Oreo Drip Cake!
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A 3-layer chocolate cake, with Oreo buttercream, a chocolate drip, and even more Oreos make a delectable & showstopping Oreo drip cake!
Oreo favourites
One of my dad’s colleagues recently had their last day at work, and because she has been one of my most enthusiastic taste testers (and just the loveliest person ever), I wanted to bake something properly special. Naturally… that meant a drip cake. You know I can never resist making a big showstopper, especially for an occasion.
And even though I didn’t actually get a slice of the finished cake (tragic, I know), I did “accidentally” taste-test several spoonfuls of the buttercream during decorating. Purely for quality control, obviously. The reviews from the office were glowing… apparently it disappeared within minutes!
I’ve been itching to make another Oreo bake for a while, and turning it into a full drip cake felt perfect. The Oreo buttercream alone is enough to convert anyone.
The sponge
I used the same idea for the cake from my Salted Caramel Drip Cake and my Biscoff Drip Cake, just using less self-raising flour, and adding in some cocoa powder to make it chocolatey and rich. The layers bake up soft, moist and sturdy enough to build a tall cake without collapsing, exactly what you want for a drip cake.
- Butter – unsalted butter or baking spread at room temperature is the best way to go for the perfect fluffy sponge
- Sugar – for most of my sponge recipes I use light brown sugar but you can use caster, golden caster or dark brown sugar
- Eggs – 8x medium eggs roughly translate as 400g of egg weight, most of my recipes run on medium eggs unless specially stated otherwise
- Flour – self-raising flour will provide the rise needed for three beautiful tiers of delicious sponge
- Cocoa powder – I replace 75g of flour with cocoa powder to give that rich delicious chocolate flavour throughout the sponge as well as the buttercream frosting
- Baking powder – an optional extra to provide a lighter texture to the sponge, many have said they don’t like adding the extra as it is already in the flour, I will leave that choice to you.
- Milk – If you’re mixture is slightly thicker than desired you can use whole milk to gradually loosen the mixture, use one tbsp at a time!
I know three-layer cakes often look a bit intimidating, but they truly aren’t any more difficult than two layers. They just LOOK ten times more impressive, the wow factor alone makes all the effort worth it and the taste matches the presentation perfectly.
Oreo buttercream
For the frosting, I stuck with the same Oreo buttercream recipe I use for my Oreo cupcakes because it’s simply perfect, fluffy, sweet, creamy, and packed with Oreo biscuit flavour. I used 300g of butter and 650g of icing sugar, then blitzed an entire pack of Oreos into a fine crumb and mixed them in. It makes enough to fill the layers, coat the outside, pipe on top, and still have a little leftover to sneak spoonfuls of.
The texture is dreamy. There’s something about adding the crushed biscuits that makes it so easy to smooth around the cake, I honestly don’t know why, but I’m not questioning it. This will boost the presentation of your cake from standard to spectacular, a smooth coating of Oreo buttercream really will look like an expensive showstopper by the time you’re finished.
The drip
I tried a new method of doing the drip on this cake, by using oil. I’ve seen people having a few problems making the ganache drip as ganache can be quite temperamental, so after reading up on the oil method I had to try it.
You only use between 1-2tbsp of oil for this amount of chocolatey, and you can’t detect it once its added. It just makes the chocolate runnier, and easier to use, whilst keep its shine. You can just use melted chocolate, but often this can be harder to use as its thicker, and it well set very solid. I’m surprised I didn’t eat some of it myself, but I resisted to make sure it look better.
If you wanted to use a ganache however you can, simply use 150g of dark chocolate and 150g of double cream! (Read about the ganache drip here… Caramac Cake)
Decoration
Once the drip had set slightly, I piped little swirls of Oreo buttercream around the top and added whole Oreos for decoration. A sprinkle of crushed Oreos finishes it off, because when you think you’ve added enough Oreos… always add a few more.
This cake is bold, chocolatey, and cookies-and-cream heaven. It’s fun to make, fun to decorate, and an absolute delight to present. I adored every minute of making this one, and the finished result brought so many smiles. I hope you love it as much as my dad’s colleagues did!
Two tier versions
I get asked all the time on my blog and social media if this cake can be made smaller, perfect for a more intimate family celebration or birthday. The good news? Absolutely! With a few simple tweaks, you can create a slightly smaller Oreo cake that’s just as delicious and impressive.
