This cookies & cream sheet cake combines a soft and buttery white cake with plenty of sweet Oreo cookies. The recipe begins as my white cake, but with a few updates to the batter to make room for the cream-filled cookie pieces. Top the cake with sturdy yet light whipped cream frosting, which is a combination of heavy cream, cream cheese, vanilla, and a bit of confectioners’ sugar. The frosting is lightly sweetened, so there’s plenty of room for more Oreos. This is a fun, simple, and manageable cake for a crowd of Oreo lovers!
Details About This Cookies & Cream Sheet Cake
- Flavor: All Oreo! If you love vanilla cake, whipped frosting, and Oreo cookies, you will ADORE this cookies & cream sheet cake. I was going to add chocolate ganache or chocolate buttercream, but decided to keep everything vanilla so nothing overpowers the actual Oreos in the cake batter and frosting.
- Texture: The cookies and cream cake is buttery, soft, and moist and the frosting has a creamy whipped texture that’s slightly heavier than regular whipped cream, but much lighter than vanilla buttercream. The Oreo cookie crumbs in the cake aren’t crunchy at all—instead, they take on a soft and cakey texture. The cake batter doesn’t require anything complicated, but make sure that you use egg whites (no yolks) and cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. Both of these ingredients help guarantee a softer, lighter cake crumb. Since we’re not using egg yolks, which often weigh down a cake, let’s add fat back into the batter with sour cream. Sour cream keeps the cake light, but adds unbeatable moisture.
- Ease: Sheet cakes are renowned for being easier than layer cakes—no leveling off cake layers, no fancy decor, no crazy assembly required. Slicing and serving is a breeze and you’ll appreciate that this dessert can feed a crowd, but is still completely manageable to make. The whipped cream frosting comes together quickly and most of the work is done by your mixer. Honestly the hardest part about this entire recipe is resisting the urge to eat all those chopped Oreo cookies. (Ok, go ahead and sneak some!)
If you love Oreos, try this super easy cookies & cream pie or 4 ingredient Oreo balls next.
Cookies & Cream Cake: What Works & What Doesn’t
This vanilla cake batter and this reverse-creamed vanilla cake batter proved to be too heavy and thick for the Oreo cookie pieces—both cakes tasted pretty dense. My versatile white cake is my chameleon cake, proving successful when flavored, altered, or doctored up. It’s the starting point for burnt sugar cake, espresso cake, coconut cake, fresh berry cream cake, pineapple coconut cake, pistachio cake, and strawberry cake.
It is, without a doubt, my favorite base cake recipe.
For this cookies and cream cake, I reduced the sugar since we’re adding Oreo cookies. The sweetness was perfect, but the cake tasted greasy and wet as a result of the slightly melted cream filling in the cookies. I removed 1 egg white and reduced the milk, then added a little sour cream since I removed milk. Removing some liquid made the batter thicker, which held onto and soaked in the cookie pieces a bit better.
How to Make Oreo Whipped Cream Frosting
This frosting recipe yields 4–5 cups and there’s only 3/4 cup of confectioners’ sugar in all of it. (Plus the Oreo cookie pieces!)
When it comes to cake or cupcake decor, I usually stick with buttercream or cream cheese frosting—and both are quite sweet. I wanted something different today, so I turned to my creamy, fluffy, thick whipped frosting. It’s made with cream cheese, but you can’t taste the cream cheese. And when you fold in the chopped Oreo cookie pieces, the frosting itself tastes like the cookie’s cream filling! It would be delicious paired with chocolate cake or atop chocolate cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes.
Making whipped cream frosting is very easy. Let me review it with you:
- Beat softened block-style cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract together until completely smooth. (Below left.)
- As the mixer is running, slowly pour in cold heavy cream.
- Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until thick and airy. (Below right.)
It holds a sturdy peak!
Add Oreo Cookies
If you want to use this whipped cream frosting for other flavor cakes, the process stops there. But for a cookies and cream cake, let’s fold in chopped Oreo cookies. I wanted piping around the edges of the cake, so I left some frosting plain since the Oreo cookies get stuck in a piping tip. I find a small offset spatula is best for frosting 9×13-inch sheet cakes.
And as you can see, the plain frosting pipes beautifully! I used a Wilton 1M piping tip to pipe a zigzag border design.
Can I Make This as a Layer Cake?
If possible, I always choose making a sheet cake instead of a layer cake because sheet cakes are quicker and easier to decorate and slice. Plus there’s no assembly required and you can serve it right out of the baking pan. (Three of my favorite quarter sheet cakes are this vanilla sheet cake, this banana cake, and this yellow sheet cake, and we always enjoy this chocolate sheet cake that’s made in a half sheet pan.) That being said, you can absolutely turn this into a cookies & cream layer cake if needed. Divide the batter between 2 9-inch round pans or 3 8-inch round pans and use parchment paper rounds to help the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. See recipe note for details. The frosting yields enough for filling and frosting a 2- or 3-layer cake.
