jam doughnut cakes

It's been a while since I've felt utterly in love with a new cookbook. Where I have swooned over the whole contents of a book, cover to cover, rather than just a few recipes out of many. Where the photography and styling are perfect, and the recipes are well written. I think the last was Meg Ray's Miette, and considering that was almost a year ago, it was about time something else came along to make my heart all aflutter. I saw the front cover of Tea With Bea, and became instantly smitten. I spend hours pouring over food magazines and cookbooks. Honestly, hours. I have a method that I rarely deviate from that consists of much excited flicking, followed by at least one good full-reading. And I was so very excited when I first sat down with this book. Every layer cake looks even more beautiful than the previous one, and oh, do I have a weakness for layer cakes.

As beautiful as these each recipe is, it feels almost criminal that this is the first recipe I've made from this book, simply because of the other recipes that were competing for my attentions. That and these cakes are just so damn easy to make! If you have a sweet, cakey craving that needs to be filled quickly, look no further. I've included my recipe for a quick raspberry jam, but if you were to use a good store-bought jam, you could have these in your mouth within the hour.

I was slightly reluctant (well, for about three seconds) to make these when I read to the part about rolling the warm cakes in butter. I love butter as much as the next person (okay, probably more than the next person), but I really thought a butter bath would make these cakes heavy, but it surprisingly doesn't. I think they're as doughnutty as a cake could possibly be.

Ingredients (makes approximately 22)
Recipe from Tea with Bea

For cakes:
3 cups plain flour
1 2/3 cups caster sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 half cups buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup sunflower oil

For coating:
250 gms butter, melted
2 cups caster sugar

For quick raspberry jam:
250 gms raspberries
200 gms caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
half a vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped.

If you're making your own quick raspberry jam, place the berries and lemon juice in a small, heavy-based saucepan, and simmer for five minutes, stirring constantly. Bring to the boil, add vanilla bean and seeds, and allow to bubble for five minutes without stirring. Add the sugar, stirring until dissolved and continue to boil for a further two minutes until slightly thickened and jammy. It will still be a fairly runny jam, but this is okay for these cakes. Remove vanilla bean and allow to cool while you make the cakes.

Brush two 12-capacity muffin tins with melted butter. Preheat oven to 180C. Prepare a piping bag with a plain nozzle.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients, and stir until just combined. Do not overmix, or your cakes will be heavy.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes, keeping a watchful eye. Cakes should be lightly golden, and a skewer inserted into the middle of each should come out mostly clean, perhaps a bit crumby.

Immediately remove cakes from pans and onto your work space. Submerge cakes, one at a time, into melted butter before rolling in caster sugar.

Fill prepared piping bag with jam, and push the nozzle into the centre of the underside of each cake, and fill each with jam until you can feel and see that’s it's full-- you'll see jam start to ooze out when you're filling it if it's taken as much as it possibly can.

These are best eaten as soon as you're finished filling them, as they'll still be warm, but they're still wonderful as they've cooled down and the jam starts to become absorbed throughout the crumb of the cake. They may not be as light tasting as a doughnut, but how can a hybrid of two of my favourite things in this world possibly be a bad thing? I can only imagine they'd be just as wonderful filled with chocolate sauce, too...

Recommended baking soundtrack: Horse Feathers - Cynic's New Year.

rosewater & raspberry jam filled doughnuts

My current favourite breakfast involves a strong flat white and a doughnut. Don't judge me. If it's somewhat redeemable, both the coffee and doughnut come from one of my absolute favourite destinations: Brewbakers, an artisan bakery in Albion, Brisbane. These doughnuts are no ordinary doughnuts, nor do they involve smarty eyes and freddo frogs. They're made from a sourdough base, and filled with either homemade raspberry jam, custard, or chocolate.

Having only made doughnuts myself once before, the Autumn issue of Donna Hay was of course a good enough reason to be inspired to put my deep-frying goggles back on (jokes) and fry some more dough, if only to limit my Brewbaker treat consumption levels. I'd added some rosewater to a good quality store-bought raspberry jam, but of course homemade would taste worlds better. 

Ingredients

Recipe slightly modified from Autumn issue of Donna Hay

2 tsps active dry yeast

1 1/2 tbsps lukewarm water

1/2 cup lukewarm milk

2 tbsps caster sugar

50 gms butter

2 1/4 cups plain flour

2 eggs

vegetable oil, for deep frying

2 cups raspberry jam

rosewater, to taste

rose sugar and dried rose petals, for dusting

Place the yeast, water, milk and 1 tbsp of sugar in a large bowl and set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface. Add the butter, flour, eggs and remaining sugar to the yeast mixture and use a butter knife to mix until a sticky dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. 

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean, damp cloth and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size (about 45 minutes).

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Roll out to 1cm thick and using an 8cm round cutter, cut ten rounds from the dough. Place the rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper and set aside for 30 minutes until risen. 

Place the oil in a large, deep saucepan over a medium heat, measuring temperature of oil with a sugar thermometer until it reaches 180C. Cook the doughnuts, in batches, for 1 - 2 minutes each side, or until golden. Drain on paper towel. 

