This delicious Mint Oreo Cake is SO good, with mint oreo cake layers, rich ganache, and mint buttercream frosting.If you love chocolate and mint together, this cake is for you!
I've always loved this combination of flavors- and we have a great Mint Chocolate Chip Cake in our Recipes section which is made of rich chocolate cake layers and mint chocolate chip frosting.
However, in today's recipe, the minty Oreo cake layers are the stars of the show, and balanced with crushed mint Oreos, mint buttercream, and decadent ganache.
The result is a super moist, flavorful cake which is sure to please, whether you're celebrating a birthday or just craving something delicious to share with family and friends.
How to Make a Mint Oreo Cake
*You can find the full, printable cake recipe further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!
Preheat the oven 350 degrees F, grease and flour three 8×2 inch round pans. We like to also add a circle of parchment paper to the bottom of each pan.
Crush the Mint Oreos- I placed them in a ziplock bag and crushed with a rolling pin but you can use a food processor if you'd rather, for finer crumbs.
Next, in a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) for 30 seconds. Set aside
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Set aside..
In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Slowly add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for three to five minutes until lightened and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid).
Add a little green coloring gel if you'd like.
Do not mix above medium speed or over mix the cake batter.
Fold in the crushed Mint Oreos. Scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, divide the cake batter between the three prepared cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. *If baking in 9 inch pans, bake 25-30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes and turn out.
Filling and Frosting for mint oreo cake
The filling and frosting for our Mint Oreo Cake layers is a mint buttercream frosting and decadent ganache.
For the Ganache
I love to use ganache for adding dramatic drips to cakes, but especially for a boost of decadent chocolate flavor.
To make this easy ganache, simply combine the chips and cream in a microwave safe bowl, heat until chips are almost completely melted, and then allow to sit and give it a stir. The mixture will combine to be silky smooth, and will thicken a bit as it cools.
**We used equal parts of chocolate and cream by weight for our dark chocolate drizzle- If using semi-sweet chocolate, you may want to add slightly more chocolate than cream.
For the Mint Buttercream
This buttercream is so delicious- it works great as a filling or frosting, and can be whipped up in no time. It is based on our Classic Vanilla Buttercream, plus a little peppermint extract.
This is an American buttercream recipe, which means it's just a matter of combining softened butter, sifted confectioners sugar, milk, and extract(s).
Mix for 3-4 minutes on medium speed until fluffy and smooth, and then a minute or two more on low speed to reduce air bubbles.
**If you'd like to incorporate even more chocolate flavor into the cake, you could also frost it with our Chocolate Buttercream Frosting!
Assembling and decorating the Mint Oreo Cake
Place the first cake layer on the pedestal or cake plate. Spread with a layer of mint buttercream frosting, and then drizzle ganache on top of that, along with additional crushed mint Oreos.
Top with the second layer of mint oreo cake and repeat the above steps. Top with the third cake layer and frost with mint buttercream. I always chill the cake in the freezer for 10-15 minutes after applying the first coat of frosting.
Apply the second coat of frosting, smooth with bench warm metal scraper (or your preferred method), and chill for 5-10 minutes more.
Apply the ganache drip around the top edge of the cake, using a piping bag with the very tip snipped away.
You can do a trial run on the inside of a bowl to see if the ganache needs to be warmed or cooled to reach the desired consistency for dripping. (It should not be hot when applied to cake).
After applying the drip all the way around, spread additional ganache on top of the cake. I added a little spiral pattern on top using a spoon as I rotated the cake on a turntable.
I added half of a mint Oreo to the center of the cake, and added a small bead border piped with a small round tip 3 around the bottom of the cake.
More Chocolate Cakes to Try!
We've made lots of chocolate cakes over the years! Here are a few of our favorite chocolate recipes, as well as some mint favorites as well!
You can find the full roundup of our FAVORITE chocolate cakes here: Best Chocolate Cake Recipes
Mint Oreo Cake {A Scratch Recipe}
This moist Mint Oreo Cake with ganache and mint buttercream is the best! If you love the delicious combination of mint and chocolate, you will love this recipe!
