This Oreo drip cake is the best!! It’s made with delicious dark chocolate cake layers, Oreo buttercream, and is decorated with a gorgeous chocolate drip!
Oreo Drip Cake
PREP TIME: 45 minutes
COOK TIME: 33 minutes
ADDITIONAL TIME: 1 hour
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours 18 minutes
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Layers
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (325 grams)
- ¾ cup unsweetened black cocoa powder (75 grams)
- 3 cups granulated sugar (600 grams)
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder (10 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt (6 grams)
- 1 cup unsalted butter or 2 sticks, room temperature (226 grams)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract (8 grams)
- 1 cup egg whites – about 7 large egg whites (235 grams)
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk, room temperature (342 grams)
- 1/8 cup vegetable oil (28 grams)
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso (or coffee), dissolved in 1 tablespoon of hot water
Oreo Buttercream
- 3 cups unsalted butter, room temperature (650 grams)
- 11 cups powdered sugar (1375 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt (6 grams)
- 1/3 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream) (60 grams)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (12 grams)
- 1 ½ cups of crushed Oreos (225 grams)
Chocolate Drip
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (58 grams)
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (88 grams)
Instructions
Chocolate Cake Layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 3, 8-inch round pans with parchment rounds and grease with non-stick baking spray.
- Sift together all dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, sugar, and salt) into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed using a paddle attachment or a hand mixer. Continue to mix until no chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly. It should resemble moist sand.
- Pour in egg whites, and mix on low until just incorporated.
- Mix in the buttermilk in two installments, on a low speed.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then add in vanilla, liquid espresso, and oil. Mix at a low speed until fully incorporated.
- Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. I like to use a digital kitchen scale to weigh my pans, and ensure they all have the same amount of batter. This guarantees your layers will bake to be the same height.
- Bang the bottom of each pan on our counter. You can do this on top of a kitchen towel to make the process less loud. This helps removes any air bubbles before the pans are placed in the oven.
- Bake for 33-34 minutes, or until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the layers to cool for 10 minutes on wire racks, then run an offset spatula around perimeter of the pan to separate the cake from the pan.
- To accelerate the cooling process, I like to pop my cake layers in the freezer. You can also leave them on wire racks to finish cooling.
- Once the layers are fully cooled, I like to level them and trim the caramelized bits from the sides of the layers using a serrated knife.
Oreo Buttercream
- Beat the butter on a medium speed for 30 seconds with a paddle attachment, until smooth.
- Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Place a kitchen towel over the stand mixer, to help reduce the powdered sugar clouds. Alternate with small splashes of cream.
- Once fully mixed, add in the vanilla extract and salt, and beat on low.
- Add in 1 cup of crushed Oreos (saving the rest for the cake decoration), and mix on low until the ingredients are fully incorporated, and the desired consistency is reached.
- If the frosting is too thick, add in additional cream (1 Tbsp at a time). If the frosting is too thin, add in more powdered sugar (1/4 at a time).
- Chocolate Drip
- Place the milk chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl, and set aside.
- Heat heavy cream in a heat proof bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute, until gently bubbling.
- If you don’t have a microwave or prefer to use the stove top, you can heat the cream over a medium heat in a pan until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat.
- Gently pour the heavy cream over the chocolate chips, making sure they are covered with cream. Allow mixture to sit for 1-2 minutes.
- Stir slowly until the cream and chocolate are fully combined, and ganache is silky smooth.
- Set aside to cool for about 20 minutes, until the mixture is just slightly warm to the touch.
Cake Assembly
- Stack and frost cake layers on a greaseproof cake board, using a dab of frosting to help secure the first cake layer to the board.
- Spread an even layer of Oreo buttercream between each cake layer with a large offset spatula and top with a large spoonful of crushed Oreos.
- Stack all the cake layers. Flip the top cake layer upside down to make it easier to frost.
- Spread a thin coat of frosting around the cake, to fully cover the cake layers.
- Smooth using a bench scraper, then chill the cake in the fridge (20 minutes) or freezer (5 minutes) until the frosting is firm to the touch.
- Add a second, thicker layer of frosting to the cake, and smooth using a bench scraper.
- Spoon crushed Oreos around the base of the cake, then use the offset spatula to carefully press them into the frosting.
- Chill the cake in the fridge (20 minutes) or freezer (5 minutes) again until the frosting is firm to the touch.
- Place the remaining frosting into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M frosting tip (open star).
- Once the cake is chilled, add the chocolate ganache drips to the cake using a spoon.
- To add the drips, take about a tsp of ganache, scrape the bottom of the spoon against the bowl. Add the ganache to the top of the cake (about ½ inch from the edge of the cake).
- Gently push the ganache over the edge of the cake with the spoon, and allow it to run down the side of the cake.
- Allow the first drip to be a test drip, to check the consistency of the ganache.
- If the test drip seems too thick, try heating up the ganache for 5-10 additional seconds in the microwave. If the mixture seems too thin, allow it cool a bit longer, then try another test drip.
- Once the ganache is the right consistency, add drips around the entire cake. Top the perimeter of the cake with large buttercream swirls using a Wilton 1M frosting tip, adding whole Oreos between the swirls.