For a smaller version, I recommend using two 8″cake tins. You can adjust the ingredients as follows:
- 300g butter
- 300g sugar
- 245g flour
- 55g cocoa powder
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 6 medium eggs
- 3 tbsp milk
Baking time may increase slightly, around 5–10 minutes longer, depending on your oven and tin. For the decoration, you can use roughly two-thirds of the original buttercream and toppings, which still makes for a gorgeous, indulgent cake.
This scaled-down version is perfect for smaller gatherings and still delivers all the Oreo, chocolate, and cookies-and-cream goodness of the full-sized drip cake. It’s a flexible recipe that adapts beautifully for any celebration
Tips & tricks
- You obviously don’t have to make straight edged buttercream if you don’t want to, but I just like the look of it. You can slather it on, and it’ll still taste damn delicious.
- However, if you do want to make it like this, I seriously recommend using a metal scraper for the decoration of the buttercream, and the disposable piping bags.. I wouldn’t be anywhere without them.
- All of the decorations are completely optional , but I love this style of cake.
- This cake will last in an airtight container for 3 days.
Oreo Drip Cake!
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 400 g unsalted butter/baking spread
- 400 g light brown sugar
- 400 g eggs (roughly 8 medium)
- 325 g self raising flour
- 75 g cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp whole milk
Oreo Buttercream Frosting
- 300 g unsalted butter (room temp - not baking spread)
- 650 g icing sugar
- 154 g Oreos (1 pack)
- 2-5 tbsps whole milk
Decoration
- 175 g dark chocolate
- 1-2 tbsps vegetable/sunflower oil
- Oreos
- crushed Oreos
Instructions
For the Cake!
- Heat the oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line three 20cm/8inch cake tins with baking parchment – leave to the side.
- In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and light brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, beaten eggs, baking powder and beat again briefly till combined – try not to over beat the mixture! If its really thick, mix in the whole milk to loosen.
- Divide the mixture between the three tins and smooth it over – bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when poked, and when the cake springs back.
- Once baked, leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then remove and leave to cool fully on a wire rack. If the cake has domed slightly, leave the cake to cool upside down to flatten it slightly.
For the Decoration!
- In a stand mixer, beat the room temperature butter with an electric mixer until it is smooth and loose and then beat in the icing sugar 1/3 at a time until its fully combined. Keep beating the buttercream for a few minutes so it starts to get fluffier and lighter.
- In a food processor, blitz the packet of Oreo’s to a fine crumb, and add into the buttercream. Beat the buttercream again till smooth, and use the Milk to loosen it to a smooth consistency.
- Once the cakes are cooled, put the first layer on the serving plate spread some of the buttercream onto the top of the first layer, add the second cake on top, and then top again with some of buttercream and then add the final sponge layer. Only use about 2 tbsps of buttercream per layer so that you have enough to decorate with!
- With the leftover buttercream, as you can see, I covered the sides (and top) too! Do a first layer of around the edge and top using a large metal scraper and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Repeat again with a slightly thicker layer of buttercream.
- I slather it on all over using an off -set spatula, and then run the metal scraper round until its smooth. If the Oreo’s were blitzed to a really fine crumb like you need, the buttercream can still be smooth around the edges even though there is biscuit in the mix!
- Once finished, melt the dark chocolate in a heat proof bowl until melted. Add in 1tbsp of oil and beat till smooth, continue to add oil till you get to a drippy consistency. I used 1+1/2 tbsps total. Using disposable piping bags, pipe it round the edge of the cake, edging over slight bits to create the drip.
- You don’t need to use too much per drip as it’ll drop quite far down by itself! Fill in the top in with the rest of the chocolate so the top is also covered. Refrigerate the cake for about 15 minutes.
- Using some left over buttercream, pipe little rosettes of buttercream onto the top and add a whole oreo – sprinkle on some crushed oreos and huzzah! You’re done! Enjoy!
Notes
- You obviously don’t have to make straight edged buttercream if you don’t want to, but I just like the look of it! You can slather it on, and it’ll still taste damn delicious.
- However, if you do want to make it like this, I seriously recommend using a metal scraper for the decoration of the buttercream, and the disposable piping bags.. I wouldn’t be anywhere without them!
