Oreo Midnight Cake - Part 1

This Oreo cake is a four-component project: crushed Oreo cookie crust, a from-scratch semi-sweet chocolate cake studded with coarsely crumbled Oreos, a vanilla buttercream filling, and a cocoa frosting. Mini Oreos and more cookie crumbs on top for good measure. This is not subtle.

The crust bakes for just 5 minutes, enough to set the butter-cookie mixture into a firm base that won’t crumble when you slice the finished cake. The cake itself gets its chocolate flavor from melted semi-sweet chocolate and sour cream for a dense, moist crumb.

Separating the eggs and presumably folding in whipped whites gives the batter lift despite all that chocolate weight. The coarsely crumbled Oreos folded into the batter create pockets of cookie throughout, so you hit a different texture in every bite.

Pro Tips

• Crush the 27 crust Oreos very finely. Coarse crumbs leave gaps and the crust falls apart. A food processor does this best.
• Let the melted chocolate cool before adding it to the batter. Hot chocolate will melt the butter and scramble the eggs.
• The vanilla filling between the layers needs to be thick enough to hold. If it’s too loose, add more powdered sugar. Too stiff, a splash more milk.
• Chill the assembled cake for 30 minutes before the final frosting. A cold cake is easier to frost smoothly without pulling up crumbs.

Variations

• Use mint Oreos in the crust for a chocolate-mint version.
• Add espresso powder to the cocoa frosting for a mocha finish.
• Swap the vanilla filling for a peanut butter buttercream for a chocolate-peanut butter-Oreo combination.