This Cheesecake Factory copycat recipe couldn’t be more identical to the real thing. It has a chocolate cake on the bottom, layered with a whipped chocolate ganache frosting, Oreo cheesecake (with full Oreos inside), Oreo cookies & cream mousse, and finished with a final layer of ganache frosting. This is THE dream Oreo cheesecake.
All the cheesecake elements
This cheesecake has several elements that can make it seem overwhelming. While it is a big job to make, I promise it’s not HARD – it’s just more steps than your typical dessert. Stick with all the step by step instructions, and you will be well on your way to making the perfect Cheesecake Factory copycat cheesecake.
Let’s go over the big picture. There are 6 layered parts to this cheesecake. Thankfully, Cheesecake Factory shares all of those parts in this handy little picture. Through a lot of experiments and taste testing the original of course, I felt like we were able to mimic each layer identically to create a perfect copycat. Each step can easily be spread out into a couple of days. You can even freeze a few of the elements in advance if you really want to spread it out. The cake, frosting, and Oreo cheesecake layer all freeze well.
Assembling
It doesn’t really matter what order you complete the elements. I always do the mousse and whipped ganache last so it’s fresh and easy to spread, but feel free to prepare them in an order that makes sense to your schedule. Some elements are longer and some are shorter, so knowing you can prep them out of order hopefully helps spread it out to make it seem less daunting. I promise it is WORTH IT!
6 parts to assemble
cake layer
cheesecake in optional water bath
ganache waiting to cool
whipped ganache
Oreo mousse
Tips
Springform pan: Springform pans create a nice even bake and releases perfectly from the edges of the cheesecake.
Room temperature ingredients: Cheesecake batter mixes up SO much better when all of the ingredients are added at room temperature. If you’ve forgotten to set it out on the counter beforehand and are in a rush, I like to put my eggs in a bowl of warm water and put my cream cheese in the microwave for just enough time to soften.
Spread out the steps: There are so many elements to this cheesecake, but all of them can be prepped in advance. I always recommend using that in your favor to make it less overwhelming.
Not over mixing: Once you’ve added the eggs to the cheesecake mixture, the key is to NOT over mix to prevent any air bubbles from getting into the cheesecake
Water bath: A water bath isn’t necessary, but it will almost guarantee that you won’t get any cracks in your cheesecake. This cheesecake definitely doesn’t have to have one because the cheesecake will be covered anyway, but it’s a great time to practice your cheesecake skills if you have the right materials! I love the way it provides an even bake as well.
A large roasting pan makes a great water bath. You wrap the bottom of the cheesecake in a thick layer of aluminum foil, stick it in the roasting pan, and have the water line come about 1/3 – 1/2 way up the pan. Allows for a nice slow, even bake that prevents cheesecake from cracking.
Long cooling time: Another factor that can help prevent a cheesecake from cracking is avoiding any sudden changes in temperature. When the cheesecake is done baking, typically around 55 minutes, I turn off the oven just slightly crack the oven door. Then I can transfer it to the fridge after an hour or longer.
Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake
Ingredients
Fudge Cake
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 3 TB cocoa powder (I prefer dark or dutch processed cocoa)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 TB vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup + 2 TB milk
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
- 16 oz (about 2 cups) semi sweet chocolate chips
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- (To make it even sweeter, feel free to add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar if desired. I keep it out due to the other sweet components, but some like it sweeter!)
Oreo Cheesecake
- 24 oz (3 blocks) cream cheese
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 TB all purpose flour
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 16 Oreo cookies
Oreo Mousse
- 1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) whip it stabilizer *see notes for link and substitute
- 1 cup + 2 TB heavy whipping cream
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 oz white chocolate
- 10 Oreo cookies, crushed
Garnish (optional)
- 20 Oreo cookies (8 for the sides, 12 for the top for each sliced piece)
- 6 oz (about 1 cup) mini semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup heavy cream (for optional freshly whipped cream)
- ½ cup powdered sugar (for optional freshly whipped cream)
Instructions
Fudge Cake
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9" springform pan and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients until completely combined.
- Add the vegetable oil, egg, and milk to the dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined. Don't over mix.
