wet, and wrapped around the outsides of your pans. This helps prevent the edges of the cake from cooking too quickly, which forces the batter in the center of the cake to dome. You can find them online or in the baking section of a craft store.
A 3 layer chocolate cake with Oreo frosting and topped with whole Oreos and more frosting

Making the Oreo Frosting

Next, you’ll need a batch of Oreo frosting. This frosting taste like the filling of an Oreo! Most of my frosting recipes start with cold butter. Yes, I said cold.

The key to being successful with this Oreo frosting is whipping the butter at various stages in the process. This will give you a much lighter and airy texture to the frosting, which is easier to spread.

I also recommend using a food processor to grind the Oreos into a fine crumb, which will blend into your frosting much smoother. And don’t worry about taking the filling out of the cookies. It wouldn’t be an Oreo without the filling.

A slice of chocolate oreo cake on a white cake plate. It's 3 layers of chocolate cake with a creasy Oreo frosting.

Assembling Your Oreo Cake

First fill your cake layers with a layer of frosting. I like to use a large piping bag. Cut off the tip and work your way from the outside edge and into the middle.

This creates a nice even surface for your frosting layers. It also gives you enough frosting so that nearly every bite has a little bit of cake and a little bit of frosting.

Next add a thin layer of frosting to the outside of your cake, this is called a crumb coat. It allows you to have a smoother surface to apply your final layer of frosting.

A whole Oreo cake sitting on a marble cake stand, the cake is topped with crushed Oreos

Some people prefer to refrigerate their crumb coat for 20 minutes before frosting the final coat. This just gives you a cleaner edge to work with when you’re applying your final layer of frosting.

Finally, it’s time to decorate. This is your chance to make this cake your own. For my Oreo Chocolate Cake I’ve used a variety of open star tips to make different rosettes and then garnished it with a few crushed cookies.

Can I Make Oreo Cupcakes With This Recipe?

You can also make these as cupcakes! The recipe makes 24-26 cupcakes. If you want to top each one with an Oreo, grab an extra package of cookies at the store.

A 3 layer chocolate cake with Oreo icing on a large white cake plate sprinkled with chocolate shavings

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A 3 layer chocolate cake with Oreo icing on a large white cake plate sprinkled with chocolate shavings

Chocolate Oreo Cake Recipe

  • Author: Julianne Dell
  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Cook Time: 22 min
  • Total Time: 1 hour 7 minutes
  • Yield: 8-10 slices

Description

This Oreo Chocolate Cake is layers of moist, homemade chocolate cake filled with a creamy Oreo frosting and topped with more crushed Oreos and chocolate shavings. 

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (285g)
  • ½ cup vegetable oil (118 ml)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (15 ml)
  • ½ cup light sour cream (118 ml)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (280g)
  • ½ cup cocoa powder (55 g)
  • 1 tablespoon espresso powder (5g) (optional)
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder (9 g)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda (2 g)
  • 1 teaspoon salt (5 g)
  • 1 ¼ cup brewed coffee (296 ml)

For the frosting

  • 2 cups (4 sticks) (453g) unsalted butter, cold
  • 78 cups (910-1041g) powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons (30-44ml) heavy whipping cream
  • 1 bag (14.3 oz) Oreos
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

For the cake: 

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare 3 8-inch round baking pans, line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the sides. Prepare your bake even stripes if desired.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color. Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Alternate half the dry ingredients followed by half of the coffee and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
  4. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed.
  5. Divide the batter evenly between the three pans, about 1 2/3 cups of batter per pan. Bake at 350°F for 20-24 minutes. Rotate your pans in the oven halfway through baking.
  6. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, your cake is done. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

For the frosting:

  1. Cut the butter into pieces. Using the paddle attachment, whip the butter at medium high speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Beat the butter until it looks lighter in color.
  2. Slowly add the powdered sugar, 2 cups at a time, adding the heavy whipping cream intermittently, mixing on low speed until it’s incorporated into the butter. Then increase the speed to high and beat for 30-60 seconds. Repeat until all your powdered sugar has been added.
  3. Save 6 Oreos for garnish. In a food processor, grind the remaining Oreos into a fine crumb. Add the crushed Oreos to the frosting along with the vanilla extract. Slowly beat the crumbs into the frosting then beat at a high speed for 60 seconds.

To assemble this cake:

  1. level off your cakes by removing any domes. Place a dollop of frosting on your cake board and place the bottom layer of cake over that.
  2. Pipe the first layer of frosting, pipe in circles working outside edge to the middle. Spread evenly with an offset spatula. Add the second layer of cake and add the remaining frosting. Place the third layer of cake on top.
  3. Use you offset spatula to press any excess frosting onto the edges of the cake. To finish, pipe the frosting along the outside edge of the cake using a large open round tip or a cake icer tip. Then use an offset spatula or icing smoother to create a smooth edge.
  4. To pipe the rosettes on top, use an open star tip such as Ateco 844. Use leftover Oreos for garnish. You can either cut them in half and place on top or crush the crumb and sprinkle around the outside edge of the cake.
  • Category: Cake
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: oreo cake, chocolate oreo cake, easy oreo dessert, oreo layer cake, how to make an oreo cake, oreo birthday cake

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60 Responses
  1. Lorenzo

    Really Nice! The crushed Oreos in the icing just made the cake flow! However the icing was a tiny bit too sweet but it was really nice overall.

