(Better than Others’) Oreo Protein Cake

An irresistible Oreo Protein Cake topped with a Peanut Butter frosting for the cookies and cream flavor with a bonus. This simple protein cake uses chocolate protein powder, is sugar-free and has very little butter; Definitely better than other recipes out there!

Jump to Recipe

After getting that black cacao powder recently I’ve been wanting to as many oreo related recipes as possible, so a healthy Oreo cake recipe just had to happen.

To tell you the truth, I was planning a basic protein chocolate sheet cake, but then an IG friend recommended a layer cake and then another a peanut butter and Oreo combination. So putting that all together, a peanut butter Oreo cake, but with the protein powder because it’s me!

Now that we’ve got that background info out of the way, the cake.

How good this Oreo-inspired High Protein Cake?

Here’s what just happened:

1. I did a shoot of this yesterday evening at 6pm
2. Finished ⅕ of it in one sitting immediately after
   LOVED IT
3. Worked (my actual job after that) until about 12:30am
4. Stayed up till 2am writing this blog post
5. Re-planned my feed
6. Spent 2 hours (immediately after waking up) this morning to filter through the 100+ photos clicked

POSTED IT BECAUSE IT NEEDED TO BE SHARED ASAP!

What you need for Oreo Protein Cake:

This Oreo cookie protein cake is a healthy dessert recipe that has all the Oreo flavor without real Oreo, sugar free with the wonders of protein powder baking, and low fat with barely any butter!

• 1:1 Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• Chocolate Protein Powder – this replaces the sugar in this recipe and is the key to what makes it a high protein cake. I use Quest Nutrition’s Chocolate protein powder – it’s a  whey-caesin blend and works best for baking.
• Black Cacao Powder or Black Cocoa Powder; This is the one I used
• Non-fat Greek Yogurt another protein-packed ingredient!
• Almond Milk for a slightly low calorie and healthy recipe; No buttermilk needed here
• An Egg
• And an Egg White
• Just a bit of melted butter
• Vanilla Extract
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda
• A bit of salt

A High Protein Peanut Butter Frosting:

For good high protein Oreo cookie cake with a twist I used a simple peanut butter frosting made with cool whip!

Simple ingredients here as well:

• Sugar free Cool Whip
• Peanut Butter Powder (might also be called Powdered Peanut Butter) to make slightly low fat and high protein peanut butter frosting. I use the sugar-free one from Lakanto (code HAYLSKITCHEN gets you a discount)
  An alternative is the one from PbFit.
• Creamy Peanut Butter; I used American Dream Cookie Batter flavor, but regular crunchy will work too

How to make Cookies and Cream Protein Cake

This chocolate protein powder cake not only has simple ingredients, but is also really easy to make. 

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line 2 round 8” cake pans with parchment paper

2. Combine the dry ingredients in bowl: gluten free all purpose flour, chocolate protein powder, black cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Whisk the wet ingredients in a large bowl: Greek Yogurt, almond milk, egg, egg white, butter and vanilla.

4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mix and fold together. DO NOT OVER-MIX the batter or the cake will be too dense at the bottom.

5. Divide and pour the mixture into the prepared baking pans.

6. Bake for 20-22 minutes. A tester inserted into the center should come out dry – no crumbs or batter.

For an 8 x 8” baking pan, bake for about 25-30 minutes.

For a 9 x 13” pan, double the recipe and bake for about 25-30 minutes again, but start checking early.

For the Peanut Butter Cool Whip Frosting

The healthy cool whip peanut butter frosting is the most easy part of this protein Oreo cake recipe.

Stir together the ingredients – cool whip, peanut butter powder and peanut butter – in a bowl with a spoon., and then spread on top of cake.

Assemble Protein Layer Cake

This chocolate layer protein cake looks fancy, but is actually easy to assemble!

Invert one cooled Oreo protein cake on a surface, spread half the of the peanut butter frosting over it, place the second later on top, and spread the rest of the frosting on top.

If you want, make some extra frosting and spread it along the sides too.

Tips for this Simple Protein Cake Recipe

• Use melted butter
  You want to be able to whisk it completely into the wet ingredients; If you just took it out of the fridge, microwave it for about 20 seconds.

• Use room temperature Yogurt, Milk and Eggs
  Microwave these too for about 5 seconds if you took them out of the fridge, otherwise they will make the butter harden.

• Don’t overmix the batter!
  Make sure you gently fold the dry mix into the wet to combine them.
  If you over-mix it, the protein powder will make it tough, dense and gummy.

• Let the cake cool completely before frosting
  Or the frosting will melt on the cake!

Make ahead and store Black Chocolate Protein Cake:

Another great part about this black cocoa protein cake recipe is that you can make in advance for a party, and even store leftovers!

You can keep the chocolate protein powder cake out at room temperature (on the countertop) for a day – as long as it has no frosting. A few hours if it has the frosting.

Store any leftover cake in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container.

To freeze his protein chocolate cake, slice it, wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and place the pieces in a freezer-safe zipper bag. They keep in the freezer for a few months.
You can even store the whole cake itself!

Alternate Ingredients for Healthy Oreo Cake Recipe

I strongly recommend using the ingredients and brands I recommended to get the perfect Oreo cookie protein cake, but here’s some alternatives to try. I haven’t testing them all, so I can’t say how your cake might turn out.

• Whole Wheat Pastry Flour or All purpose flour in place of 1:1 gluten free baking flour.
• Regular Cacao Powder or Unsweetened Cocoa for the Black Cocoa
• Applesauce, Banana or Pumpkin Puree for Greek Yogurt
• Coconut Yogurt in place of Greek Yogurt for a dairy free recipe
• Any other milk to substitute Almond Milk
• Melted Coconut Oil in place of Butter also for dairy free

How about a Protein Powder Frosting for an extra High Protein Cake

For an extra rich peanut butter flavor, try my protein peanut butter frosting.

To make a classic Oreo protein chocolate cake, frost it with some protein powder cream cheese frosting.
For a Greek yogurt protein cake frosting, go for the frosting from this carrot cake recipe.

More Quest Protein Powder Desserts Recipes:

• Extremely Easy Chocolate Chip Protein Skillet Cookie
• Protein Carrot Cake Cheesecake – Sugar Free & Gluten Free
• Flourless Black Bean Protein Brownies (Low-fat)
• The Best Protein Carrot Cake Loaf you’ll Ever Have!
• Protein Banana Cake with Vanilla Protein Frosting