In a small bowl, mix jam with 2 tsps rosewater. Taste, and add more if desired (which I did). Spoon jam into a piping bag fitted with a 0.5 - 1cm plain tip. Carefully pierce the doughnuts with a sharp knife, and then fill with jam. To ensure the jam reaches the middle of your doughnut, it's probably best to create this hole on the underside, which means you won't have a messy jam-hole showing like my doughnuts below. But, this is up to you. 

Dust doughnuts with rose-infused sugar, and top with dried rose petals, if you like.

The most wonderful thing about homemade doughnuts is the lack of sickly-sweetness that I associate with the store-bought variety. The recipe shows how little sugar is really involved, and you can then pump your doughnut with as much sugar as you like depending on the type of jam you use. The draw-back is their shelf life, as they demand to be eaten on the same day they're created. Though, I think this can always be easily arranged. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Micah P. Hinson - Micah P. Hinson And The Pioneer Saboteurs.

jam doughnut cupcakes

I have a crippling fear of spiders, heights and baking with yeast. I understand the first two are dreadfully common and don't need justifying.

I think I'm an incredibly patient baker. I'm fine with complex, multi-step recipes. No sweat having to wait for things to completely chill, or bringing syrups to exact temperatures. Pastry is a-okay. But yeast? With all the kneading, and punching. Rolling and waiting. And waiting again. And again. I resigned myself to the fact that the only yeast products I would be consuming would be store-bought. That was, of course, until I received a copy of Australian Gourmet Traveller's June edition, featuring eight pages of doughnut bliss.

Starting simple, I've made doughnuts to sit atop some strawberry jam filled cinnamon cakes. This was no speedy process, and I did spend my afternoon in cycles of making a mess, cleaning the mess, and waiting between each step. However, I can't believe how much fun it all is! To cut that fluffy elastic dough into the cutest little rings and to later watch them swell up as they're dropped into hot oil had me in heaven. I'm already planning my next doughnut day.

Ingredients (makes 12 cakes, and roughly 24 doughnuts)

Doughnut recipe adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

For doughnuts:

390 mls lukewarm full-fat milk

125 gms caster sugar

75 gms butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

14 gms dried yeast

2 eggs, at room temperature

700 gms plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 1/2 cups caster sugar, extra

3 tsps ground cinnamon

Vegetable oil for deep frying

For cakes:
90 gms butter, softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 cup self raising flour

2 tbsps milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean extract

1 tsp cinnamon (more with caution if you wish)

2 tsps strawberry jam

300 mls thickened cream

2 tbsps icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For doughnuts, combine flour, sugar, butter, yeast, eggs, half the flour and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Beat on medium speed until smooth and combined (about 4 - 5 mins). Add the remaining flour a little at a time, beating until dough is smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to the bowl (about another 4 - 5 minutes). Transfer dough to a lightly buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (1 - 1 1/2 hours).

Meanwhile, for cakes, preheat oven to 180C/160C fan-forced. Place 12 paper cases into a 12 capacity cupcake tins.

Place all ingredients (excluding jam) in the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat until just combined. Increase speed, and beat until mixture is creamy and paler in colour. Spoon mixture among cases. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden. Remove cakes from tin immediately, and allow to cool completely on wire rack.

For doughnuts, knock back dough, then roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1cm thick. Cut out 4 - 5 cm rounds with a floured cutter, then cut a hole in the centre of each with a large pastry tip (about 1cm). Transfer doughnuts to two light floured baking trays, allowing space in between to rise. Cover with a tea towel and stand for 45 mins - 1 hour until risen.  

While doughnuts are rising, fill cooled cupcakes. Using a small sharp knife and - holding your knife at a 45 degree angle - slice a circle into the top of a cake. Set lid aside for later. Repeat with remaining cakes. Fill holes with strawberry jam and replace with lids, trimming them down if necessary so lids sit flush with cake tops. 

To finish off doughnuts, combine extra caster sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Preheat oil in a deep sided saucepan to 180C. Deep-fry doughnuts in batches, turning occasionally until golden. Be careful when lowering them into the oil as oil may spit. Drain on a paper towel on a wire rack while frying remaining doughnuts. Toss doughnuts it cinnamon sugar. 

To finish off, beat cream, icing sugar and vanilla until soft, silky peaks form. You want it to just be able to hold it's shape but still be velvety smooth. Spread generously onto cakes, and top with a fresh doughnut. 

I know this all looks long and too involved, but I'm a convert: making your own doughnuts is incredible rewarding. These chubby little golden babies have such lovely, crispy exteriors but are so much lighter than the store bought variety. Despite being somewhat terrified of deep frying (I seriously started off wearing safety goggles), the oil doesn't spit but fizzles as you drop the batter in. It's really quite satisfying and dreadfully exciting to watch. 

I imagine these doughnuts would also taste gorgeous on a vanilla malt cake. Or covered in chocolate on a mudcake for a more 'grown-up' affair. Or just mushed whole in your mouth without the cake!

Note: despite these cakes having a bit of resilience, the doughnuts are best eaten the day of making. They're obviously still edible a day after if stored in an airtight container, but the sugar will begin to break down. Worse things have happened. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Animal Collective - Feels (or their entire catalogue if you're going through the with whole recipe :/ )