  2. Christina

    This cake is amazinggg!! The cake itself is delicious- the coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor. It’s moist and could be eaten by itself it’s so delicious. The frosting is SO GOOD! It’s the perfect buttercream and made even better with the Oreo crumbs and light crunch. I will definitely make this cake again. It came together really easily and tastes amazing!

  3. Ashley Walters

    It sounds really good i am going to use your recipe so should I keep the cake out of refrigerator overnight I will be baking my birthday cake on Saturday

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Ashley- as long as you do not live in a hot or humid climate, this should be okay on the counter in an airtight container under Saturday. It’s okay to refrigerate this too but it’s best served at room temp

  4. Charlie

    So good!! The cake is a great texture, just a bit more dense than cakes I usually make. My husband isn’t a big chocolate cake fan and he even loved it. The whole thing is delicious and not overly sweet. My only challenge was the frosting being quite stiff and difficult to spread. I’m sure I did something wrong with that, but not sure what.

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Thank you Charlie! I am so glad you enjoyed it. Next time, whip your butter for longer in the beginning and just keep beating it for longer as you add the powdered sugar. You can also add a bit more liquid 2-3 teaspoons of milk or cream.

  5. Jacinta

    The cake itself was perfect and moist. The icing was way too sweet, even for my kids. The icing tasted fine after 4 cups of icing sugar but I figured I should stick to the recipe as maybe I would end up with not enough icing if I didn’t add the additional sugar. Nope, ended up with too much icing that was sickeningly sweet. Will definitely use the cake recipe again but will try it with different icing.

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Jacinta, thanks for your feedback. You did the right thing to add more icing, 4 cups would have left you short, generally speaking, it’s 2 cups of powdered sugar for every 1/2 cup of butter. If you ended up with extra icing it’s likely that you just did;t use as much between your layer or to frost and decorate with. If you want a much less sweet frosting, you could try a Swiss meringue buttercream and add Oreo cookie crumbs

      1. Linda

        You may also try removing some of the icing from the cookies before crushing them. I love adding whipping cream to my frostings. That may help to temper down the sweetness more to you liking.

      2. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
        Beyond Frosting

        This frosting does have whipping cream :). but yeah, if you want to remove the filling of the Oreos, be my guest 🙂

  6. Michele A.

    I made this cake for a 30yr old bday who thoroughly enjoys chocolate and Oreos and it was perfect!
    The cake came out beautifully, no problems, and the frosting makes the cake! I did end up adding more like 5-6 tbs of heavy cream to smooth the frosting out! It is a fudge like consistency.
    The cake was not over the top super sweet, it was very palatable and perfect for chocolate & Oreo fans! Thanks for sharing this recipe!

  7. Kaaya

    Hi

    Any tips on how to make it in a rectangle or square pan. Do I just fill the pan half way depending on the size?

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Kaaya, the batter is about 5 cups. Do to make sure layers are baked evenly, you would just divide that by the number of layers you’re making. Or if it’s a 9×13 inch pan, you can just bake the whole batter at one time for approximately 25 minutes.

  8. Vasie

    I made this cake for my son’s birthday. I followed the recipe to the T. The cake was extremely soft.It was difficult to remove from the pans without breaking them😥.
    I managed to salvage them….and put them im the freezer for 3 hours before attempting to ice them.
    Also the icing was extremely sweet and almost inedible. I was really disappointed.

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Vasie, I make this chocolate cake quite often, and never have an issue removing them from the pan. Did you make sure to grease and flour them really well? The cake is soft but should be quite stable to handle. You always have the option to use less powdered sugar in the frosting, but it will produce different results as far as texture, taste and overall yield of the frosting

  9. David Hedden

    Thanks for sharing. The whole thing is crowned with a chocolate ganache that just takes everything to another level.

  10. Angelika. Hopkins

    My daughter wanted to make a mini birthday cake for her friend, so I halved the recipe and filled three 4“ pans. The cakes were so high that I could cut each one in half and we made two three-layer mini cakes. One we tasted that day and the other one for her friend.
    The cake is delicious. The crumb is nice and moist. I was concerned about the coffee flavor and actually used brewed decaf. As you said in one comment though- the coffee brings out the chocolate flavor more. Sooo good!
    I am not a big chocolate cake fan but this is delicious!
    Will make this cake again tomorrow for one of my friends birthday.

