Cookie Dough Cake

I made my own birthday cake, and I'm proud. When I first told my mother that I planned to make my own cake, she told me it was sad and pathetic. She also said that no other cake that we could get would taste as good as a cake I made. Pathetic, but delicious.

I love cookie dough, more than the cookies themselves. I'd just eat the dough if it was socially acceptable.
Now, because salmonella is not a good time, the cookie dough in this recipe is egg-less. This means that you can eat all you want without being lectured about food borne illnesses. You're welcome.
I used the cookie dough to fill in between the layers and as decoration. I doubled the recipe, since I had a bigger cake and I like a good amount of filling.

The frosting is a cookie dough-flavored buttercream, which kinda tastes like heaven. . I might even start using it on desserts that have no relation to cookie dough at all because it's so good. Also, I really liked the consistency because it was creamy, but firm enough for piping on decorations to make it pretty. My only complaint is that, because the recipe contains brown sugar, it is a teeny tiny bit gritty. I used a mix of dark brown and light brown because the recipe didn't specify (and I was running low on light brown). Maybe if I used only light brown, it would be less gritty.
I doubled the recipe, since I had a bigger cake and I wanted to decorate.

For the cake, I went for a layer of chocolate and a layer of yellow cake because it's a crowd-pleasing combo. The chocolate cake I made from scratch and it's my go-to recipe because it's always perfect. I tried out a yellow cake recipe and it was WAY too dense. It was like a pound cake, but denser. Gross. So, I got lazy and did a box mix for the yellow cake, but doctored it up a bit.


Yellow Cake Mix Doctored Up
1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix
Prepare the mix as the box instructions say EXCEPT:
-add 1 more egg than called for
-use milk instead of water


Chocolate Cake (from Hershey's)
Makes 2 9 in. rounds or about 24 cupcakes

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water


Cookie Dough Buttercream (from Baking Junkie)

3 sticks salted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp milk
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cookie Dough Filling (also from Baking Junkie)

4 Tbsp salted butter, at room
6 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup + 2 Tbsp flour
7 oz (1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Chocolate Cake

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
3. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. 
4. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. 
5. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin)
6. Pour batter into prepared pans.
7. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and let cool.

For the Cookie Dough Buttercream
1. Cream together butter and brown sugar. 
2. Add powdered sugar in increments until smooth. 
3. Add in the flour and salt
4. Add the remaining liquid ingredients.
5. Mix until all ingredients are combined and frosting is smooth.

For the Cookie Dough Filling
1. Cream together butter and brown sugar for approximately 2 minutes. 
2. Add in vanilla, then flour, and lastly sweetened condensed milk. 
3. Stir in chocolate chips (by hand)
4. Place filling on top of one layer of cake and spread out evenly. 
5. Top with remaining cake layer.