Cookies and cream is a flavor that I absolutely love. The combination of crushed Oreos and vanilla cake in this high altitude cookies and cream cake recipe is simply irresistible. The cake is soft, moist and buttery, speckled with flecks of cookies, and the fluffy buttercream is perfectly salted to balance the sweetness. This is a cake that gets even better the second day, as the cookies soften from the moisture of the cake. You’ll love this delicious cake!
You might also love these cookies and cream cupcakes, cookies and cream ice cream, and cookies and cream white chocolate bark.
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Where Did Cookies and Cream Come From?
There’s actually quite a bit of debate as to who invented cookies and cream ice cream, with a dozen or so claims to being the first to mix Oreos into vanilla ice cream. Regardless of who came up with it, it was a genius idea, and it’s one of my all-time favorite ice cream flavors. And if you love ice cream speckled with chocolate cookies, then you’ll adore this Oreo cake recipe!
There are a few ways you can go about adding the Oreos to your cake and buttercream. For big chunks of cookies throughout the cake, just roughly chop the cookies and fold them into the batter. You can also sprinkle more chopped cookies in between the cake layers. In my cookies and cream cake recipe, I didn’t want the cookie filling to add excessive sweetness, so I scraped out the filling, and finely ground just the cookies in a food processor. Then I folded the cookie crumbs into the cake batter and buttercream for a pretty speckled look throughout. How much you add to your cake and frosting is totally up to you! Be sure to save a few cookies to decorate the top of the cake.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Oreos. You don’t need name-brand Oreos, of course, any chocolate sandwich cookie will do for this Oreo cake recipe.
- Cake Flour. Although you can use all-purpose flour, cake flour makes a lighter, fluffier cake since it has a lower percentage of protein.
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture.
- Baking Powder. Leavens the cake batter so it rises.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. A pinch of salt in baked goods enhances the flavors and balances the sweetness.
- Eggs + Egg Whites. The eggs add structure to the cake, and a few extra egg whites.
- Buttermilk. The acidity and richness of buttermilk makes a soft, moist and tender cake.
- Unsalted Butter + Vegetable Oil. You get both flavor and moisture by using a combination of melted butter and oil.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk for 10-15 seconds until well combined.
- Briefly fold in the crushed cookies, being careful not to over-mix. You should have streaks of crumbs, but if you mix them in too much, your cake batter will turn gray.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.
TIP: When folding the chopped/crushed cookies into your cake batter and buttercream, be sure to fold gently and don’t over mix, or you’ll turn the mixture gray.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt and mix until combined.
- Add the vanilla and beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Add the milk only if needed for desired consistency.
- Gently fold in the crushed Oreos, taking care not to over-mix, or the frosting will turn gray.
- When the cakes are cool, run a knife around the edges and remove from the pans. Set one cake layer on a cake board or pedestal. Stack and fill the cakes with the buttercream, then frost all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat.
- Frost the cake with a final layer of buttercream. If you like, decorate the top of the cake with Oreos and piped swirls of buttercream.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use any kind of chocolate cookie?
You can use any type of Oreos, hard, crunchy chocolate sandwich cookie or chocolate wafer cookies. I would not use chocolate graham crackers.
Should I chop the cookies with or without the filling?
This is really up to you. The filling is so sweet, that I decided not to use it, and I finely ground just the cookie part to add a speckled look to my cake and frosting. But you can certainly chop up the whole cookies into large chunks and add those to your cake batter.
What should I use if I don’t have buttermilk?
The acidity in buttermilk makes cakes so soft and tender. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own sour milk by adding 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar to every cup of whole milk.
What piping tip did you use to pipe the swirls on top of the cake?
I used Tip 1M. If piping the buttercream, be sure the cookies are ground very finely, since large chunks will clog the piping tip. To decorate your cake, you should position the Oreos on the cake first, then pipe the swirls of buttercream in between the cookies.
What size pans should I use?
I always use three 8-inch pans for the full recipe, and three 6-inch pans for a half recipe.
Does this recipe work for cupcakes?
This is a great recipe to use for cookies and cream cupcakes. For cupcakes, I like to place a whole Oreo on the bottom, and then spoon the batter over the Oreo. This makes a lot of batter, though, so I would cut the recipe in half to make a batch of cupcakes.