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Cookies & Cream Sheet Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is soft and buttery white cake filled with cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos!). Top with light and fluffy whipped cream frosting. Each ingredient serves a purpose so for best results, I don’t recommend making substitutions.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (285g) cake flour (spoon & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (180g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk, at room temperature*
- 1 and 1/4 cups chopped Oreos (110g, about 10 whole Oreos)*
Whipped Cream Frosting
- 6 ounces (170g) block full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (90g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) cold heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup chopped Oreos (90g, about 8 whole regular Oreos)*
- optional: mini or regular Oreos for garnish
Instructions
- Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Generously grease a 9×13-inch cake pan.
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamed together. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the egg whites. Beat on high speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Then beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. Mixture will appear curdled and that’s ok. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients just until incorporated. With the mixer still running on low, slowly pour in the milk until combined. Do not overmix. Whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl, then fold in the chopped Oreo pieces. Avoid over-mixing.
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake for around 32–35 minutes or until the cake is baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it is done. Allow cake to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. The cake must be completely cool before frosting.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed until creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract, and then beat on medium speed until combined and completely smooth, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl. Switch the mixer to low speed and with the mixer running, carefully pour in the cream in a slow and steady stream. After all of the cream has been added, turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until thick and stiff peaks form, about 1–2 minutes.
- Frost the cake: If you’d like to pipe any frosting on the cake like I did in the photo above, set aside about 1 cup of frosting. Fold chopped Oreos into remaining frosting (or all of the frosting if you are not piping any of it). Spread onto cooled cake—it will be a thick layer of frosting. I find a small offset spatula is best for frosting 9×13-inch sheet cakes. For the pictured piping, I used a Wilton 1M piping tip and piped a zigzag design around the border.
- Serve immediately or cover and set aside for a few hours before serving. Or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day, then bring to room temperature before serving. You can definitely serve the cake cold, but many preferred it closer to room temperature. Frosting is sturdy enough at room temperature or in warmer weather for a few hours.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The cake can be baked, cooled, and covered tightly at room temperature overnight. The frosting can be prepared then covered and refrigerated overnight. Assemble and frost the cake the next day when you are ready to serve. Frosted cake can be frozen up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving. Here’s my how to freeze cakes page.
- Whole Milk & Sour Cream/Room Temperature Ingredients: Whole milk and sour cream are strongly recommended for the best taste and texture. A full-fat plain yogurt would work instead of the sour cream, but the cake may not taste as light. Same goes with a lower-fat milk. All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read here for more information.
- Oreos/Cookies: Use the entire sandwich cookie including the cream filling. You need about 10 for the cake and 8 for the frosting. Chop them up with a knife or break apart into small pieces. It’s best to use regular, not Double Stuf, for the cake. I found the more cream filling, the sweeter and greasier the cake tasted, so stick with regular. Double Stuf would be fine for the frosting.
- Cream Cheese: Use 3/4 of an 8-ounce block of full-fat cream cheese. (6 ounces or about 170g.) Do not use cream cheese spread or whipped cream cheese.
- Layer Cake: Grease 3 8-inch or 2 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. Divide the batter between the pans. Bake at 350°F (177°C) for around 24–26 minutes or until the cakes are baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done. The frosting yields enough for filling and frosting a 2 -or 3-layer cake.
- Cupcakes: My vanilla cupcakes recipe is essentially this same recipe, only halved, so I recommend using that. Fold in about 3/4 cup of chopped Oreo pieces before spooning/pouring batter into liners. Halve the frosting recipe above. For close to 3 dozen cupcakes, follow the the cookies & cream cake batter recipe above and the baking instructions for cupcakes. Use the frosting recipe as written above.
- Amount of Cake Batter & Frosting: If it’s helpful for using different size cake pan sizes and conversions, this recipe yields about 7 cups of cake batter and 4–5 cups of frosting.
Keywords: cookies & cream cake, oreo cake
Fantastic cake for all the Oreo fans in our family.
★★★★★
I made this for an office birthday party. Everybody loved it! I used Oreos with a birthday cake filling and decorated with extra sprinkles on top. The cake baked up pretty high in my 9×13 glass pan. Next time I might not use all the batter for the sheet cake and make a couple of cupcakes on the side (for testing/tasting before the event :)).
★★★★★
Yum! Fun for kids and adults alike. Super light crumb from the egg whites and cake flour. I was a little worried it wouldn’t be sweet enough after accidentally putting in salted butter but it was perfect.
★★★★★
Your directions are very clear and I followed them exactly. The cake is done and frosted and waiting to be served. Looks delicious!!! My issue is this: When baking this (and any) cake, I struggle to determine doneness. My cakes always are more brown on top–even when not yet fully baked. When the test toothpick comes clean, the cakes seem overdone. I keep a close watch so I don’t think I’m over baking. With this cake, mine is very brown on top, unlike yours which is beautifully yellow. I baked it for 32 minutes (31 wouldn’t have been enough time) but it seems overdone. Is my oven the problem? I typically avoid baking cakes because they never turn out right. I’m hopeful this one will be different. Any ideas?
