Vanilla Bean Cake Doughnuts

You know what's hard to make? Doughnuts. Seriously, I have so much more respect for the contestants on Donut Showdown now that I've tried it at home. And they're under time constraints! Dough is sticky, flour goes everywhere, oil is HOT, and finding the perfect glaze consistency takes practice. It all takes practice. Is it worth it in the end? You bet. My life was filled with homemade fried dough for several days, and that's all a girl could want.

I've been thinking. I really want my life to look like that scene in Marie Antoinette where all the women do is sit around playing cards, drinking champagne out of coupe glasses, gorging themselves on the most beautiful, fresh-fresh-fresh pastries and candies you've ever seen. And they're doing all this while wearing three pounds' worth of silk, tulle, and ruffles. Oh, and mile-high hair. I've always been a fan of big hair. Ask my beautician. And when I would say "Let them eat cake," no one would be upset with me because I would then immediately follow it up with actual cake. I'd be the most beloved queen in all the land.

Truth be told, it'll be quite some time before I'm Versailles-level good at making doughnuts and other beautifully complicated pastries. I will say though, that for only my second time frying dough in the kitchen, things didn't turn out badly at all. There could've been a little less rolling and re-rolling involved in the dough-cutting stage.. Oh, and I'm still working on my fear of hot oil, but baby steps. Rome wasn't built in a day (and while we're on the topic of Rome, neither is good pizza).

One of my favorite things to get at my local bakery is a classic cake doughnut. More than anything else, I adore a good cake doughnut. Especially when it's Fall and tastes like pumpkins and apple cider and cinnamon sugar. In the summer, I prefer my doughnuts covered in rainbow nonpareils and vanilla glaze. Throw in the comforting speckling of fresh vanilla bean seeds, and you've got me. To be able to make my favorite treat in the comfort of my own home, curlers in hair, 40s Big Band blaring in the background, is such a splendid concept.

Now, I like you, so I won't lie to you and say that it's particularly easy, or that it isn't time-consuming. But I mean, It's REALLY worth it. Your reward is DOUGHNUTS at the end! That's my incentive for everything, but in this scenario, doughnuts is the actual GUARENTEE. Yes, I do have a few new tiny burn marks from absent-mindedly plopping doughnut holes into 350 degree oil, but I just ran one hand under some very cold water, and popped two slightly-cooled doughnut holes in my mouth with the other. I felt exponentially better after that.

Bottom line: make your own doughnuts. Tell me how it goes.

Why don't you try this Vanilla Bean Cake Doughnut recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Apt.2B Baking Co!

Adventures in Recipe Testing: The Beginning of a New Baking Chapter

There comes a time in every young baker's life when he or she has watched enough food-related shows on television and Netflix and decides that maybe it's time to start creating recipes of their very own...

...That time for me came nine months ago, but for the sake of this post, we'll say that it didn't officially start until this weekend.

We've got brand new neighbors upstairs that just moved in about a week and a half ago. In our building, there aren't a ton of units, so for me, it's important that I get to know everyone. The last time I made an introduction with new neighbors, I made doughnuts. Those seemed to be a crowd-pleaser then, so I decided, "You know what? Why break what isn't broken? Doughnuts again it is!" But I didn't want to just make the same doughnuts that I made last time because that makes it a little less special. Instead, I tried to think of things that would compliment the vanilla base, yet still allow it to be unique and creative. I also wanted to dye the glaze a different color, but I'm not always so keen on using food coloring. Then it hit me: what about a strawberry glaze? You get the strawberry flavor, and when mixed with the white glaze, a great color! So I set to work.

It's always such a breeze putting these babies together. I love that I didn't even have to use my mixer. Clean-up is never fun, so the less I use, the better it is.

Twelve of these round rings of deliciousness later, it was time to start working on a glaze from scratch. No help from other recipes, just pure experimentation.

Initially, I tried to think of a way to get the strawberry juice, but none of the pulp. (I suppose you could call it pulp, right?) So I thought about putting the frozen strawberries into a colander, then mashing them up with something to get the juice, and nothing but the juice. But that didn't work out so well at all. The colander's holes were a little too big for such an experiment, and I ended up just straining through mashed strawberry. Then I decided to strain it through a paper towel to at least TRY to get some of the juice, but that was worse. Finally, I decided that the glaze was the exact color that I wanted, so, so what? It's a glaze infused with fruit, and I should just own it.

And "own it" I did! I dipped each doughnut into the glaze, then let it sit for about thirty minutes in the refrigerator. 

And I have to say it: It was a pretty great success!

Looking back, there just a few things I would change. For starters, in the doughnut recipe, I was afraid that if I added nutmeg, it might compete with the strawberry flavor. But as I bit into it, I realized that it needed something. So next time, maybe just a little nutmeg. Secondly, I needed WAY more strawberries. The flavor was more subtle that I would've liked. In my opinion, if you're going to say it's a strawberry glaze, it better deliver that strawberry with a punch. And third, maybe add some decoration. I added red sprinkles afterwards which seemed like a good idea at the time, until I realized that when red sprinkles get a little moist, they start to bleed. It messed up my colors!

But my neighbors loved the gesture, and brought us "Thank You" brownies the very next day, special-delivered by THE CUTEST DOG EVER, Piper!

This is the start of a beautiful friendship.

And a beautiful adventure, making my own recipes.

Happy Tuesday, guys!

P.S. It's snowing and sleeting today. What's going on in your neck of the woods?