Cookies and Cream Cake

When I had a friend living with me in October, I made photocopies of a couple of recipes from her cook books. I found this Cookies and Cream Cake recipe in the Cake Doctor Book and I have been wanting to make this recipe ever since. The Cake Doctor takes mainly boxed cakes and turns them into something more than a simple box cake. However, the use of the box cake makes this recipe indeed far more simple and faster than most cake recipes.





From the Cake Doctor

Ingredients
18 Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Solid vegetable shortening for greasing the pans
Flour for dusting the pans
1 package (18.25 ounces) white cake mix with pudding
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

Directions
1. Place the chocolate sand which cookies in batches in the food processors, until you have crumbs. You should have 2 1/4 cups crumbs. If not, process the cookies until you have the correct amount. Set aside.

2. Place a rack in the center of the rack and preheat the oven to 350F. Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set pans aside.

3. Place the cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Fold in 1 cup of cookie crumbs until well distributed. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.

4. Place a clean, large mixing bowl and clean electric mixer beaters in the refrigerator while the cake bakes. You will use these to prepare the whipped cream.

5. Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28 to 32 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

6. Prepare the whipped cream: Remove the chilled bowl and beaters from the refrigerator. Pour the cream into the bowl and beat with the electric mixer on high speed until it forms stiff peaks, 2.5 to 3.5 minutes. Gently fold in 1 cup of the remaining cookie crumbs, distributing them well. Chill the whipped cream until the cake has cooled completely.

7. Carefully slice the cake layers in half horizontally, using a large, sharp serrated bread knife or a long piece of unflavored dental floss. You will have four layers. Place the bottom half of a cake layer on a serving platter, cut side up. Spread with some of the shipped cream. Top with the matching top half of the layer, cut side down. Spread with whipped cream. Next, add the bottom half of the second layer, cut side up, and spread with whipped cream. Top with the matching top half of the layer, cut side down. Spread the top and sides of the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream using clean, smooth strokes.

8. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup cookie crumbs on top of the cake. Place the cake in a cake saver or under a glass dome and chill until time to serve.

This easy to make cake is a must have in your recipe box. It is one of the simplest cakes I have made in months and is quite tasty. It really does remind me of Cookies and Cream ice cream or a Dairy Queen blizzard with Oreos. I give this cake 4.5 out of 5 stars. I have been reviewing my reviews and I know it may sound like I am not that harsh on the cakes on my blog. However, it should be noted...that if I really hate a recipe, I am infinitely less likely to actually blog about it. I do cook and bake more than I actually blog. Anyways, if you want an easy to make cake that is sure to impress and is slightly off the beaten track...this is your cake. Happy Baking!