Anything But Plain: Vanilla Oreo Birthday Cake

It’s hot and humid here in good ‘ol NYC, and I’ve had enough of the weather. The number one lesson I’ve learned about this sticky, stuffy, oppressive heat — aside from the fact that it makes me one cantankerous little lady — is it really, really puts a damper on any attempt to make buttercream. 

I was tasked with baking up a Vanilla version of the fabulous Oreo Birthday Cake I whipped up for my Dad a couple of weeks ago. My whole family has become obsessed with it, and my future brother-in-law requested the cake for his birthday — with a twist. He was telling me how much he loved the cake, even though he’s not a huge fan of chocolate. As soon as the words left his lips, the light bulb went off in my head: It doesn’t need to be chocolate, that’s what Golden Oreos are for! I excitedly promised to make a Vanilla Oreo Birthday Cake, not anticipating the 90-degree, humid days ahead. 

Everything was going well. I had baked my three cakes, made the filling and reached the final step of preparing the buttercream. Although it was delicious, it bugged me like you cannot believe to see beads of moisture trapped in that velvety whipped goodness. 

Moral of the story? Crank up the AC and work quickly. Honestly, if your family is anything like mine, they’ll devour this cake anyway. 

Vanilla Oreo Birthday Cake

(Cake recipe from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook; Filling and Buttercream adapted from Beantown Baker)

Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
scant 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 package Golden Oreos, chopped into quarters

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour three 9×2 inch round cake pans, lining each with parchment paper and greasing the paper. In a medium bowl, measure flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at at time, incorporating after each addition. 

3. To the butter, sugar and eggs, add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk and vanilla, and ending with flour. Mix until well combined. 

4. Divide the cake batter among two of the prepared pans, leaving 1/3 of the batter in the bowl to add Golden Oreo pieces. Pour batter into remaining pan. 

5. Bake cakes for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and cake tester comes out clean. 

6. Set cakes aside to completely cool while you prepare the filling and frosting.

Filling
8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 package of Golden Oreos, chopped into quarters

Using a hand mixer, beat cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the whipping cream until smooth. Gradually add the rest and beat until it reaches the consistency of whipped cream. Gently fold in Golden Oreos. Refrigerate until ready to assemble cake. 

Buttercream Frosting
1 and 1/2 sticks softened unsalted butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat the butter in a bowl with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla, alternating with milk, and beat until well incorporated. 

To assemble the cake:

1. Slice plain vanilla cake layers in half. Stack one layer on a cake plate. Top with 1/4 of the Golden Oreo filling. Stack next layer. Repeat with another 1/4 of Golden Oreo filling.

2. Stack vanilla Golden Oreo cake layer next. Top with 1/4 Golden Oreo filling.

3. Repeat with remaining vanilla halves and Golden Oreo filling.

4. Top with buttercream. Decorate with Golden Oreos, strawberries or candy, as desired.

What’s your favorite celebration cake? Post a comment below.