Wow, this post has everything. It's got pugs, parcheesi, and a bunch of stuff that doesn't start with "p", including UNICORNS, sugar cookie dough, an unusual buttercream recipe, and a sneak peek into how I really look when I bake (hint: kind of like a thug in pajamas).
Let's start here. I had an IDEA while looking at some sugar cookie mix. I found it funny that this mix, while meant to make cookies, looked like plain ol' confectioners' sugar to me...
I found myself wondering: "what would happen if I just used this sugar cookie mix instead of confectioners' sugar to make a sort of sugar cookie buttercream?"
Well, I love to experiment in baking, so this immediately became the first priority before anything else in my life.
Since you have to put buttercream on something, I decided that a party cake would be the perfect canvas.
And I got to baking. First came the cake.
As promised, me looking like a thug while baking.
While it baked, me and my buddy started a game of Parcheesi.
I took these photos a while back, so you'll get to see my pugs. Porkchop (the brindle pug) has since sadly passed on. Olive is still with me. At this moment, they weren't sure what to make of the game but they got with it eventually.
Once the cake was baked, I inverted it and let the luscious layers cool for a bit. Then began the real baking experiment: sugar cookie buttercream.
I started safe: I creamed 2 sticks of butter, then I added 1/2 cup of the cookie mix. Definitely not enough. I kept on adding cookie mix a half cup at a time; pretty quickly it started to look like a dough. No! So I added some milk, and it looked more like buttercream again.
Eventually I just added the entire thing of sugar cookie mix, and enough milk to make it a buttercream-like consistency (I didn't measure but I'd say about a cup in total).
It was definitely different than a classic buttercream, but it spread fairly easily. I applied a crumb coat and then let that cool in the fridge for 10 minutes before proceeding to top the entire thing.
I poured sprinkles in a unicorn cookie cutter for a pretty and simple topper.
We finished our parcheesi game.
And then, it was the moment of truth. How did this cake taste?
Well, mixed reviews.
I loved the sugar cookie frosting's flavor. I thought it had a great texture and that it tasted great when paired with the cake.
My personal complaint was that it was a bit dry as a combo - next time, I would probably either use the sugar cookie buttercream as either topping or filling but not both--I'd add a more moist classic buttercream for one or the other. Or, I would use a layer of classic buttercream and then use the sugar cookie dough on top.
My parcheesi companion didn't care for the cookie texture, which he thought was "weird". But then again he doesn't really like cake (I AM NOT KIDDING WHO IS HE) -- he prefers pie, or flourless chocolate cake versus a fluffy birthday cake style (ONCE AGAIN WHO IS HE). Considering his strange and unusual tastes, I am not totally sure if we can trust his review.
The pugs really wanted to weigh in but they weren't allowed to have any. Bummer.
Even with somewhat mixed reviews--or rather, inconclusive results--with the sugar cookie dough buttercream, the baking challenge was still a great success.