- Pour cake batter into prepared pan and bake for about 12-15 minutes, until moist crumbs come out on a toothpick. Let it begin to cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Once completely cooled, wrap well in plastic wrap.*
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
- Place chocolate chips in a bowl.
- Heat up the heavy cream till it's just barely reached a boil. Pour over the chocolate chips and cover, letting them sit for a couple minutes.
- Whisk the two together. If it's not coming together, you can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to melt them together better. Set aside to cool. You can speed up the cooling by storing it in the fridge.
- Once it's cooled and you're ready to spread it onto the cake, place the hardened ganache in a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment. Beat until it's light and spreadable. I enjoy the rich, dark flavor, but you can add 1/2 cup powdered sugar if you prefer a sweeter flavor.
Oreo Cheesecake
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Place a baking pan or roasting pan filled with about 1 inch of water in the oven while you prepare the cheesecake filling. The pan just needs to be large enough to fit your springform pan.(This water bath step is optional if you don't have a pan large enough. It just helps provide a nice slow, even bake & prevents cracks from forming in your cheesecake. The cheesecake will be covered so cracks aren't a huge deal - but it's a good time to practice!)
- Using a handheld or stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine the room temperature cream cheese, flour, and sugar together until smooth and combined.(It's VERY important that the ingredients are at room temp to get a smooth, easy to mix, filling.)
- Add the sour cream and vanilla. Stir again on low speed until just combined. Then one at a time, add the 2 eggs + 1 extra yolk. Once it's combined, stop the mixer immediately. You do NOT want to over mix this. Over mixing can cause cracking.
- Grease a 9" springform pan and pour about 1/3 of the batter in. Then top with 8 Oreo cookies. Following that, add the remaining cheesecake batter and top with additional 8 Oreos. Push them in gently. It's okay if the top cheesecake layer is thin on top of those Oreos.
- To do the water bath, wrap the bottom of the pan in aluminum foil to prevent water from leaking in. Gently tap the pan to remove any air bubbles, then gently set the springform pan in the water bath. The waterline should not be taller than the aluminum foil.
- Bake for about 55-65 minutes. The center will be just slightly jiggly when it's ready, with the edges set. Turn the oven off, crack the oven door open, and leave it in there to slowly cool down for about 1 hour. (You can also leave it in there for up to 4 more hours if that's what ends up working in your schedule.)
- Transfer it to the fridge and let it chill for at least 1 hour (or overnight) before assembling with the rest of the cheesecake. If you're making in advance to assemble later, wrap the cheesecake in plastic wrap to keep fresh.
Oreo Mousse
- First preparer your Oreos by crushing them into small pieces. You can do this using a food processor or placing the Oreos in a plastic bag and beating with a rolling pin or meat mallet.
- Melt white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Melt until the chips are almost melted, then mix until the remaining chips melt. This method helps to not over heat the chocolate that could cause it to seize and clump up. Set the chocolate aside to cool.
- Using a hand or stand mixer, beat heavy cream, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and whip it stabilizer together until medium peaks form. (*If using whip it stabilizer substitute - gelatin - see notes for instructions). Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
- Add a about 1/4 of the heavy cream to the bowl with the chocolate to lighten up the chocolate, making it easier to incorporate with the rest of the whipped cream. It's okay to be a little vigorous with this mixing to make sure it's mixed up really well.
- Add the chocolate/whipped cream mixture and crushed Oreos to the whipped cream. Gently fold together until evenly incorporated. If you're not ready to assemble the cheesecake right away, you can store this in the fridge until you're ready.
Assembly
- CAKE: Put a small dollop of whipped ganache on the bottom of a cake board. Add the cake layer on top. (I like to use a cake board to make it easy to transfer, but you can also just stick it straight on a cake stand or large plate.)
- FROSTING: Spread a very thin, even layer of frosting down on top of the chocolate cake.
- CHEESECAKE: Add the Oreo cheesecake on top of the frosting.
- MOUSSE: Spread the cookies & cream mousse evenly on top of the frosting.
