Another year around the sun and this year I decided to make my own Birthday Cake. I am not typically a traditional Cake fan, there are many other desserts I would rather have such as Cheesecake, Ice Cream, Donuts etc. However, cake is the birthday tradition and I have never baked a cake fully from scratch, so I found this recipe by Cake By Courtney. This cookies and cream cake is AMAZING. Granted, it probably has enough sugar and butter to last you an entire year but regardless, it taste amazing.

The ingredients are below but head over to CakeByCourntney for the instructions. A few tips:

• Cut the top off each cake round to ensure it is flat. If you don’t do this you end up having a lot of filling and icing between the layers on the outside due to having such a large gap to fill.
• For a more moist cake, cook only 20 minutes instead of 25. It keeps the moisture a little better if you are making it a day in advance.
• DON’T SKIP THE FREEZER – Putting the cake in the freezer is an important step to ensure the cake doesn’t call apart when icing it.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CAKE

• 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (88.5 g) good quality dark cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons (8g) baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon (3 g) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (5.6 g) kosher salt
• 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (109 g) vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup (236.6 g) hot water
• 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING

• 3/4 cup (173.25 g) heavy whipping cream
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups (250 g) powdered sugar, measured and then sifted
• 8 Oreo cookies, broken into chunks

FOR THE OREO BUTTERCREAM

• 6 Oreo cookies, pulverized into fine crumbs
• 2 cups (452 g) unsalted butter, slightly cold
• 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar, measured and then sifted
• 3 tablespoons (43.3 g)  heavy whipping cream
• *This buttercream recipe makes enough to fill and cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping, you’ll want to make an extra 1/2 batch.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE DRIP

• 1 cup (150 g) semi sweet or dark chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup to 1 cup (173-231 g) heavy whipping cream
• black food gel (optional)