OREO's Birthday Cake

Finally, finally, here is the star of Dessert Club: Cakes!  This beaut won first place for PRETTY and second place for YUMMY, with a very discerning crowd, so you know it's amazing.  And I happen to know its maker worked long and hard to perfect it.

She was inspired by the birthday-cake-flavored Oreos that have been about, probably limited edition, to celebrate the classic cookie's 100th birthday.  I have always liked Oreos, but also took them for granted until I served a mission in Toronto, Canada, for eighteen months.  Turns out Canada's Oreos are different from America's - why did no one tell me?! - and I had to write home begging for regular installments of the "authentic" treat. 

And finally, just a trivia tidbit.  I've typed "oreo" so many times putting this post together, I had to wonder where the name came from.  Five seconds of research just taught me there is no definitive word on the matter, but the most popular theory is that the name is a combination of taking the "re" from "cream" and placing it between the two "o"s in "chocolate" - making "o-re-o."  Good enough for me.  

OREO’s Birthday Cake (print recipe)
Chocolate Oreo cake with Cake Batter Cream Cheese Frosting
In honor of, and inspired by, Oreo’s one hundredth birthday!

Birthday Cake Oreos - 1 package Oreos (21 cookies)
1.  Chop 12 Oreos (a little more than 1/2 of them), and toss with 2 Tbsps flour and set aside for the chocolate cake.
2.  Separate cookies from filling for remaining Oreos (9 cookies), reserve filling for frosting and cookies for decoration.

Chocolate Oreo Cake
Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee (I used an “Americano” from an espresso machine)
1/2 package Oreos, prepared as above

1.  Preheat the oven to 350. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

2.  Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.

3.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Stir in the Oreo chunks.

4.  Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Cake Batter Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
2 stick salted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
5 cups powdered sugar
1 cup yellow cake mix (DRY MIX–NOT BATTER)
Filling only (not cookie part) from Oreos reserved for frosting, 9 cookies

1.  In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter, cream cheese, Oreo filling and extracts on medium speed until smooth. Add powdered sugar and cake mix and beat on low until just combined. Increase speed to medium and beat until fully combined.

2.  If frosting is too thick, mix in a bit of heavy cream or milk until desired consistency is reached.

Cake from Ina Garten adapted by Bean Town Baker
Frosting inspired by angieriver.com and confessionsofacookbookqueen.com but created by Dessert Club member S.W.