Zebra Cake with Cream Cheese Oreo Frosting

This Zebra Cake with Cream Cheese Oreo Frosting is a show-stopper at any event you bring it to. This marble cake with chocolate stripes will wow any guest.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cake, chocolate, cookies and cream, cream cheese, oreo, vanilla, zebra

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Total Time 45

Servings

Calories 855kcal

Ingredients

Cake

15.25 ounces white cake mix 1 box
1 cup whole milk
½ cup vegetable oil
4 egg whites large
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Frosting

16 Oreo cookies
1 cup unsalted butter softened
8 ounces cream cheese softened
8 cups confectioner’s sugar sifted
6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mini Oreos for garnish

Instructions

Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Spray TWO 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray.
Add a circle of parchment paper to the bottom and spray the top with more cooking spray, set aside.
In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, mix the cake mix, milk, oil, and egg whites for 30 seconds until it comes together. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Take half of the cake batter and put it into a medium-sized bowl.
To the remaining cake batter, add the cocoa powder and stir it in until just combined.
Working with both cake pans, add about ¼ cup of the white cake batter to the center of each pan.
Add about ¼ cup of the chocolate batter into the center of the white batter in each pan. Keep doing this until all of the batters are used up and the cakes should have an even amount of cake batter in each pan.
If you find the batter isn’t spreading you can tilt the baking pan until it fills out the bottom of the pan, this will not mess up the zebra design.
Bake for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely in the pans.

Frosting

While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting by placing the Oreos into a food processor and process into crumbs, set aside.
Place the softened butter and cream cheese into the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, and cream together until smooth.
Add the confectioner’s sugar a little at a time until fully combined, and scrape down the sides as needed.
Add the heavy cream and vanilla, and stir it in until combined.
Place the mixer on medium-high speed and whip for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Add the cookie crumbs and stir them in until combined. I like to then use a spatula to mix it a little more by hand to make sure the cookie crumbs are evenly distributed.
Cut any doming off the cakes so the tops are flat.
Place one of the cakes - bottom side down - onto your serving platter or cake plate.
Add about 1 cup of the frosting on top and smooth it out to the edge.
Place the second cake - top side down - onto the frosting.
Add a thin layer of frosting over the whole cake for the crumb coat.
Place it in the fridge for 1-2 hours to set up.
Add another layer of frosting around the whole cake.
Take any remaining frosting and decorate the cake as you wish, and add mini Oreos if desired. Cut and serve immediately.

Notes

Flavor-wise the star of this cake is the cookies and cream frosting. The cake itself is moist and flavorful with a subtle chocolate flavor. The frosting is very rich and addictive! You can really taste the Oreo and the cream cheese in the frosting.
If you are making this ahead of time, I would not add the cookie crumbs into the frosting until you are ready to assemble the cake. If you add them too soon, they will soften in the frosting and will end up combining with the frosting completely making it look grey instead of speckled as shown.
If you don’t want to make the frosting these are other good options: vanilla buttercream, chocolate buttercream, plain cream cheese frosting, peanut butter frosting, caramel frosting, pretty much any frosting you like since the real wow factor of the cake is when you cut it to see the pretty zebra design inside.
Some other fun toppings instead of mini Oreos, more crushed Oreos, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate shavings, or a melted chocolate drip.
The frosting recipe makes enough to generously frost the cake plus decorating it. If you do not plan on decorating it and just want to frost the cake completely, you can use half of the recipe for the frosting.
This cake needs to be refrigerated since it has dairy in the frosting. It is best served at room temperature and it is safe to sit out to come to room temperature to enjoy it then place it back in the fridge. Keeps in the fridge for up to 7 days, freeze for up to 3 months.
Take this basic concept and use it with other colors and cake flavors!

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