Oreo Lover's Oreo Cake

Tomorrow my dad turns the big four-five. We had a Birthday lunch/dinner (linner? dunch?) this afternoon to celebrate. I offered to make the cake and he only had two requests: Nothing organic and no tofu. My dad likes cake to be delicious and horrible for you, just like God intended. He is also a huge fan of Oreos, so I knew I wanted to make him an Oreo cake.

I looked around a lot for a recipe. I wanted it to be chocolate with Oreo crumbles in the batter. I wanted to use the amazing Oreo buttercream  I had made last year for Catherine's Birthday. But I also wanted the frosting to be white so that I could write on it. I just couldn't find anything that met all my criterea, so I took a couple different recipes and modified them to make the WORLD'S BEST CAKE.

I baked it yesterday and couldn't try it until today. You don't know the self control it took not to eat it right out of the oven. My house smelled amazing. In the words of my husband, it smelled like a baby's laughter. If you only bake one cake in your entire life, let it be this one.

Generally if I am baking a cake from scratch, I bake that puppy from scratch. This recipe, however, uses a box of devil's food cake mix, doctored up a bit. I am at peace with this, because it is fantastic.

Did I mention how good this cake is? No? Well, make it and you, too, will taste the laughter of babies. Or, you know, just a lot of chocolately Oreo goodness.

FOR THE CAKE:

1 (18.25 oz) package of devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups crushed Oreos

1) Preheat oven to 350 and grease two 9 inch round cake pans.

2) Blend up some Oreos. I don't know how many I used, but I threw them in the blender and blended them until I had two cups of crumbs. It was probably a good 1/3 of a package of cookies or more.

3) Mix the cake mix, pudding mix, salt, vanilla, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs, and water in a large bowl. Stir in the crushed Oreos. The batter will be pretty thick. Poor into the cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Rotate the pans halfway through the bake time.

While the cakes are baking and cooling you can make the filling and frosting.

FOR THE FILLING:

10 Oreos, crushed
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk

1) Crush up about 10 Oreos (I put them in a big Ziploc and let my two year old beat them with a rolling pin) and set aside

2) Cream butter and shortening in either a standing or hand mixer. I used my new KitchenAid standing mixer. Once it was nice and creamy I threw in the Oreos, but you could wait until the very end to do this.

3) Alternate adding the powdered sugar and milk until the filling is fluffy and thick. If you haven't added the Oreos already, do it now.

After I finished I scooped it into a bowl so that I could use my mixer for the frosting.

FOR THE FROSTING:

This frosting tastes a whole lot like the creamy center in Oreos. It's pretty magical.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
5 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp milk
4 tsp vanilla extract

1) Stir milk and vanilla together in a small bowl (I used a measuring cup) and set aside.

2) Cream butter and shortening together until creamy and smooth.

3) Add powdered sugar a cup at a time, alternating with the milk and vanilla mixure, until the frosting is light and fluffy. You can always add more milk if it is too thick.

ASSEMBLY:

Once the cake has cooled place a layer on a cake plate, evenly spread the filling over it, place the second cake layer on top, and frost with the frosting. Easy.

I am awesome at cake decorating.

The decadent yumminess of the Oreo Lover's Oreo Cake.

It was a hit. My dad loved it (so did everyone else), and that's all that really matters. I don't think the leftovers will last very long, I may have to sneak another piece before bed!

Happy Birthday, Daddy.