Did this recipe used to be different?
When I published my cookies and cream cake recipe a few years ago, I made it using my white velvet cake recipe for the cake, frosted with Oreo buttercream and lots of crushed cookies between the cake layers. There are so many ways you can customize this recipe so it’s just how you like it!
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High Altitude Cookies and Cream Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 ¼ cups (390g) cake flour, spooned, leveled and sifted
- 1 ½ cups (324g) granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 (110g) large eggs
- 3 (105g) egg whites
- 1 ½ cups (403ml) buttermilk, room temperature
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (112g) vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 Oreos, frosting removed, finely crushed
- 5 Oreos, roughly chopped
Buttercream
- 2 cups (452g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups (560g) powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp (9g) meringue powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp (33-66ml) milk, only if needed for consistency
- 5 Oreos, frosting removed, finely crushed
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk for 10-15 seconds until well combined.
- Briefly fold in the crushed and chopped cookies, being careful not to over-mix. You should have streaks of crumbs, but if you mix them in too much, your cake batter will turn gray.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt and mix until combined.
- Add the vanilla and beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Add the milk only if needed for desired consistency.
- Gently fold in the crushed Oreos, taking care not to over-mix, or the frosting will turn gray.
- When the cakes are cool, run a knife around the edges and remove from the pans. Set one cake layer on a cake board or pedestal. Stack and fill the cakes with the buttercream, then frost all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat.
- Frost the cake with a final layer of buttercream. If you like, decorate the top of the cake with Oreos and piped swirls of buttercream.
It looks utterly beautiful and delicious, and your tip about allowing the cookies to soften a bit in the cake the day before is really helpful – I love the slight softness they get when they sit around a bit so this texture would be delicious in a cake too
I LOVED this cake and it was pretty easy to put together. I took it to work and my co-workers went crazy over it. The only thing different I did to save time was to use store-bought frosting.
Wondering if you are high altitude or if the recipe works everywhere?
I’ve developed my recipes for high altitude, specifically for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. You can certainly bake them at lower altitudes or sea level, with a few adjustments. This is a good article to refer to on how to adjust recipes for altitudes: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking
Oh My Goodness! I am currently making my 6th one this month alone! I work as an at home nursing assistant and my employers can’t get enough of this dessert 🙂 So good and fancy looking yet so easy to make, Just about have this recipe memorized!
Riyanna
Wow, six times in a month!! I'm so thrilled everyone loves it so much. 🙂
Can I use the all purpose flour and cornstarch trick here to replace the cake flour?
It should be fine!
Can oil be replaced with melted butter?
Generally, yes, that works just fine in cakes, although an oil-based cake tends to be lighter and more moist, while butter-based cakes are a bit more dense since the butter firms up as the cakes cool.
I tried this baking at sea level and it came out tasting great, but just a little dense. Any recommendations to adjust for a little lighter result, at my low altitude? Thanks!
Deneyce, since this is a high altitude recipe, the proportions of flour and leavening are a bit different than what they would need to be for sea level. So for it to rise correctly at sea level, you’d need to reduce the flour by several tablespoons and slightly increase the leavening. I’d probably suggest increasing the baking powder from 3 teaspoons to 4 teaspoons so that it rises enough for a fluffy texture that’s not dense. Also make sure you’re measuring your flour correctly, by lightly spooning it into the measuring cups and sweeping it off the top. If you scoop the flour with your measuring cup, it packs too much flour in, resulting in dense baked goods. I hope that helps!
Love the ease of making this cake. I used 3 round cake pans, 8 inch. My cakes came out and were only about 1 inch high. Total cake was no higher than a 2 layer cake. Any ideas on what I did wrong? I am at 5,453 feet above sea level.
Hmm, it sounds like your cakes didn’t rise enough, so I’d check to make sure your baking powder isn’t expired, as well as test the temperature of your oven to be sure it’s calibrated correctly.
Is there a way to incorporate the Oreo filling into the frosting so that it’s not being wasted?? Could it replace the vanilla?
I made this for my husband’s birthday and it was a huge success. I subbed 1/2 C of the buttermilk for 1/2 cup of brewed coffee, cooled. That little bit of espresso flavor really comes through, and was delicious!