Making the Mint Oreo Chocolate Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C.
2. Prepare your cake pans by spraying two 8 inch round cake pans with nonstick spray or cake release.Cut parchment paper to fit into the base of the pan and spray the parchment paper with the nonstick spray. 
3. Prepare chocolate cake from scratch as instructed. (My favorite chocolate cake recipe is in the notes below).
4. OR, Prepare box cakes:

   1. Add all of the ingredients for the cake batter into a stand mixer or mixing bowl and beat until well combined. If your mixing bowl is too small, you’ll want to split the ingredients to make two batches.

   2. Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean.

Prepare the cakes for frosting:

1. Remove the pans from the oven and let the cake cool for at least an hour.
2. Use a serrated knife to remove the “dome” from the cake, and then wrap each cake in plastic wrap. Freeze the cakes for at least 2 hours. Chocolate cakes have looser crumbs so freezing the cakes before decorating will make it easier to avoid having crumbs in the frosting.
3. After the cake layers are frozen, go ahead and make the buttercream.

Mint Chocolate Cookies Buttercream Instructions

1. Beat room temperature butter and shortening together, until they are thoroughly creamed together.
2. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and half of the heavy cream and mix the frosting until all ingredients are well incorporated.
3. Mix in one drop of green gel food coloring. I used electric green, but mint or leaf green would also work.
4. Finely chop 6-8 mint Oreos and add to the frosting. It’s important that you get the crumbs chopped very fine, otherwise, the crumbs will get clogged in the piping bag.
5. Add in half of the remaining heavy cream.
6. Beat on high for 5-7 minutes. The frosting will double in size, the color will lighten and the texture will become silky.
7. Only add the last remaining liquid if the frosting is thicker than you prefer.

Decorate the Mint Oreo Chocolate Cake

1. Add frosting to the first layer of cake. An ice cream scooper works great for this!
2. Spread the buttercream on the top of the cake using an offset spatula. Spread some chopped Oreos on top, and then place the second layer of cake on top of the frosting and Oreo crumbles.
3. To reduce cake crumbs, always “frost the frosting.” This means that you are never to spread a layer of frosting directly over the cake, but, spread frosting over existing frosting and spread it outwards so that it doesn’t catch any of the crumbs into the frosting.
4. Spread frosting onto the side of the cake using a large offset spatula. Continue to apply the frosting as you did while covering the top to avoid spreading the crumbs into the frosting.
5. Don’t worry about being perfect or smooth, but you’ll want to make sure you have the entire cake frosted in a thick layer.
6. Once the entire cake is frosted, you can use a spoon or butter knife to remove the excess frosting. Pull the frosting from the base of the cake, towards the top using a diagonal motion to create a rustic design.
7. Smooth out the top of the cake with the offset spatula. Again, Don’t worry about having perfectly smooth frosting because the charm of this cake is due to the imperfections. It is also really hard to make the frosting smooth with all of those Oreo crumbs getting in the way.
8. Add any remaining frosting to a piping bag fitted with a 1M tip. Pipe swirls around the top edge and place Mint Oreo Cookies between each of the swirls.