Weekend Treats: Cookies and Cream Cake

Now that Mustang and RB are living in San Diego, we get to see our family more often.  Which is fabulous.  Last weekend Knits and Petman came down to visit RB and we got to meet up with them for Sunday Brunch. 

Since they were staying on Shelter Island, we met up at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern - which I had discovered when dropping Tesseract off one day when she was having brunch there.

The great things about J-FAT include their location, right on the water, the fact that tater tots are served with all brunch entrees, and a giant grassy area beside the restaurant for Thatbaby to run around.

Oh yes, Thatbaby is a full fledged runner-arounder.  With his little arms flapping in the air as he goes.  And there are frequent moments of him being airborne before coming crashing to the earth since his balance has not quite met his desire for speed.

It was such a treat to have brunch with Knits and Petman.  I'm really so thankful they decided to move out to California.  I feel very lucky to have so much of our family close by.

Having some free time this weekend, I also decided to make a cake!  I wanted to tweak the cookies and cream cake I had made for Thatbaby's birthday. That cake had a vanilla base and a chocolate buttercream frosting.  This is the reverse.  A rich chocolate cake (hello secret ingredient coffee!) with a white buttercream frosting.

Without the chocolate frosting, this cake isn't as rich as the other, but the chocolate cake aspect is unbeatable.  And this frosting really has the same flavor as the middle of the oreo - which is everyone's favorite part, right?

Cookies and Cream Cake

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 egg

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup coffee

1 1/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg yolk 

1 stick of butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  Spray an 8inch cake pan with baking spray.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or makeshift double boiler) and set aside.
2. Beat the egg in an electric mixture and add the sugar.  Beat until well blended.
3. Add the oil, vanilla, chocolate, and coffee and beat well.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix for 2 minutes.
6. Pour into the pan and bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven, cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn onto a rack and cool completely.
7. While cake is cooling,  combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water without stirring in a heavy-bottomed pan until the mixture reaches 240.
8. Beat the egg yolk.
9. Pour the heated sugar mixture over the egg while beating.
10. Cut butter into small pieces and beat until incorporated.  Continue beating the frosting until it's the right consistency.
11. Frost cake and sprinkle with crushed oreo cookies.