Wiped Clean (Recipe: Cookies & Cream Layer Cake)

In celebration of Oreo's 100th birthday my local grocer has had specials on the little cream filled cookies for weeks.  Of course I felt obligated to buy a pack, ate a row of the tray and then was compelled to make Oreo a birthday cake (as if Oreo were human or cared to even celebrate).  I remember reading a recipe for a double chocolate muffin years ago when sitting in the small library of my culinary school.  I loved the article so much I ran out and immediately ordered a subscription to Chocolatier Magazine.  I've held on to the Summer '07 issue for almost five years because I adore the cake batter feature-so I'm more than thrilled to share just a small morsel of that delectable issue.

Since I had devoured one row of the cookie flat I saved the rest for my special Oreo Birthday Cake.  It is a simple yellow cake flecked with bits of chopped Oreo.  The frosting, oh the frosting, is delicious.  It is smooth, rich and decadent.  It happens to be one of my favorite frostings (and very similar to my family's Red Velvet Icing.)

This is how good this frosting is.  I shared a very large portion of cake with my co-workers, setting it carefully in a clean cake pan and covered it with plastic wrap.  The next day I arrived at work, opened my locker and there sat an empty cake pan wiped clean.  Not washed...wiped clean with a finger!  Yes, a little gross-but I know what happened.  It was the frosting.  I have been known to lick a beater clean or scrape every morsel off of the plate using my finger fork (not in the company of others, of course), so I understood.  I just now have to sanitize and scald the cake pan.

Cookies and Cream Layer Cake
Chocolatier Summer 2007

2 2/3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 coarsely chopped Oreo cookies (about a dozen cookies)

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly butter bottom and side of two 9" round cake pans.  Line bottoms with parchment and butter paper.  Dust each pan with flour, tapping out excess.
2. In bowl of electric mixer, sift together flour, baking powder, salt.  Add sugar and, using paddle attachment, mix on low speed until blended.  Add butter and mix on medium speed until completely incorporated, about 2 minutes
3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.  Gradually add milk mixture to dry ingredients in  additions, mixing on medium speed until incorporated and stopping to scrape bottom and sides of bowl after each addition.  Mix batter on medium speed for 1 additional minute.  Add chopped cookies and mix just until blended.
4. Divide batter evenly between pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and cake tester inserted in center of cakes comes out clean.
5. Allow cakes to cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes.  Remove cakes from pans and continue to cool on wire rack.

Fluffy White Icing
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together milk and flour until mixture comes to a boil and thickens to a paste.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
2. In a bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, granulated sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add cooled flour mixture and beat at medium high speed until fluffy.  Gradually add confectioners sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat until fully incorporated.

Assemble Cake
1/4 cup ground Oreo crumbs

1. Place one layer top-side up on a serving platter and spread about half of icing over layer, completely covering top and sides.  Sprinkle top of layer with ground cookie crumbs.  Top with second layer of cake, topside up, and spread top and sides with remaining icing.