Layered vegan oreo cookies and cream cake, just like how you remember it! Three layers of vanilla sponge packed with oreos or chocolate cookies, decorated with an American-style buttercream and chocolate ganache.
This cake is a decadent version of oreo cookies and cream ice cream, one of my favourite desserts! It's vegan, dairy free, eggless and easy to make. I'd recommend it for
- adult and kid birthdays
- special celebrations
- when you're just really hungry
Components of this vegan oreo cookies and cream cake
The cake is made of:
- A vegan vanilla cake with oreos or chocolate cookies scattered throughout, baked into 3 layers.
- An American-style buttercream mixed with cookie crumbs.
- Decorations I found in my pantry and fridge!
If you want a 'healthier' vegan dessert, check out my Chocolate Avocado Mousse Tart or the recipes in my cookbook.
Ingredients for the oreo cake sponge
This vegan cake recipe uses a few basic ingredients:
Plain flour because it's cake! Plain flour is the lightest and fluffiest out of common flours (vs spelt, wholemeal etc). This is a nostalgic cake, so let's do it properly!
Organic cane sugar which is a light-coloured sugar that doesn't blend in with the colour of the oreos/chocolate cookies. I always prefer using granulated sugars in sponge cakes as it creates a lighter crumb.
Vegan butter and vegetable oil. I used two types of fats because I wanted the classic flavour and texture from vegan butter but also love how oil makes cakes more moist than vegan butter.
Plant-based milk and apple cider vinegar. Combining these ingredients makes buttermilk. This helps tenderise the flour which creates a more delicate cake crumb. Yum!
Baking powder and soda. I used double baking agents in this sponge cakes because I want it to be extra fluffy (and omni-approved). Since it's an eggless oreo cake, you need to add extra raising agents.
Vanilla because it adds the extra fragrant and homely factor in any cake recipe.
Making the oreo cookies and cream cake batter
All you need to do is combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Add some crushed up oreos or vegan-friendly chocolate cookies, divide it into 3 tins then bake away!
I bake my cake layers at 160°C (320°F) because the low temperature prevents each layer from doming too much. Flat layers are needed when you are stacking a cake!
Your cakes might still dome when baking it at a low temperature. To make your layers extra flat, buy and use cake strips. Alternatively, you can make your own using Youtube tutorials. When I had a cake business, I used cake strips ALL THE TIME to prevent cakes from doming.
Making oreo buttercream frosting
Vegan butter can be used in the same way conventional buter! Just make sure it's room temperature, add it to your stand mixer and mix it on high until it's creamy and dreamy.
Add your powered sugar and mix it to combine. This slow mixing ensures you don't get a sugar dust storm! Then beat your butter and sugar on high until it turns into a beautiful pale and fluffy frosting.
When you mix the crushed oreos to the buttercream, make sure the crumbs are super fine otherwise it'll be difficult to use when decorating your cake.
Decorating the vegan cookies and cream cake
This is my favourite part! I love dripping a ganache on the side of my cake and using leftover frosting to decorate the top of my cake.
I don't like to enforce rules so I honestly think you should do whatever you want with the decorations. Keep it simple or make it extravagant. Whatever you like!
I hope you enjoy this recipe xo
Check out my other vegan cake recipes:
- Easy Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake
- Vegan Mango Cake
- Apple Crumble Tea Cake
- Vegan Gingerbread Cake
- Vegan Zebra Bundt Cake
Love chocolate? You may also like:
Vegan Oreo Cookies and Cream Cake
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 200g vegan oreos or chocolate biscuits
- 3 ½ cups (440g) plain or all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups (300g) cane sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Pinch of any good-quality salt
Wet ingredients
- 2 cups (500g) dairy free milk, such as almond, soy or coconut,
- ¾ cup (165g) melted vegan butter
- ¼ cup (65g) light-tasting vegetable oil, such as sunflower or rapeseed
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Frosting
- 150g chocolate biscuits, of choice
- 1 ½ cups (340g) vegan butter, chilled
- 4 cups (400g) powdered sugar / icing sugar, or to taste (use more for a firmer frosting)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Ganache Drip (optional)
- ½ cup (50g) roughly chopped chocolate or chocolate chips
- ¼ cup (60g) coconut cream
To decorate (optional)
- 50g vegan oreos or chocolate biscuits, crumbled
- extra vegan chocolate, optional
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Line 3x20 cm (8 inch) cake pans with with baking paper or brush with oil.
- Break the chocolate biscuits into large crumbs with your hands and set aside.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer. Mix until there are no lumps. Add all the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined. Add the biscuit crumbs to the cake batter and gently mix until combined.
- Evenly divide the cake batter into the 3 cake tins. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer can be inserted into each cake and it comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 20 minutes then place them on a wire rack.
