Cake Donuts

The Art.

    Last year, I was fortunate enough to have an Awesome Roommate, who gave awesome gifts. One such gift that she bestowed upon me was a donut pan to make baked donuts. I was so excited to try it out, but somehow with defending my Ph.D. thesis and selling my house I didn't get around to making any donuts...until now. Don't worry, I made sure to invite Awesome Roommate to make/eat them. Since we're both impatient people, we decided to make cake donuts instead of raised ones. Because who has time to let dough rise when you could be that much closer to eating something tasty? Definitely not us. The maple bacon ones were my personal favorite, but you also can't go wrong with dark chocolate glaze.

The Science.

    The main difference between cake donuts and raised donuts is the leavening. These cake donuts have baking powder in them, and when combined with the acidity of the yogurt and the heat of the oven the batter makes bubbles of carbon dioxide and steam. These bubbles make the dough light as it bakes up and give the donuts their cakey texture. Raised donuts, on the other hand, are made with yeast. Yeast cells are little powerhouses of metabolic energy, and we use this to our advantage in baking. As the yeast munch on the sugars we give them in the dough, they respirate and create carbon dioxide. It takes a little while for their metabolic processes to activate, but when they do, there are tons of bubbles. This is why you have to knead raised donuts to develop the gluten, so that the batter has the strength to hold those crazy strong bubbles inside and rise sky-high. Like I said, we were feeling a little impatient that day, so we opted for the delicate texture of these tender cake donuts.
 

The Recipe.
Donuts:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons salted butter
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

     Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a donut pan (or muffin tin). Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the butter and crumble with your fingertips, or mix on low speed with your standing mixer, until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Combine the milk, yogurt, vanilla, and egg in a small bowl and whisk until the egg is beaten. Add the milk mixture to the dry mixture, and stir until just combined. Spoon into the pan until the molds are 2/3 full, and place on center rack of oven. Bake for 14-17min, until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Dark Chocolate Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons dutch cocoa

4 tablespoons milk

pinch salt

Maple Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon milk

pinch salt

    Combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Dip slightly cooled donuts into glaze, adding a second coat after the first has dried. Top with sprinkles, bacon, coconut, nuts, or whatever you desire. You can also roll some of them in granulated sugar for a simply pretty treat.