Oreo Cake

Shavuot is over and I can breathe easy. Once again, I was commissioned to bake for the girls', for their all night learning marathon. That of course means that I'm going to bake up a storm. It's just what I do and no, it cant be helped. I made PB Milk Chocolate Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, White Chocolate Craisin Oatmeal Cookies, chocolate cake, carrot cake, apple cake, brownies and PB brownies. Oh, and these Oreo Cakes. Pretty much everything was consumed that night and whatever wasnt disappeared for the most part. Which is good because I hate waste and leftovers. At the end of it, I couldnt tell if girls were more grateful or hateful; seems I was the cause of some serious weight gain over the two day period. Oh well. Anyway, it didnt take much time to get everything together, it was broken up over Monday night and Tuesday morning. After all I made, I was ready to make more. But I stopped myself. Back to these Oreo Cakes. This cake had many people asking, is this cake from the Kosher Palate? That being a reference to a cake mix based Oreo Cake from that very famous Kosher cookbook put out by a Yeshiva high school some years ago. I answered that this wasnt that cake, it was made from SCRATCH. Truth be told, I was so pleased to discover this cake a while back in Marcy Goldman's Passion for Baking and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to make this dairy cake. Shavuot was that golden opportunity. In the end, I needed to use non dairy sandwich cookies for other reasons but other than that the only change I made was to bake it in 2 9x13 pans instead of a large tube pan because I didnt have a large tube pan and I figured it would feed more people. Here's to hoping I get my hands on a large tube pan soon so I can try it again sometime. The only other minor change I made was to use cream in the glaze instead of water and I omitted the vanilla. The cake turned out moist and tender and was very well received. It's quite a looker, too.

Oreo Cake
adapted from A Passion for Baking

Cake:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
4 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2  tsp salt
30 sandwich cookies

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
cream as required

Preheat your oven to 350. Line two 9x13 inch pans with parchment paper or grease and flour a 9 inch tube pan. Set aside.

Chop your cookies and place in a bow. Set aside.
Place the margarine and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Beat until well blended and creamy.
Add eggs two at a time and mix until incorporated.
This is my post egg batter.
Add the vanilla and buttermilk,
and blend.

Add the dry ingredients,

and mix until blended.

If youre making the sheet cakes, divide the batter evenly among the two pans. Spread and smooth.

Top each cake with half of the chopped cookies, pressing them in firmly. If you choose to make the tube cake, pour two thirds of the batter into the pan and top with two thirds of the cookies. Repeat with remaining batter and cookies. Bake for around half hour for the sheet cakes and about an hour for the tube pan or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. For the tube pan, allow to cool ten minutes before unmolding.

Mix up the glaze ingredients and using a fork distribute on top of the cakes in a funky pattern. Cut and serve. Preferably with a glass of milk.