- FROSTING: Finely crush 8 Oreos just like we did above. Mix in a bowl with a cup of mini chocolate chips. Set aside. Use a spatula to swipe the edges of your layered cheesecake to clean off any excess that came out during any spreading. Then spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache frosting around the sides. Get a handful of your Oreo + chocolate chip topping and press it into the sides of the cheesecake where you just applied the frosting. Prepare a piping bag with a round piping tip and add whipped ganache. Pipe in a spiral on top of the cheesecake to mimic the look of Cheesecake Factory, or feel free to simply spread it or pipe as desired. Add 8-12 swirls on top and top each one with an Oreo if desired.
- Store in fridge until ready to serve. Will keep fresh in the fridge for about 5 days. If desired, whip up a batch of freshly whipped cream to accompany each slice by beating together heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. ENJOY!
Notes
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My husband made this recipe last Sunday and it turned out soooo good!! He loves baking and this was such a fun project. It has a lot of steps but there is a big reward at the end. It made a lot of cheesecake so we had friends over to share and they all LOVED it as well!!
Hi there! I’m going to make this for my birthday. Which steps would you do in advance and what would you do on the day of? Thanks!
You can do everything in advance, really! The cheesecake will stay perfectly fresh for 1-2 days after. So if you don’t want to do anything day of, you can do it all before and divide up the steps how you’d like! Everything freezes well too. Let me know if you have any other questions! Happy baking!
I’m having a super super hard time with making the oreor mousse layer and I consider myself to be an advanced baker. I have made it 5 times tonight, had 3 trips to the store, and each time it comes out wrong. The error is when the gelatine hits the demi whipped cream. It ends up whipping back to a curdled liquid.
The gelatine is fully dissolving into the milk and there arent any granuled after letting it sit after microwaving. Now, I have to make a 4th trip to the store because the white chocolate gets bad every time this doens’t work out.
Three times this has happened. I’ve spent a lot of money just on this one part of hte recipe and I’m super disappointed 🙁 it was supposed to be my birthday cake.
Hi Aviana, I’m so sorry to hear about your frustrations with the mousse layer. If both the white chocolate and gelatin were cool and not hot, I am surprised to hear that it went into a curdled liquid. One thing that can also cause that to occur is over whipping the whipped cream. In the future, you could eliminate the gelatin and either use nothing (it’ll just be a much softer mousse) or use a whipped cream stabilizer like ‘Whip It” to provide more structure in the mousse. Next time also feel free to send me a message through my website or contact me on Instagram. I try to be quickly responsive when I know someone is mid-baking and needs help troubleshooting. I hope the rest of the cheesecake turned out amazing for you! Have a great rest of your birthday!
I’m planning on doing this for Christmas but I’m confused on the Oreo mousse. If I use the whip it stabilizer which steps do I follow since I won’t use the gelatin?
Hi Natalie, I’m so sorry I”m just getting to this. I’ve gone back in and clarified that in the recipe. The whip it stabilizer is so easy – you just put it in the cream as you whip it to stiff peaks! So easy! I prefer it over gelatin because I don’t have to bloom it first. Only down side is, it’s not often found on the grocery store shelf, so i’ve left in the gelatin instructions in case people can’t find the other in time! If you decided to make this, let me know how it turned out for you!
I have not made this recipe yet but I already ordered the whip it stabilizer and after rereading this recipe I’m realizing that there is nowhere in it that mentions anything on how to use the stabilizer in the Oreo mousse. What are the steps for it?
Hello! I’ve just added this clarification in the recipe. Thanks for your feedback. There is no taste difference between using the gelatin or whip-it stabilizer. I prefer using the whip-it stabilizer because it’s easy – you just add it when whipping the cream and it naturally stabilizes. Using gelatin requires it to bloom first, so it’s an extra step, but usually easier to find on the grocery store shelf, so I provide both options in case one is easier to find for you. I hope it turns out amazing! Let me know how it goes! Happy baking!
Hi! I’m having trouble with the Oreo mousse… do you add a extra 1/4 cup to the white chocolate or is that part of the 1cup and 2Tbs
Hi! I’m having trouble with the Oreo mousse… do you add a extra 1/4 cup of heavy cream to the white chocolate or is it part of the 1cup and 2Tbs
The 1/4 cup is part of the total amount, not extra. I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions!