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A rich, moist chocolate sheet cake with a layer of creamy, no-bake Oreo cheesecake in the middle, topped with a luscious milk chocolate ganache, crushed Oreo cookies and some Mighty Machines.
My grandson turned two last week and he wanted a digger cake for his birthday. He’s sort of obsessed with the Mighty Machines show and loves to go outside and watch the backhoes working on the construction site near his new home.
There are quite a few steps to making this cake, but none of them are difficult. We needed a large cake to feed a crowd so I baked two 9×13 sheet cakes and used them as layers. If you want you could divide the recipe in half and just make one 9″ round cake. I bought a new metal 9×13 cake pan that had perfectly square sides.
The Kraft Chocolate-Covered OREO Cookie Cake was our inspiration, but we used the Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake Recipe that I adapted for high altitude, which is one of my daughter’s favorite cakes. We also changed up the filling to use heavy cream instead of Cool Whip, and topped it with chocolate ganache instead of frosting.
You’ll need to put the cake in the fridge to chill and firm up while you’re make the chocolate ganache. It will take several hours for the ganache to thicken up and come to the right consistency. Once it’s thickened, spread it on top of the cake, pushing it up to the edge in some places so it drips down the sides of the cake. If you wanted, you could cover the entire cake with the ganache, but I thought it was more fun to see the filling.
After you spread the ganache, use crushed Oreo cookies to create the construction zone on top of the cake. My daughter bought the little backhoes at Zurchers. They were filled with candy, but we just emptied it out. She also bought the Birthday Zone decorations at Zurchers. She made the little construction signs in Photoshop.
My grandson had a hard time waiting to play with the diggers on the cake, so you might want to buy an extra for the birthday boy to play with right away.
He was a very happy little boy when it was finally time to eat his digger cake. Of course a digger makes a great spoon too.
Chocolate Cake with a No-Baked Oreo Cheesecake Filling
Ingredients
- 2 9 x13 chocolate sheet cakes
No-Baked Oreo Cheesecake Filling:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 ½ packages 12 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 18 Oreo Cookies Coarsely crushed
Chocolate Ganache
- 24 oz. milk chocolate finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
Topping
- 8 Oreo Cookies filling removed and finely crushed
Instructions
- No-Baked Oreo Cheesecake Filling
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream until it forms soft peaks.
- In another large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until blended and smooth.
- Gently stir in whipped cream and crushed cookies.
- Chocolate Ganache
- Place half of the chocolate in a mixing bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high heat until it comes to a boil.
- Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add remain chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted.
- Cool until ganache is thickened but still thin enough to drip down the sides of the cake. (I cooled mine in the fridge for over an hour.)
- Assembling cake
- When the cake layers are cool, evenly spread filling on bottom layer, carefully stack the second layer on top of filling. Refrigerate while you make the ganache.
- Spoon chocolate ganache on top of the cake, spreading to edges and letting the ganache drip down the sides. Decorate top with additional crushed Oreos, diggers and signs if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
To achieve the super straight sides on this cake, I used this pan:
More cake recipes you might like:
(Eggless) Smash Cake for a First Birthday, Barbara Bakes
Chocolate Cheesecake Cake, Barbara Bakes
Monkey Cake, Smitten Kitchen
Checkerboard Spider Cake, Munchkin Munchies
Vanilla Layer Cake with Easy Fudge Frosting, Completely Delicious
Christina Pagano
Do I put the no bake cream cheese on after refrigerated or eight away.. Cause I’m confused on the steps of what to make first… Please let me know..do I make all of them and refrigerated desperately and then put together?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Christina – bake the cakes, and when they’re cooled, make the cream cheese filling and layer the cakes with the filling in the middle. Then put the filled cake in the refrigerator while you make the ganache. Enjoy!
Danielle
I love this cake, I want to make it for my son. However I have a question, do I make 2 batches of the hershey perfectly chocolate cake batter for 2 9×13 sheet cakes??
Chris
Hi Barbara, Cute cake! I would like to make it for an outdoor summer party. Will refrigeration be an issue? Can it be outside for an hour say at 75 degrees before cutting? I intend to refrigerate it before bringing it to the party, but it won’t be eaten immediately. Also, what type of straight sided pan did you buy? Thanks for your help!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Chris! It’ll be a fun summer party cake. I don’t know about keeping it outside for an hour without refrigeration though. Could you keep it in a cooler or on a platter on top of ice? I’ve added a link at the end of the post to the pan I bought to make this cake so it would have beautiful straight sides.
Becky
I would like to make this for my son’s birthday this weekend. Can it be made a day ahead, or should I do it the morning of? Can I do the cakes Friday and the rest Saturday morning?
Thanks for your help!
Barbara Schieving
Yes, you can make it ahead. It was wonderful the next day. You could even do the cakes and the cheesecake filling on Friday and then just decorate it on Saturday morning. The ganache will take a while to set up before you put it on the cake, so be sure and allow enough time Saturday morning. Have fun! Happy Birthday to your little one.
Becky
Thank you. Do I assemble the cake and filling if I do it the day ahead. And do I refrigerate it and or cover it? Thanks again.
Barbara Schieving
Yes, you can assemble the cake and filling a day ahead. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it as soon as you add the cream cheese filling. Keep it in the refrigerator after you decorate it as well.
2 Sisters Recipes
Oh what a genius idea for a cake! So luscious and chocolate-ty!! And your grandson is so adorable. He is so lucky to have a grandma like you! Have a great weekend!
Kitchen Belleicious
what a lucky grandson indeed. This cake is of course delicious because you made it but it looks INCREDIBLE! ADORABLE AND JUST SO CREATIVE! I did all caps on purpose:)
Blond Duck
So cute!
Nutmeg Nanny
Aw this cake is adorable!!! I bet it tastes divine 🙂
Donna
What a lucky little guy to have a grandma like YOU!
Jenni
What a cute cake!!!
Brenda @ a farmgirl's dabbles
This cake is fabulous! You did a beautiful job; your grandson must have been so excited to see it! It looks absolutely delish, too – that middle layer of Oreo + the drippy frosting, oh my!