  11. Angelika Hopkins

    My daughter and me this cake today in mini form. My daughter wanted to make a birthday cake for her friend, so we halfed the recipe and baked it in three 4” pans. I used decaf coffee instead of regular brewed coffee and only a quarter of the amount.
    The cake baked so high that we could cut each 4” in half and got to make two mini cakes.
    This cake is so delicious and moist (I will use this for chocolate cakes from now on)and the frosting is delectable.
    Wish I could include a picture.
    Thank you for the recipe!

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      This is so special! Thank you so much for sharing! I would love to see it! You can email me julianne at beyondfrosting dot com

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      You can still use the same cake recipe. For two 9-inch cakes, they baked from 28-32 minutes. Baking times will vary due to how full the pans are, type of pans and true oven temperature. Please note these did “crust” a little more on the outside edge due to extended baking times and they rose quite a bite in the middle, so you’ll lose more of the “dome” of the cake.

  12. Sarah

    Hello
    I so wanna bake this cake but would like to know if it will be ok if I reduced the powdered sugar for the frostinf to 600g-650???

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Sarah- you can certainly reduce the powdered sugar, it will alter the taste and texture of your frosting. Most frosting uses 2 cups (260g) for every 1/2 cup of butter. So the frosting may be a little buttery or thin, also it will yield less frosting. So if you do reduce the powdered sugar, you may need to also reduce the liquid so that your frosting doesn’t end up being too thin.

  13. michelle

    My boyfriend wants me to make this cake for his birthday and i want to make it with 6 inch cake pans (i just bought them and i’m really excited to try them lol). I have 5 of them and on the box it came in it says it fits one box cake perfectly. Should i change some of the ingredients? Or should i just make another cake with the extra batter i have?

  14. Shannon

    Is the coffee flavor strong? Can you substitute the coffee for something else? I’m making this tomorrow for my son’s girlfriend’s 16th birthday.

  15. annelimited

    Never a fan of butter icing coz they are super sweet but my 6 yo son requested an oreo cake for his bday. I couldn’t find a recipe using a whip icing so I tried this. I only use 7 cups of powdered sugar plus the sugar from the cookies makes this icing so sweet. I only noticed that the icing with only 3 tbsp whipping cream makes the icing too thick, not even spreadable. Im not sure if that’s a mistake of measuring. So I added I think 1/2 cup more of whip cream. Is it normal that the icing gets hard after you put it in the fridge? Did you try a whip icing for this cake? Ty!

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Anne- thanks for your question. If you frosting was that stiff, it sounds like maybe you needed to whip the butter more in the beginning and throughout to get it to be less stiff. I’ve never used that much whipping cream in my frosting before, 3-4 tablespoons should be plenty as long as the butter is properly whipped. I also do not refrigerate my frosting or cakes, as the butter in the frosting gets really firm again (like a stick of butter).So yes, if you refrigerated the frosting, it would be very hard again. If you wanted a WHIPPED CREAM frosting then you can just make whipped cream and fold in crushed Oreos. This would also be a lot less sweet than buttercream.

  16. Chris

    Not my favorite chocolate cake recipe. I might make the frosting again, but it would be with a different cake recipe. It’s not particularly Oreo-y– I’m glad we had Oreo ice-cream to go with.

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Chris- What do you mean by Oreo-y? The cake or the frosting? What exactly would make this better for you, just asking so I can try and understand your comments. thanks!

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Summer- if it’s covered in an airtight container and refrigerated, likely one week. But I do recommend serving at room temperature for the best taste and texture.

  17. Christine

    Could I make this a rectangle 2 layer cake?
    My pan is 14.5 x 11
    Would I need to alter the ingredients?
    If I bake just one big cake then slice it in half when cooled, will that work with your measurements?

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Hi Christine, if you were to be a 9×13 inch size pan, it would bake for about 22-25 minutes. If you wanted to cut that in half to create a 2 layer cake, you’d have 2 thinner layers- keeping in mind the middle would be higher than the edges unless you leveled it. Your pan size is similar in size but baking times would be adjusted accordingly. This is more than enough frosting for that.

  18. Summer

    This cake is seriously amazing! I’m NOT a baker and never bake cakes but made this for a birthday, and WOW was it good. My entire family has requested it for their birthday now. Thank you for this!

    1. Julianne - Beyond Frosting
      Beyond Frosting

      Summer that is so awesome to hear!! You’ll find several variations of this chocolate cake recipe on my site if you’re looking for more. Enjoy and thanks for sharing!

  19. Laura

    I hate you. This cake was sooo AWESOME I want to have it every day. I used the new dark chocolate stuffed Oreos so the frosting came out this horrible shade but was absolutely delicious. Wanted to use red food coloring to make it darker but of course I was out of red! Need to experiment to make more visually appealing but the taste spoke for itself. Outstanding recipe, THANK YOU!!!!

  20. Tina

    What flavor does espresso add to the cake? Richness? Magnifies the chocolate flavor? Planning on making this for a very special Birthday. Thanks! 🙂

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