I love donuts, I might not have them often, but I still remember how delicious and how beautiful they are. I’ve always wanted to make some but I hated the hassle of boiling oil and then wasting the rest. Not only it would end up splattering in my face and burning me it would probably just end in a catastrophe. Instead, I found an alternative to bake these delicious treats… Cake pans! I used Wilton: Link here That’s right I use cake donut pans to make them. I make a cake batter and pipe them into these pans letting them come out looking just like the fried ones!
THE FIRST ATTEMPT:
I did a lot of experiments and attempted to make different recipes. My first one was very good, but my entire family commented that they were not Doughnuty enough. They where supposedly chocolate glazed but they were very light, fluffy, and overall just tasted like a donut-shaped chocolate cupcake. I was just a little disappointed because they weren’t anything like what I had known and loved for so many years. These were a favorite whenever we went to cafes or fast food places. My sister especially loved them because they were so moist and almost fudgy nothing like the recipe I had made. I compared their fudginess to brownies and in all my favorite brownie recipes they use butter because we all know butter makes everything better it also makes things a little bit dense. This led me to the conclusion that in my new recipe I would need to include butter.
THE SECOND ATTEMPT:
During my second attempt, I choose a more dense doughnut cake recipe from Baker by Nature for funfetti vanilla donuts. The recipe called for butter witch was a good sign. Unfortunately asked for a very small amount of wet ingredients. I was a little bit worried about this because I didn’t want it to turn out dry. Contrary to the first recipe, they didn’t use any moistening ingredients like buttermilk or sour cream, even greek yogurt. These ingredients not only tenderize the gluten in the flour, but it can also add so much richness that cakes made with them are super moist and almost springy.
I was right all along and the cake was a bit tough and either overworked or just simply too dry to my liking. They didn’t rise as much I wanted them to, and overall they were a bit too dense. In conclusion, this recipe made me realize that if I were to make a new one, it would have to be fudgy, using butter, moist enough either using a bit of oil or buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt and have a bit of a rise but not too much that it will be too light. This is a lot I had to think about during this process of creating my favorite cake doughnut recipe.
THE FINAL ATTEMPT:
These cake donuts where amazing! They were dense enough but not dry and they were still very moist. I’m so proud of myself for creating something that even my grandfather enjoyed! He lives in a small town in Quebec and has always enjoyed my grandmother’s fried donuts, so for him to say that they were really good really boosted my confidence. It was really fun to experiment and analyze different recipes. These were very good but I was looking for perfection in the eyes of everyone around me. I truly recommend this cinnamon sugar donut recipe to anyone who loves donuts but hates frying them. Hope you enjoy it!