To make the frosting:
- Add the cookies to a food processor. Process until the cookies form fine crumbs.
- Add the vegan butter to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Alternatively, add the butter to a large bowl and use an electric hand mixer. Beat on high speed for 3 to 5 minutes until the butter has increased in size and turned pale yellow or white.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla to the mixer or bowl. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds or until the sugar is fully incorporated. Increase the speed to high and beat for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
- Add the cookie crumbs to the buttercream and mix gently.
To make the ganache:
- Add both ingredients to a small saucepan over low heat. Heat for 5-10 minutes until the chocolate has melted and combined with the coconut cream. Stir until combined and set aside to cool.
To assemble:
- Using a serrated knife, slice the domes off the cakes, ensuring each is as flat as possible
- Place one cake layer on a serving plate and generously spread a layer of frosting on the top. Gently place the next cake layer on the frosting making sure it is level. Repeat until all layers of the cake have been used up.
- Spread a thin layer of icing on the sides and top of the cake and use a cake scraper to level it out.
- If desired: Fill a piping bag with a small round nozzle with the chocolate ganache. Create a drip on the edges of the cake with the ganache. Use the remaining frosting to decorate the top of the cake. Top the cake with cookie crumbs and vegan chocolate.
- Serve immediately or set aside in the fridge in a large airtight container until ready to serve! Store the cake in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.
Hi!! Just wondering if there is an alternative instead of coconut cream on the chocolate ganache?
Yes, you can use any dairy free cream or a smaller amount of dairy-free milk (start with 2 tablespoons and increase it a tablespoon at a time until it reaches a drip-like consistency)!
I made these as cup cakes and they turned out really well, The recipe made 20 muffin sized cup cakes, I used the frosting and decorated with mini Oreos and they looked great.
I love this recipe and have used it several times to make the larger cake complete with ganache drip and it is always very popular with everyone (including the non vegans)
Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
I'm so so stoked that you enjoyed this recipe and have made it many times! And oh my goodness, mini oreos sound fantastic and so adorable! Thanks very much for your kind feedback 🙂
Hi Anthea, recipe sounds great and I’m looking to make it. Would this recipe work for cupcakes? Or i might try as a cake but I only have one 8 inch cake tin, would it be ok to divide the recipe by 3? Thanks!
Hi Sophia, yes they would work as cupcakes! Also yes, the recipe will work divided by 3 (or even by 2 if you want a taller cake) :).
Hi.
Can I bake a cake 3-4 days before and freeze whole cake ?
Hi, the cake part can be frozen. However, when some brands of vegan butter are made into buttercream, they 'leak' in the freezer. If your butter doesn't do this, you should be able to freeze it.
Hi! Will this recipe fulfill a sheet cake? I'd like to make a layered sheet cake and if ×1 can fill a sheet then I can double it for the layers.
Hi Maureen! Yes it will fill a sheet pan which is around 33 cm x 23 cm (13 in x 9 in). Doubling it for the layers sounds perfect :). Hope that helps!
Hi Anthea! I'm planning on making this for my iso birthday dinner this week, would this be okay if I halved the recipe? And do you have any biscuit recommendations? I'm thinking of using choc ripple bikkies but if there's something better at Coles or Woollies I'm open to suggestions 🙂
Thank you!
Hi Millie! Great idea to make this for your iso bday! Yep, you can totally halve the recipe - if you don't have a smaller cake tin, it'll just make less layers (or 1 big one which is fine). Choc ripple are the ones I used and they worked well! Let me know how you go and happy birthday in advance!
Great, thanks so much! One more q, what butter do you recommend for frosting?
For the frosting, I've used Nuttelex Buttery and Naturli spreadable and block and they've all worked well ?
I made this cake for my 9 year olds birthday and it was amazing! The recipe was perfect and not too sweet. Thanks for sharing yet another brilliant recipe.
Soo glad to hear Nicola!! What a treat it'd be for a 9 year old :). Thanks for the lovely comment xo
Another excellent recipe, which works to perfection! My family labelled this a Celebration Cake, and it definitely is a bit special. Such a good recipe with accurate and clear instructions. I wasn't sure about which vegan biscuits to use but opted for bourbon-type biscuits, which worked really well. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Aw that's amazing Sal! Celebration cake sounds so special and love that bourbon cookies worked for this recipe :). Thanks so much for your feedback xo
Hi, I need to make an eggless cake (not vegan). Can I please use regular sugar and butter as substitutes?
Thanks 🙂
Nadine
Yes you can 🙂
Hi!! does this cake freeze well? As I am making layers in advance before I assemble them a few days later??
Yes it does! As long as you cover it very well in the freezer, it'll be fine 🙂
Made this cake for a family party and it was a HIT ! they loved it.
Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
That's so great to hear Elena! Thanks for such a lovely comment xo