Introduction: Old Fashioned Cake Doughnuts

By Karalalala
About: Professional maker and eater of food. Donuts.. Cheese.. Chocolate.. Beer.. these are a few of my favourite things! @karakabangpow

Old fashioned doughnuts are my go to recipe for a quick treat after dinner or for breakfast. It's fast to throw together and hard to mess up. It makes about a dozen good sized cake doughnuts. I've included a basic glaze recipe, but they are just as good plain dunked in hot coffee, or rolled in cinnamon sugar straight out of the fryer. They're not too sweet, and the nutmeg gives it an old timey taste. I've also included directions for turning these into superstar sour cream doughnuts!


Old Fashioned Cake Doughnuts
Yield: 12 medium sized donuts + holes
Time: 30-45 minutes
Cost: <10

Hardware:

- large bowl
- medium bowl
- heavy bottomed pot suitable for deep frying
- spider, slotted spoon or tongs
- chopsticks or two spoons
- rolling pin
- cookie cutters, 3" for the shape and 1" for the holes
- cooling rack
- tea towel

Software:

- 2 ½ cups flour + more for dusting
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup butter, melted

Optional:
For old fashioned sour cream doughnuts, sub sour cream thinned out with a tbsp or two of water for the buttermilk in the recipe. For a sour cream glaze, sub in sour cream for the melted butter + 1 squirt of lemon juice

Instructions:

Combine dry ingredients.

Mix wet ingredients into dry.

Knead until dough comes together. Roll out ¾ inch thick and fry at 375 degrees.

If you don't have buttermilk, you can use a milk with a tbsp of lemon juice like I have here. You can also use sour cream thinned out with a little bit of water, or even yoghurt.

Glaze

4 cups icing sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp honey

Hot Water

Sift icing sugar into a medium sized bowl.
Add honey ,melted butter and vanilla to icing sugar and mix.
Add hot water until desired consistency is achieved, while mixing well.

Step 1: Doh!

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, baking soday & baking powder and set aside.

Add the melted butter and beaten egg into the buttermilk and beat immediately together. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together with a large rubber spatula, just until they come together.

Dough should be thick enough to roll out. If for some reason your dough looks far too sticky, add a little more flour and mix just enough to combine it.


** If you don't have buttermilk, you can use a milk with a tbsp of lemon juice like I have here. You can also use sour cream thinned out with a little bit of water, or even yoghurt. You just want a dairy product for richness and for it to be acidic enough to set off the baking soda.

Step 2: Pat, Roll and Punch Out

Liberally flour a clean work surface and turn the dough out onto it.

Give the dough a fold so it comes together in one mass.

Lightly flour the the top of the dough if its sticky, and press it flat.

Use a rolling pin to make the dough an even 3/4 inch thick all around.

Using cutters dipped in flour, cut the doughnut shapes with the 3" cutter, followed by the holes with the 1" cutter.

Lift carefully and place on a tray.

You can re-roll the scrap dough you have left, just gently pat it back together and cut out more doughnuts.

Step 3: Frying Cake Doughnuts 101

Prepare your frying set up.

Place a large, heavy pot on the stove and clip a deepfry/candy thermometer to the side of the pot with the probe pointing to the middle.

Pour 2-3 inches of oil in and set the pot over medium heat. I like to use canola, because of its high smoke point and it doesn't effect the taste. My absolute favourite for frying is lard, but you can use any oil with a high smoke point.

The goal is to get the oil to reach 375°F and it is important to watch the pot at all times to maintain that temperature.

If you have a deep fryer, you're a lucky devil, just set it to 375°.

Next to the stove or stand alone deep fryer, set up a cooling rack over a cookie sheet covered with a tea towel or a paper towel to catch drips and make clean up easier. It's best to set the fresh fried doughnuts onto a rack instead of directly onto a towel because the towel will suck up any excess oil but the doughnut will then be sitting in it, and you'll get the dreaded Soggy Bottom. 

Make sure to have your preferred tools for flipping and remove the doughnuts from the oil ready. Tongs, a spider, chopsticks, or a sturdy, all metal strainer will all work.

Fry at 375 degrees. I fry most doughnuts at around the 360 mark, but I like to keep the oil hotter for cake doughnuts because they are heartier and can take the heat without burning. More importantly, it keeps the time they are floating in the oil to a minimum, so their cakey texture doesn't soak up any grease.

** If you find yourself frying without a thermometer, you'll have to be extra observant. Keep a scrap piece of dough or an ill formed doughnut hole and throw it in as a tester. It should bubble and fizz as soon as it hits the oil, but and be cooked on that side in 10-20 seconds for a small piece of dough. If it burns in that time, turn off your heat and wait 5-10 minutes for the oil to cool down. Generally if your oil is hot enough to do that, it's already starting to smoke anyway, so you'll know to turn it down.**

Once the oil has reached 375°F, begin to add the doughnuts, one at a time by sliding them carefully into the oil. Don't drop them in or you'll have screaming hot oil splash all over you. Cake doughnuts will sink to the bottom of the oil, then cook for a bit before rising up. Once the doughnut bobs to the surface, fry it for approximately 1 minute more before turning it with your chopsticks or tongs and fry for an additional 1-2 minutes on the other side. Only fry 3-4 at a time, overcrowding the pot will cause the temperature to drop and the doughnuts to suck grease.

Place the doughnuts on the prepared cooling rack. Break one open to ensure that it is cooked, and if additional time is needed, add the doughnuts back to the oil to finish and add a bit more cooking time for the rest. Fry the rest in similar fashion, and allow all of the doughnuts to cool.

If you've overworked your dough, you will see the pale tops of the doughnut split and crack open-- that's okay, just flip it at that point and finish frying. They will taste just as good when youre done, just with a tighter crumb and a crunchy top that looks oh so rustique.

If youve rolled your doughnuts thicker than 3/4" they will take longer to fry. Pull one out when you think it should be done, wait 5 minutes for it to finish off cooking and become cool enough to handle. Break it open. If its still gooey inside, keep the next ones in 20-30 seconds longer.



Step 4: Ways of the Glaze

This is a basic semi-clear glaze that is easy to make and will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks if you have extra.

Glaze

- 4 cups icing sugar
-¼ cup butter, melted
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 tbsp honey
- hot water

Sift icing sugar into a medium sized bowl.

Add honey, melted butter and vanilla to icing sugar and mix.

Add hot water a tbsp at a time until desired consistency is achieved, while mixing well.

Dip your doughnuts into the glaze, and sit on cooling rack to harden.


Optional:

If you would like a coloured glaze, add in your liquid colour before you add the hot water.

If your glaze is too stiff, add more hot water. If your glaze is too runny, add more sifted icing sugar and stir in well until it's the consistency you desire.

For sprinkle doughnuts, make sure to add them on right away once they doughnut is dipped before the glaze hardens and they just bounce off its impenetrable sugar armor of goodness.

For a sour cream glaze, sub in 1/4 cup sour cream thinned with a tbsp of lemon juice for the melted butter.

For a chocolate glaze, replace 1 cup of the icing sugar with 1 cup of good quality cocoa powder.

For a coffee glaze, use hot coffee instead of hot water.

Additionally, you can add in any flavours like almond extract, kentucky bourbon, or orange zest.