Peanut Butter Oreo Cake

Mindy Johnson

Chocolate cake, peanut butter Oreo buttercream and a chocolate ganache drip.

3.40 from 5 votes

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Prep Time 40 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Total Time 1 hr 5 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 20

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate (chopped baking chocolate or chocolate chips)
1 cup hot coffee can sub hot water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk

Peanut Butter Oreo Buttercream

1 lb salted butter, softened
7 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp heavy cream
1 cup creamy peanut butter
20 Oreos, divided

Chocolate Ganache

1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate (chopped baking chocolate or chocolate chips)
3/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray three 8” cake pans with non stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the coffee over the chocolate and allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the batter.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Whisk in the eggs, vanilla oil and buttermilk. The batter will be thick.
Return to your bowl of chocolate and coffee and stir until smooth. Pour the coffee mixture into the batter and whisk until fully incorporated.
Divide batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 25-28 minutes.
Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and then carefully, using oven mitts invert the cake onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and place in the freezer until you’re ready to assemble your cake. I store layers in the freezer for up to a week.

Peanut Butter Oreo Buttercream

Using a food processor crush 12 Oreos to fine crumbs. (remaining Oreos will be used later)
In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the powdered sugar a cup at a time. *See Notes Below*
Add the vanilla extract and then add the heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until you reach a spreadable consistency. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the peanut butter.
Using a rubber spatula, mix in the Oreo crumbs.

Chocolate Ganache

In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream over medium-low heat until it starts simmering. You can also heat in the microwave for 45-60 seconds.
Put the chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the cream over top. Allow to sit for a minute or two to melt and then whisk until smooth.

Assembly

Remove the cake layers from the freezer about 30 minutes before you want to assemble the cake. I take them out to thaw while I am preparing my buttercream and ganache. You want the layers to be cold, but not completely frozen to decorate.
Roughly chop the remaining Oreos and set aside.
To assemble the cake, place a dab of buttercream on your cake board or plate and then place the first layer of cake on top. Spread a layer of buttercream on top. Arrange half of the chopped Oreos on top of the buttercream. Stack the next cake layer on top and repeat, ending with the final layer of cake, top side down.
Using an offset spatula add a thin layer of buttercream on the sides and top of the cake, scraping off any extra with a bench scraper or icing scraper. This is your crumb coat. It’s ok if it looks messy, the goal is to trap the crumbs in this layer so that the final layer of buttercream is crumb-free and smooth. Refrigerate the crumb-coated cake about 15 minutes or until firm to the touch.
Now frost the cake with a thicker layer of buttercream. Smooth with a bench scraper or offset spatula. Chill the cake for 15 minutes to set the buttercream before adding your ganache drip. *See Notes below about using an acrylic disk or cake board to frost your outer layer*
I like to do a test drip, either on the back of the cake or the side of my cake scraper or even just a plate held vertically. You can add more cream if you want thinner drips or allow the ganache to rest a bit to thicken up if you want thicker drips.
Using a spoon, guide your drips around the sides of the cake and then pour some additional ganache on top of the cake and smooth out with an angled spatula or the backside of a spoon. Chill the cake to set the ganache.
If you have remaining buttercream you can pipe a border or decorations on top. I used an Ateco 868 tip to pipe a large shell border. Sprinkle with additional Oreo crumbs.
This cake is best served at room temperature. It can be stored at room temp 1-2 days or in the refrigerator 3-4 days, then let come to room temperature before serving.

Notes

Buttercream Tips:

To make the buttercream you will need your butter to be soft. You can leave it out at room temperature about an hour before you need to use it, or microwave it for about 15 seconds to soften.

If you are using organic powdered sugar, you will want to sift it first to get out any large lumps. This will help when smoothing your cake.

I use a food processor to crush the Oreos for the buttercream. Pulse until you get mostly fine crumbs but I also like to leave some slightly larger chunks for texture. Fine crumbs will make it easier to smooth the cake later.

Using an acrylic disk or cake board:

I like to use an acrylic disk or another cake board on top of the cake to ensure that I am getting even coverage. I am using an 8” cake board for this cake on both the top and bottom of the cake and using a cake scraper to gently smooth the sides. Since the buttercream has Oreo pieces in it you will want to smooth very slowly with the scraper very close to the cake. If you go too fast the larger pieces of Oreos will drag across the surface leaving lines in the buttercream. Check out my Geode cake highlight and my Ruffle cake highlight to see me use this technique.

Nutrition

This information comes from online calculators and these figures are only estimates.

Keywords chocolate, cookies and cream, cupcakes, drip cake, ganache, oreo, oreo cake, peanut butter

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