A tasty striped cake with a cookies and cream frosting, this Zebra Cake Recipe is a fun layered cake that can be served at so many different functions.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 2 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, stir 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.
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 body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, and cream together until smooth.
Add the powdered 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. Put one of the cakes bottom side down onto your serving platter. Add about 1 cup of the frosting 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. Place in the fridge for 1-2 hours to set up.
Add another layer of frosting around the whole cake. Take the remaining frosting and decorate as you wish, and add mini Oreos if desired. Cut and serve immediately.
Notes
This can be made ahead of time, just do not add the Oreos to the frosting until you are ready to assemble the cake, or they will get soft.
This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
If you want to make your own homemade white cake, you can.
Make sure you layer per directions, or you will not get that zebra effect.
Other frostings and toppings can be used, see above on ideas.