Excerpted from Plantcakes by Lyndsay Sung. Copyright © 2023 Lyndsay Sung. Photographs by Lyndsay Sung. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

Cookies and cream, the Og favorite flavor of children everywhere (and, secretly, all of us). I think I can recall the big entry of cookies and cream into the ice cream world in the 1980s, but now it is ubiquitous, because the “cookie” of the cookies and cream combo is none other than the painfully addictive Oreo cookie. The not-too-sweet thin dark chocolate cookie layers sandwich a white crème filling between them, making the perfect packaged cookie. And vegans worldwide can rejoice in the fact that the Oreo is also accidentally vegan! Yeah! This cookies and cream cake does not hold back on the use of Oreos—they’re chopped up into the buttercream layers and sprinkled and placed in between piped buttercream dollops, combined with dark chocolate cake layers and creamy vanilla buttercream.

MAKES ONE 7 – INCH 3 – L AYER CAKE

INGREDIENTS

MAKE THE CAKE

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Prepare three 7- × 2-inch round cake pans by spritzing them with vegetable oil and lining with parchment paper circles cut to size, and then spritzing again with oil, to prevent sticking.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt until combined. Switch to the paddle attachment.

In a large bowl, combine the boiling water and espresso powder and whisk to combine. Whisk in the cocoa powder until combined. Whisk in the vegetable oil and vanilla extract (don’t worry if it won’t emulsify, it will all come together!).

Add the wet mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer and mix on low speed for about 20 seconds to combine. Add the apple cider vinegar and mix for another 15 seconds, until the batter is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.

BAKE THE CAKE

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Give the pans a light tap on the counter to reduce any air bubbles. Bake for 22–25 minutes, until the cake springs back to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes back with only moist crumbs.

ASSEMBLE THE CAKE

Follow the steps on pages 19–22 to fill and frost the cake using the vanilla buttercream, to the final frost stage. To fill the cake layers, pipe a thick layer of the vanilla buttercream on each layer first, then press chopped-up Oreo cookie pieces into the buttercream in even intervals, pushing them down into the buttercream. Add another thin layer of buttercream over the Oreo pieces, before placing the next layer of cake carefully on top. For the photo opposite, I used a smooth style for my second layer of frosting.

Decorate the top of the cake with a piped spiral border or an artful array of piped dollops, drop stars, and chopped Oreo pieces in varying sizes, or a border of piped buttercream dollops alternating with whole sandwich cookies, as I did for the photo opposite.

This cake will taste freshest eaten within a day of making it, but can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days. See page 13 for storage notes.

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