Ingredients
For the Cake Layers
- 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter, softened ( holds it shape but dents when pressed)
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups (342g) cake flour (spooned into measuring cup and leveled off) If you do not have cake flour see substitution in Notes below.
- 2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 ¼ cups (296g) buttermilk — if you do not have buttermilk, see substitution below
- ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon (12g) vanilla extract
- 2 ½ teaspoons Peppermint Extract (10g)
- 10 Mint Oreos, crushed (109g) (If you cannot find mint Oreos, use regular) Place in ziplock bag and crush with rolling pin, or use a food processor for finer crumbs.
- Green Coloring Gel (I used Wilton Leaf Green)
For the Ganache Drip
- 6 oz (171g) Chocolate (Semi-sweet or Dark) We used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips
- 6 oz (171g) Heavy Cream
For the Mint Buttercream Frosting
- 3 sticks (354g) unsalted butter
- 8 cups (920g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon (8g) Peppermint Extract (Adjust amount to your liking. (flavor will intensify slightly over time.)
- ½ to 1 teaspoon salt (optional to cut sweetness)
- ¼ cup (60g) milk (adjust based on desired consistency)
Assembly/Decoration
- Additional Crushed Mint Oreos sprinkled between the cake layers
- Disposable piping bag (for ganache drip)
- We used a small round piping tip 3 for the bead border at the base of the cake
- Offset spatula or bench scraper for smoothing the frosting and spreading ganache.
Instructions
For the Mint Oreo Cake Layers
- Preheat the oven 15-20 minutes to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8×2 inch round pans, adding a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of each pan.
- Place Oreos in a ziploc bag or between two sheets of waxed paper and crush with a rolling pin.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside
- In another bowl, add the buttermilk, oil, vanilla and peppermint extract. Set aside..
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
- Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid).
- Add green coloring gel if you'd like.
- Do not mix above medium speed or over mix the cake batter.
- Fold in the crushed Mint Oreos. Divide batter between your pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. *If baking in 9 inch pans, bake 25-30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes and turn out.
- This recipe makes 8 cups of batter
For the Ganache
- Place your chocolate into a microwave safe bowl.
- Pour heavy cream over the chocolate and place in the microwave for 1 minute. (Times may vary, see our note below).
- Remove and stir. Microwave for 30 seconds more if needed and when the chocolate has melted almost completely, allow it to sit for 1 minute more before stirring. Stir until you've reached a silky smooth consistency.
- *Microwave times may vary. If you are making a smaller amount of ganache, you will reduce the microwave time. If your chocolate hasn't melted after the 1 ½ minutes recommended in the instructions, simply microwave in small 10-15 second increments until it has nearly completely melted. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth.
For the Mint Buttercream
- Cream the (slightly softened) unsweetened butter until smooth.
- Blend in the peppermint extract.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and most of the milk. Beat at medium speed until the powdered sugar is incorporated.
- Add remaining powdered sugar and milk and mix at medium speed another 3 to 4 minutes scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. I slow down the mixer to very slow. (#2 on the Kitchenaid) for 1 to 2 minutes. This will help eliminate air pockets in the buttercream. The texture will become very smooth.
- If your buttercream is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If the consistency is too thick, add a bit more milk.
Assembling the Cake
- Place the first cake layer on the pedestal or cake plate.
Spread with a layer of mint buttercream frosting, and then drizzle ganache on
top of that, along with additional crushed Mint Oreos. - Repeat for the next cake layer, and top with the third cake layer. Crumb coat the cake with Mint Buttercream. (At this point I like to chill the cake in the freezer for 10-15 minutes).
- Apply the second coat of frosting, smooth with bench warm metal scraper (or
your preferred method), and chill for 5-10 minutes more. - Apply the ganache drip around the top edge of the cake, using a piping bag
with the very tip snipped away. (Ganache should not be hot). - After applying the drip all the way around, spread additional ganache on top
of the cake. - I added half of a mint Oreo to the center of the cake for decoration, and added a small
bead border piped with a small round tip 3 around the bottom of the cake.
Notes
Substitute for Buttermilk: No Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: To a measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice. Add milk to the 1 ¼ mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend
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Looks and sounds yummy! ;-) I'm a chocolate mint lover :-)