But, three layers had been the furthest I had gone with my layer cake resolution.
And then came this cake.
The original cake is a two layer cake with oodles of oreo cream cheese frosting in between. But I decided to go big and made a four layer, very chocolatey cake with an oreo cream cheese frosting. Did I hear someone say yum? You betcha, it was!
I have to apologize for the not so great photos. I made this cake when I hosted coffee three weeks back. I assembled the cake the night before, so was not able to take any pics. As a result, these were taken half an hour before my guests were supposed to arrive for coffee, in not so great light conditions or with the time to properly compose a shot.
Good photos or not, the recipe is a keeper and I knew I had to share this cake. Because it tasted absolutely sinful. The chocolate layer cake is any oreo cookie or chocolate cake lover’s dream come true.
I saw the recipe here on Kraft’s site. The recipe called for a boxed cake, and while you can use that, I decided to make everything from scratch, and used this recipe from epicurious.com for the chocolate cake. And I have no regrets that I did so. The cake was moist (even though I refrigerated it) and very very chocolatey.
Only thing I would suggest you could do differently is increase the frosting by 1 1/2 times or double. The original recipe uses the frosting for a double layered cake. Since the reviews mentioned that there was too much frosting to cake ratio for a double layered cake, I did not double it. Now, I actually prefer a higher cake to frosting ratio, so for me and even my friends it was fine. But if you like a higher frosting to cake ratio, I would suggest increasing the frosting recipe to 1 1/2 times or double.
Layer Cake Love: Four layer chocolate cake with oreo cream filling!
Recipe Type: cake, dessert
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 layer 9 inch cakes
Ingredients
For the cake:
5 ounce (142 gm) fine quality unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 1/4 sticks (250gms) unsalted butter, softened
2 3/4 cups (355gms) sifted cake flour (if using all purpose flour then measure 2 3/4 cup AP flour and remove 5 tbsp of the AP flour and replace with 5 tbsp corn starch)
1/4 cup (23gm) unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed- if using dutch processed add a pinch of cream of tartar)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs
1 cup (190 gm) granulated sugar
1 cup packed (158gm) light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla
2 cups sour cream
For the oreo cream cheese filling and ganache:
4 squares (4 ounce) semi-Sweet Chocolate ( I used bittersweet chocolate)
1/4 cup (60gms) butter
1 8 oz pkg. (226 gm) cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup (62gms) confectioners' sugar
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
12 OREO Cookies, coarsely crushed (I used 13 and use a ziploc bag to crush the oreos)
Instructions
Preheat oven 350F.
Butter two 9 inch cake pans. Line them with parchment rounds and butter the parchment. Flour the pans and knock the excess flour off.
Melt chocolate with the butter in a bowl in either a double broiler or in the microwave, nuking it for 1-2 minutes, pausing every 30 seconds and mixing till the chocolate melts. Let cool.
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together eggs, sugar and vanilla at medium speed until pale and thick, for 3-5 minutes.
Decrease speed to low and add melted chocolate until incorporated.
Fold in the flour mix in three batches, alternating with sour cream (beginning and ending with the flour mix) Mix until each addition is just incorporated. Do not over mix.
Spread batter evenly in pans (about 3 cups of batter in each pan- I measured using my pyrex measuring glass) and rap pans several times on counter to eliminate air bubbles.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the cake pull away from the sides of the pan and a skewer/tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool cake in pans for 10 minutes, then run a knife across the edhes of the pan. Invert onto a wire rack and peel parchment off. Cool completely for an hour. After it has cooled off completely on the wire rack, I suggest refrigerating the cake wrapped completely in a cling film before slicing it into layers. A cooler cake is easier to use to make layers.
For the cream cheese filling and ganache:
Microwave chocolate and butter in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH for 2 min., checking every 30 seconds and mixing or until butter and chocolate have melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool 5 min before spreading on the top layer of the cake.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gently stir in COOL WHIP and crushed cookies.
To assemble:
Cut each cake horizontally into 2 layers with a long serrated knife.
Put 1 layer on a cake stand or large plate and spread top with 1/3 of the oreo cream cheese frosting.Repeat with 2 more layers, then add the top layer.
Spread top with chocolate glaze; let stand 10 min. or until firm. Keep refrigerated. (I doubled the chocolate glaze and spread some on the side as well)