We are always in the market for a fun cake recipe to try and this creation from the recently-released Plantcakes cookbook by Lyndsay Sung is right up our alley.
The cake maker's debut cookbook offers up a huge array of plant-based dessert recipes that everyone will truly enjoy. While many of her cakes catch one's eye thanks to vibrant icing and garnishes, there's always something especially elegant when it comes to a black and white cake.
Sung's recipe for cookies and cream cake takes inspiration from her youth and watching the iconic flavour that is cookies and cream take the world by storm.
"I think I can recall the big entry of cookies and cream into the ice cream world in the 1980s, but now it is ubiquitous, because the “cookie” of the cookies and cream combo is none other than the painfully addictive Oreo cookie. The not-too-sweet thin dark chocolate cookie layers sandwich a white crème filling between them, making the perfect packaged cookie," writes Sung in the introduction to this vegan cake recipe in Plantcakes.
She continues, "Vegans worldwide can rejoice in the fact that the Oreo is also accidentally vegan! Yeah! This cookies and cream cake does not hold back on the use of Oreos—they’re chopped up into the buttercream layers and sprinkled and placed in between piped buttercream dollops, combined with dark chocolate cake layers and creamy vanilla buttercream."
Cookies and cream cake
Making the dark chocolate cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare three 7 × 2-inch round cake pans by spritzing them with vegetable oil and lining with parchment paper circles cut to size, and then spritzing again with oil, to prevent sticking.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt until combined. Switch to the paddle attachment.
In a large bowl, combine the boiling water and espresso powder and whisk to combine. Whisk in the cocoa powder until combined. Whisk in the vegetable oil and vanilla extract (don’t worry if it won’t emulsify, it will all come together!).
Add the wet mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer and mix on low speed for about 20 seconds to combine. Add the apple cider vinegar and mix for another 15 seconds, until the batter is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Give the pans a light tap on the counter to reduce any air bubbles.
Bake for 22–25 minutes, until the cake springs back to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes back with only moist crumbs.
Allow cake to cool completely before assembly.
Assembling the cake
Fill and frost the cake using the vanilla buttercream. To fill the cake layers, pipe a thick layer of the vanilla buttercream on each layer first, then press chopped-up Oreo cookie pieces into the buttercream in even intervals, pushing them down into the buttercream. Add another thin layer of buttercream over the Oreo pieces, before placing the next layer of cake carefully on top.
Decorate the top of the cake with a piped spiral border or an artful array of piped dollops, drop stars, and chopped Oreo pieces in varying sizes, or a border of piped buttercream dollops alternating with whole sandwich cookies.
(Eat North editor's note: You'll need to get yourself a copy of Plantcakes for Lyndsay Sung's vegan buttercream recipe, but if you've got a trusted online source or a go-to plant-based icing product, then that works too!)
- Yield:
- Makes one 7-inch, 3-layer cake
