I’ve been going to a lot of 21st birthday celebrations lately, haven’t I? And 21st birthday celebrations always call for cake.

This weekend, a few friends are high school are visiting the city for one of their birthdays. Obviously, I had to make a cake. You’ve all probably noticed that I’m a huge fan of doctored cake mixes. They’re easy to make, quick to clean up, and look way more impressive than your generic funfetti. This time, I tried my hand at a new recipe: Cookies ‘n’ Cream cake!


Ingredients:
  -  1 box white cake mix
  -  3 egg whites
  -  1 1/4 cup water
  -  1/3 cup vegetable oil
  -  1 package Oreo sandwich cookies
  -  1 tub white frosting
Prepare cake according to ingredients on package by combining cake mix, water, egg whites and vegetable oil with a hand mixer. Place one column of cookies in a large Ziploc bag, and crumble with either your hands or a rolling pin. Stir crumbled cookies into cake batter. Pour into two 9″ pans prepared with cooking spray and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before leveling the top of one cake round with a serrated knife.
Dump container of frosting into a large mixing bowl and add another column of cookies. Using a hand mixer, crush the cookies into the frosting. Frost between the two cake rounds before layering, then use remaining frosting on top and sides. Decorate with remaining column of sandwich cookies and serve!
I must confess that while Oreos were never my favorite cookie growing up (give me chocolate candy instead any day), I literally could not keep myself from eating the frosting. Something about the slightly gritty texture is just completely amazing. Likewise, the cake part is dense and moist with bursts of chocolate- adding the Oreos really ups the ante on an otherwise boring white cake.
Off to play in the city for the day- looks like it might actually be the hottest day of the year out there…
If you could create any flavor cake, what would it be? Are there any combinations you’ve been wanting to try out but haven’t yet?