★★★★★
Hi Diana, Any chance you are using convection or fan forced heat in your oven? I ask because the flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. This can cause the outside of baked goods to brown before the center is fully baked. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake. If you are using conventional heat (what we use and recommend) try lowering your oven rack a bit and covering the top of your cakes about half way through the bake time. Using an oven thermometer to check the temp of your oven is always a good idea also. Hope this helps!
Hi! Thank you so much for the quick reply. I use a conventional oven and I used the center rack. Based on these suggestions, I’ll lower it and I’ll use the foil. We ate the cake last night and it was delicious so maybe I just need to get over the fact that it looks darker than yours! 🙂 Thanks again!
Does it mater if the cake flour is bleach or unbleached? I have both not sure which to use.
Hi Holly, we usually use bleached, but either will work.
I made this for my 9 year old’s birthday cake. It became an instant favorite!
★★★★★
I made this cake yesterday and it turned out so delicious! I didn’t have cake flour so I had to reduce the amount of flour to be 2 cups and 4 tbsps of all purpose flour. I also didn’t have whole milk on hand but luckily had heavy cream so I did a 50/50 split of 2% milk and heavy cream. Other than those adjustments, I followed the recipe and the cake and frosting both were very good. This is perfect to take to a party or serve at a party.
Hi! Do you think I could make this frosting recipe with ginger snap cookies instead of Oreos and use it to frost your pumpkin cake recipe?
Hi Natalia, we can’t see why not! Be sure to crush up the cookies well — since gingersnaps are not as soft as Oreos, the frosting may not spread as easily, but should work nonetheless. Let us know how it goes!
Hello! Can I make this in a 12×17 inch sheet pan? I have to serve 16 people. Thanks!
Hi Christina, this cake pan sizes and conversions guide should be helpful for scaling this recipe for different pan sizes. Hope you enjoy the cake!
I made this for my church, and it was great! The cake is light and soft. The icing is wonderful. Thank you for the recipe!!
★★★★★
Hi Sally! I just wanted to know how to make a dirt cake from you as I have tried many recipes of it but it didn’t go well so can you create a dirt cake recipe for my sister’s birthday is coming soon.
Hi can I substitute the unsalted butter with vegetable oil?
Hi Gabrielle, vegetable oil would not be a suitable replacement for butter in this recipe.
Hey Sally, if I use an aluminum cake pan instead of glass, will I need to adjust the temperature or bake time? I see a glass pan in the pictures, but the recipe doesn’t specify.
Hi Kathleen! A metal cake pan will work just fine here, the bake time make be very slightly shorter so keep an eye on the cake in the oven.
Hi Sally
In many of your recipes you warn: use BLOCK cream cheese, not the spreadable one. But here in Paris we only have the spread…. any tricks or tips?
(Love your recipes!)
Hi Sophie! In the U.S. block cream cheese is very different than the tubs and is the only cream cheese that will work for frosting. We have been told by readers outside the U.S. that cream cheese in a tub is different from ours and can work, but we have not tested it. Please let us know if you try!
I’m an American living in Europe and also only have access to the cream cheese in a tub! It works fine! I’ve used it several times. It’s Philadelphia and I use the full fat one. Never had a issue with it
I‘m a South African living in Austria and can also confirm Philadephia works great!
Hello Sally! What quantities do I need to make a 12″ two layer cake?
Hi Anaelsy, here is everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions to scale this recipe for your needs.
I made the cake last night for my daughters birthday today. Can it sit on the counter until tonight (unfrosted) until I frost it for her bday tonight? Or should I put it in the fridge? Thanks!
Hi Denise, it will be fine covered on the counter until this evening. Hope it’s a hit!
Great!! I just frosted the cake :)! Is it ok to sit in counter in air conditioned house- for several hours, or put in fridge? Sorry so many questions!
Hi Denise, you can keep it at room temp for a few hours. If you’re keeping it longer than a few hours, we recommend storing it in the fridge, then letting it come back to room temperature before serving.
This has become a family favorite and has turned out great every time we’ve made it. The cake is tasty and moist, and the frosting is light and delicious. Thank you very much!
★★★★★
This cake is amazing!! The white cake is super fluffy and absolutely delicious. So happy I made this.
★★★★★
Hi! Could this be made with a chocolate cake vs white cake?
Hi Laura, you could definitely make a cookies & cream chocolate cake! Though, chocolate cake batter can be thinner and the Oreo chunks may sink in the cake batter. We would use the sour cream version of our chocolate cake recipe. Or you can always just use this frosting on top of a chocolate cake. Let us know what you try!