LET THEM EAT CAKE

Chocolate Cake Doughnuts with Mocha Glaze and Creamy, Crispy Doughnuts with Vanilla Bean Glaze

DESIGNER DOUGHNUTS … the New Cupcake?

In case you haven’t heard … gourmet style doughnuts are to 2010 what cupcakes were for 2009!  The doughnut’s somewhat dull, predictable reputation has undergone a complete makeover from glazed and jelly filled to become the latest trend in the pastry scene.  Artisan and “designer” doughnuts are popping up at local Farmer’s Markets, specialized bakeries and are even being featured on menus in the “white tablecloth” kind of restaurants.  Purveyors of designer donuts have elevated these humble rings of fried dough to a heavenly status.

Dreamy Donuts ran a contest, Australia’s Next Top Donut and the creative winner “designed” a cherry bite doughnut.  This ring of pastry has dark chocolate, coconut and cherries and is drizzled with more dark chocolate!   In the US, the trend has gone even more extreme with flavor combinations like pomegranate thyme, bing cherry balsamic, iced mint mojito and lemon chamomile crème.   One creative baker in Chicago is even adding grape jam to her peanut butter and jelly doughnuts.

So fellow  Bakers, join me in shouting  “Move over cutesy cupcakes … Doughnuts are staging a comeback!”

CHOCOLATE CAKE DOUGHNUTS with MOCHA GLAZE
adapted from a recipe from Dianna’s Desserts
makes 16,  3 inch doughnuts

Ingredients:
2   1/2   cups all-purpose flour
1  cup  unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
2  teaspoons baking powder
1/2   teaspoon salt
4  large eggs
1  1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3  cup buttermilk
3  tablespoons butter, melted
vegetable oil for frying  (I used canola oil.)
Mocha glaze (recipe follows)

Instructions:
1.)  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, buttermilk and melted butter.  Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well blended.  (I mixed this dough with a wooden spoon.  The dough will be stiff and sticky.) Chill at least 1 hour, up to 3 hours.

2.)  Once chilled, scrape the dough onto a well floured surface.  (The dough can be a bit sticky.  The secret is to use only as much flour as necessary to make the dough easy to handle.) Flour your hands and pat the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick.  Use a  3 inch cookie cutter to cut your doughnut and a 1  inch to make the hole in the center.  (In the pictures you will see that I used a piping tip that was 1 inch to make the center hole!) You can pat the scraps together and cut again.  (I got 15 doughnuts from this recipe.) Place doughnuts on a floured baking sheet to await frying!

3.)  Fill your deep fryer, electric frying pan, wok or frying pan with oil.  Make sure you do not overfill the type of fryer or pan you are using.  (I used an electric frying pan.) Heat oil to approximately 375 degrees.  Place one doughnut at a time onto a spatula and gently place into the oil.  It will fry a bit and slide right off the spatula into the oil.  Do not over crowd your pan as it will lower the oil temperature.  I fried 3 at a time.  Fry the dough, turning once, until puffy and cooked through.  (I found that 2 and 1/2 minutes on each side was perfect for me.  I suggest you fry only only one doughnut at first and “sacrifice” it to check that your doughnut is cooked through.  It is a bit difficult to tell when a chocolate doughnut is done!  You cannot go by the color, you must actually check for “doneness”.)

4.)  When the doughnuts are just cool enough to handle, but still quite warm, dip the top into a warm glaze.  Next, dip immediately into a topping such as sprinkles or nuts.  Place on a rack so the excess glaze can drip.  Let stand until the glaze sets.

Chocolate Cake Doughnut dough ... ready to cover and chill.

Dough has been patted to 1/2 inch thickness and cut to doughnut shape.

Ready to fry!

Place one doughnut ring onto a spatula and gently place in the oil. The dough will begin to fry and slide right off the spatula!

"Sacrifice" the first doughnut you fry! Cut it in half to test for "doneness". Adjust the frying time as necessary.

Fried, glazed and dipped in sprinkles. Almost ready to eat!

CRISPY and CREAMY DOUGHNUTS
adapted from a recipe submitted by Kelly on allrecipes.com
makes 18 doughnuts

Ingredients:

2   (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1   1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1/2  cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
5 cups all-purpose flour
vegetable oil for frying   (I use canola oil.)

1/3 cup butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
1  1/2 teaspoons vanilla  (I substitited with vanilla bean paste in the same amount.)
4 tablespoons hot water or as needed

Dough has been mixed and its ready to cover and let double in size.

The dough is ready when you touch it and the indention remains.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut doughnut shape with floured cutters. Let doughnuts sit out, loosely covered and rise again until double in size.

Ready to eat!

I substituted vanilla bean paste for the vanilla extract in the glaze. In this picture you can really see the beautiful specks of vanilla bean seed in the glaze.

Filed under: Desserts |