Heavenly Cookies and Cream Cake

Cake Balls..

..Or No Cake Balls??, That is the question!

If heaven was a cake, it would taste like this one. This cake turned out absolutely AMAZING! I recommend it to any chocolate, or Oreo lover for that matter. I couldn't decide if i liked it better with cake balls on top or not through, so the choice is yours! Anyways, this cake has a rich, moist chocolate cake base, and in the middle is a cookies and cream-cream cheese layer, not to mention it's covered with chocolate cream cheese icing, the perfect combination of all the best flavors!

Heres what i did:

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

• 1 cup hot coffee
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon butter flavoring (optional)
  

For the creamy Center:

• 1 cup cream cheese
  
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 cups crushed oreos

For the chocolate Cream Cheese icing:

• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon butter flavoring (optional)
  
• 1 cup cream cheese
• (you can add some crushed oreos here if you like)
  

INSTRUCTIONS

For the cake:

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. ( or if you like it simple like me, get some spray that already has flour in it) In a bowl, combine the coffee and cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Add 1 cup cold water and whisk until combined. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking so da, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Continue beating at medium speed while slowly adding the eggs, butter flavoring, and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture until well combined. Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
3. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the cake pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

For the Creamy Center:

1. Whisk the Cream cheese, cream, and sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the crushed oreos. Set aside.

For the chocolate-Cream Cheese icing:

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, or in a double boiler over low heat, if you like that better; set aside to cool. Combine the butt er, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Next mix in the Cream cheese. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the vanilla, butter flavoring, and cooled chocolate. Beat until well in corporated. Set aside at room temperature.

To Finish it off: Get one cake out and spread a layer at least 1/2 inch thick on it of the creamy center. Next flip the other c ake on top, and cover in Chocolate-cream cheese icing. Finally, sprinkle crushed oreos on top, mini chocolate chips might be good too, and if you wish make a few cake balls with some extra cake and apply them on top as well. O yeah, i also cut oreos neatly in half, and put them around the bottom of my cake, creating a cute border.

Cookies and Cream, Oreo, Cake balls :

I poured a little extra cake into a little pan, if you dont have one, you could use a muffin pan, or any mini cake pan. Then i crumbled up the cake, and added some icing,

and a tiny bit of the creamy center, i just est imated, but make sure you don't put too much icing and filling, because your cake balls could get a little runny. After that, roll them into balls and sometimes it's best to put t hem in the freezer for only a couple min. so that they are easier to roll in the chocolate, and they aren't falling apart on you. Next i melted some chocolate, rolled the balls in it, and placed it out. I used bittersweet, but for better results i might suggest trying a milk chocolate cooking bar, or melting milk choco late, chocolate chips. Finally i Rolled them in powder sugar before the chocolate got too hard.