- All of the decorations are completely optional – but I love this style of cake! To make a smaller version of the cake, use:
- Two 8″cake tins
- 300g butter
- 300g sugar
- 245g flour
- 55g cocoa powder
- 1.5tsps baking powder
- 6 medium eggs
- 3 tbsps of milk
- And it might take an extra 5-10 minutes to bake and use 2/3 of the decoration recipes!
- This cake will last in an airtight container for 3 days!
Lovely cake I made this last weekend for my daughters 11th birthday and it went down a treat. My son is now eying up the salted caramel drip one for his birthday.
I had lots of compliments over the cake and hubby even said it’s the best cake I’ve ever made 😊
How long should I beat it for and how high?
Hi Jane,
I wanted to attempt this cake but make it only two tiers as there aren’t many people in my family! Was wondering what the recipe measurements be for a two tier cake?
Thank you for sharing your amazing recipe! Xx
did you ever get the recipe for this?? x
The measurements for a 2 layer cake are at the bottom of the notes at the end of the recipe 👍🙂
Hi Jane,
A bit of a random question, how tall would a cake like this be please? Xx
I’d like to know too. Just made it and it’s so short!
Hello, i want to cover the cake but cannot find an airtight container big enough, any advice?
Hi Jane, I am going to attempt making a birthday cake for my nephew, but I need to make it 6 days in advance. I was thinking of one of the drip cakes but they all say 3 days. Should I just miss out the drip bit and just cover the buttercream in fondant icing? Would that work?
Thank you in advance, Cara
Hi Jane,
I’m making this cake tomorrow for my Mums birthday but as four layers, I know to increase the recipe to 500g and 10 eggs but how much whole milk and baking powder should I add? XX
Hey! This will be lovely, just keep it the same xx
Hey Jane, loveee you recipes!! Please could I have your help on a quick question…
how long would you recommend in the oven and on what heat for a 10 inch version?
I have sorted all the ingredients out to uplift from your 8 inch ones but have no idea about the actual bake!!😂 thanks!!❤️❤️
Hi Jane,
Please may I ask for some advice, I love your recipes and would really like to make this cake for my partner for a upcoming birthday. I only have a small oven, is it possible to bake the layers separately? Leaving the cake tins covered with a cloth?
Thank you,
Louise
Hiya, if you were to do this i would recommend making the mixtures separately as a cake mixture should never be left to sit xx
Hi Jane! I’m in the process of making this cake, but my sponges are falling apart. Would you happen to know why this has happened? I followed the recipe exact.
They can break when handled too roughly, if they are over baked, or the sponges haven’t cooled properly!
Hey Jane, loveee you recipes!! Please could I have your help on a quick question…
how long would you recommend in the oven and on what heat for a 10 inch version?
I have sorted all the ingredients out to uplift from your 8 inch ones but have no idea about the actual bake!!😂 thanks!!❤️❤️
Hi Jane,
This cake looks amazing and I would love to make for my boyfriends upcoming birthday. I only have a very small oven in our apartment so won’t be able to fit all 3 tins in at the same time, is the batter okay left in the cake tins maybe covered? And then bake separately?
Any help greatly appreciated xx
Hey! For the best results I would make the mixtures separately as the cake mix should never really be left to sit xx
Thank you for coming back to me Jane. Forgive me if I am being dim do I then split the recipe into thirds?
Xx
Yes!x
Amazing thank you so much xx
Hi, silly question, when you blitz the Oreos, is it with the stuffing inside or just the biscuits? Thanks!
This is with – I will say in the recipe if I remove the middle! x
Hi Jane,
I would like to bake this cake next week. Could I possibly incorporate oreos into the cake batter? Thanks!
I would also like to make it a 3X6 inch cake. Do I use the same measurements in the recipe?
Or if there’s leftover batter I could make cupcakes. Thanks again.
Hey! typically a 6 inch is 2/3rds the recipe but yes you could use the left over for cupcakes xx
Hey! Yeah you could do, have a look at my cookies and cream cake for inspo xx
I was dubious about this cake as I never have luck with buttercream and have never done a crumb coat or a drip cake, but this worked perfectly at every step, ended up looking insane, transported in the car tremendously, and most important of all, tasted divine. Could not be more pleased! Thank you Jane, once again!
Wow. A light cake with a lovely butter icing. I didn’t bother with the drip, and I must admit it would have set it off more. But I there crumbed Oreos around the edge and was still happy with it. Tq