three more ways to love ya

I know, I know. It's getting really out of control around here with donuts. As I've said before, donuts are my weakness and they're the one thing I have a really hard time saying "no" to. I even created a whole donut category in my recipe section... I can't believe I have that many various donuts on here! I told my sister the next time I make donuts, I'm going to bake them so that there are some non-fried versions.

I visited my sister Tracy (who has an awesome design blog, btw) in Maryland recently and made a double batch of these babies. It was a true "Donut Day" since we made three types of donuts. An updated, (and easier to eat) version of the Samoa donut called the Coco-Caramel Chocolate Donut, a honey-dip glazed and chocolate frosted. I just love this donut dough. It doesn't require the same amount of rising time that the dough from Flour does. And the end is result is a fluffy, airy donut that holds whatever toppings your heart desires.

In the Samoa donut, the caramel and coconut were mixed together and thickly applied to the top of the donut. In these Coco-Caramel Chocolate Donuts, I made the caramel softer (thank you heavy cream) and kept each component separate. First, I spread the soft caramel all over, then generously sprinkled toasted coconut and drizzled chocolate all over. I also didn't dip the bottom-half of the donut in chocolate (like I did with the Samoa donut) but you are more than welcome to do it. Can't hurt!

The chocolate glaze from the Samoa donut is more of a ganache and is delicious! It tastes like rich chocolate and stays a bit soft (unlike store-bought donuts that harden). That's why I also used it on the Boston Cream donut. 

The honey-dip glaze is unbelievably good, but there's a reason it looks a bit grainy here. My sister had run out of confectioners' sugar so we whipped up our own, but didn't blend it long enough. If you use store-bought confectioners' sugar, it should look silky smooth

sprinkles!!!

Aren't rainbow sprinkles just happy and festive? My niece turned 6 a couple of weeks ago and, like any human, is obsessed with rainbow sprinkles. Obviously she needed these at her birthday party. 

Truthfully, I've been eyeing this Funfetti recipe from a cookbook Kent gave me. It's called Baked Occasions and on the cover is a tiered Funfetti cake. It's glorious as a cake, but thought cupcakes were a bit more appropriate for a kiddie party. 

I’ve made many homemade vanilla cakes before but wanted to make this recipe for a couple of reasons: 1. They had me at vanilla extract. Have you seen the amount of vanilla called for? That’s right, it’s two TABLESPOONS, not teaspoons, and no I didn’t change that. That’s what these guys use and I was impressed. 2. The frosting is a unique recipe that I’ve never seen before, so I was intrigued. It involved cooking milk, sugar and flour together until it boils, then beating (which cools it down) and adding the butter. It ended up having the consistency and creaminess of the Swiss MeringueFrosting I like so much, but may be a bit easier to work with (although I had my issues with it too…).

The temperamental frosting may have been a bit of human error (not really paying attention to a pot of creamy boiling liquid) as well as a bit of confusion about the temperature of the butter. Nonetheless, I was able to fix my errors and have included how you can avoid making my same mistakes. But if you do make my mistakes, I've given you the answers on how to fix them!