Oreo birthday cake

My friend Shenny and her sister-in-law, Ritu, have been talking about Oreo cakes for a few months now so Ritu’s 30th birthday was the perfect opportunity for one. I was really excited to try this out and Oreos seem like a perfect match for a birthday cake.

I wanted the cake to echo the look and taste of an Oreo so chose chocolate layers, sandwiched with white vanilla buttercream. Ideally the cake would have had two layers but for the right ratio of buttercream to cake, and also to make it look more of a celebration cake I decided to do three. I think it still works.

Three layers sandwiched with vanilla buttercream

On the top is chocolate buttercream and originally I thought it should be a darker chocolate colour. I didn’t want to add extra cocoa so tested adding a bit of black food colouring to the icing. It made no difference at all so I left it as it was! And I think the contrast actually makes the Oreos stand out better.

And topped with chocolate buttercream

I used a combination of normal and mini Oreos to decorate the top of the cake. I tried various ways of cutting the large ones in half and the most effective way was using a small serrated knife and gently sawing them. You will have a few that break but they don’t seem to hang around for long or go to waste!

Border of half and mini Oreos

The mini Oreos are perfect for writing your message on as the white icing really stands out against the almost black biscuit. I tried to carry through the circular theme when placing the “Happy Birthday Ritu”. I made a 9″ cake and just managed to fit “Birthday” across the top without completely losing the border.

I made some royal icing using royal icing sugar. You can also make royal icing from regular icing sugar and egg white, or you could use ready-made piping icing:

Write your message in Oreos!

And then if you have some floristry wires, Oreos are perfectly designed to make a cake topper. You will need a thicker wire for the larger biscuits as they are quite heavy. I chose white wires for the large biscuits and black wires for the minis. And a few twirly bits for good measure.

Oreo topper

For a three layer 9″ Oreo Birthday cake you will need:

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

450g butter or margarine

450g caster sugar

8 eggs

150g cocoa powder

300g SR flour

Method

Set the oven to 180ºC and grease three 9″ cake tins. Line the bases with greaseproof paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.

Add the eggs two at a time and make sure they are properly mixed in but do not overbeat.

Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into the mixture and fold in carefully.

Divide the mixture equally between the three cake tins and gently level.

Bake for around 20 minutes or until well risen and springy to the touch.

Leave in the tins for a few minutes, then turn out and allow to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients

500g icing sugar, sifted

160g butter

50ml milk or water

A few drops of vanilla extract

Method

Beat the icing sugar and butter together until it comes together and is well mixed.

Slowly add the milk or water and vanilla extract and beat for about five minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Chocolate Buttercream

Ingredients

300g icing sugar, sifted

40g cocoa powder, sifted

100g butter

40 ml milk or water

Method

Beat the icing sugar, cocoa powder and butter together until it comes together and is well mixed.Slowly add the milk or water and beat for about five minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Decoration

Approximately one 154g pack of original Oreos

Approximately 125g mini Oreos

Royal Icing

Ingredients

100g royal icing sugar (icing sugar containing dried egg white)

Approx 12 ml water

Method

Beat the icing sugar and water together using an electric mixer for about 5 minutes. The icing should stand in stiff peaks. If the icing is too runny add more icing sugar and if too stiff add more water, a little at a time.

You will have more icing than necessary but it will keep for a while: smaller amounts are quite tricky to make.

For the topper

Floristry wire

Floristry tape

Posy pick

Thread your floristry wire carefully through the middle of your Oreos and tape the bases together with floristry tape. Twirly shapes can be made by winding the wires around a pen. Insert into the posy pick and push gently into position on the cake. The topper can be removed for storage and transport if necessary.

Chocolate Oreo Birthday Cake!

Happy 30th Birthday Ritu, and thank you very much for letting me make your cake!

Categories: Baking, Birthday cakes, Biscuits and Cookies, Cakes, Chocolate, Recipes

Tags: 30th birthday cake, baking, birthday, birthday cake, biscuits, buttercream, cake, cake toppers, chocolate, chocolate buttercream, chocolate cake, cookies, frosting, icing, Mini Oreos, Oreo birthday cake, Oreos, recipe, royal icing, vanilla, vanilla buttercream