Archive for: donut pan
You’ve seen donut pans in different shapes and sizes, and even if you don’t have one of these nifty pans in your kitchen yet, you have definitely seen them used on different food blogs to make baked donuts. The nonstick pans have ring-shaped cavities that let you bake something donut shaped without having to deep fry anything. Now, Wilton has come up with a Donut Hole Pan that lets you try yet another donut shape. This pan has 20 round cavities that let you bake nicely rounded donut holes. Fill the half-sphere cavities up to the top with batter, and you should get a nice rise on your donut holes that fill out the rest of that circle. The holes end up being about the size of mini muffins, perfect for snacking and sharing.
I make donut muffins in a regular muffin pan, using a mini muffin pan to get a version that is similar to a donut hole and can be eaten in two bites. I have had good results with other donut pans in the past, and I really like the shape of these. Using a mini muffin pan to approximate a donut hole, you get some odd edges and an overall irregular shape. They just don’t fully capture the donut hole look, even though they still taste delicious. If you are a baked donut fan, this pan is going to give you a lot of options and a very “real” looking finished product.
When I’m working with a shaped pan, like the Wilton Doughnut Twist Pan, I will often start out working with the recipe that comes on the packaging. These recipes are usually tasty and are always formulated to fit the pan, so there is no guesswork involved in trying out the recipe. The recipes are also a good jumping off point for making changes to a recipe easily because it gives you a basic formula that you know will work with the pan without making too much (or too little batter). This is exactly what I did with the Donut Twist Pan: I took the recipe on the back of the box, tried it and tried my own twist on it.
The recipe for baked crullers is simple, muffin-type recipe that is enriched with buttermilk to ensure that the crullers have a tender crumb and a moist interior. The original recipe has a few hints of spice added to it, but after playing around with it a little bit, I decided to make mine all vanilla. I omitted all of the spices, added additional vanilla extract and used homemade vanilla sugar to finish off my donuts. You can glaze the crullers with a glaze made with confectioners sugar and milk (or water), but since I like real donuts that are rolled in sugar, I rolled my baked crullers in sugar, too. This gives the crullers a crisp, sweet outer layer that is surprisingly similar to that of a fried donut.
This recipe is designed to work with Wilton’s Doughnut Twist Pan. If you don’t have one, you could use another type of baked donut pan or even a muffin pan, filling each cavity up about 2/3 full with batter. Brush your baked goods with a little butter, roll them in sugar and you’ll definitely be happy with the results of the baked donuts.
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Donut and mini donut pans are a fun piece of bakeware to have in the kitchen. Baked donuts tend to be lower in fat than their deep fried counterparts, and they’re even easier to make. Wilton introduced a Doughnut Twist Pan a few months ago that bakes twist-shaped donuts (also called crullers at many donut shops, even though they’re not made the same way as traditional French crullers). I happen to be a big fan of these twisty donuts and kept an eye out for this particular pan when I was out shopping so that I could give it a try myself.
The pan bakes 6 twist donuts, each about the size of the standard twist that you would see in a donut shop. The packaging comes with a recipe that is scaled to fit the pan, but a standard size muffin recipe should work well with the pan and allow you to fill the cups 2/3 full, as directed (simply discard excess batter if you have it, or bake it off in a separate pan. I simply used the recipe that came on the packaging, adding a few flavor twists with subsequent batches. The pan is nonstick and it released my donuts very easily.
The donuts look fantastic just out of the pan – and the recipe that comes with the packaging is quite good. Only one side has the twist design, of course, but it wraps around the donut in such a way that it really looks like the “real thing.” I brushed mine with some melted butter and rolled them in sugar when they were still hot, then allowed them to cool before serving. Overall, the pan performed exceptionally well in terms of how evenly it baked and how easily it released the finished donuts. The design is fun and unique, too, meaning that this is a pan that will be put to good when I have a brunch occasion to bake for!
I bought a mini donut pan many, many months ago and it has been sitting in my pantry ever since. I wanted the pan because it was so cute, but when it comes down to the time to make a donut – which isn’t all that often in the first place – I usually opt to go for fried donuts and take a few extra calories with my cake. But the pan is so cute it that i finally tempted me into trying out baked mini donuts in it.
Baked donuts don’t quite have the crisp crust of fried donuts, but the dough that you ends up delivering a donut with a similar consistency and flavor to a plain cake donut. They’re easy to make, easier to eat and lots of fun to decorate because they provide a great excuse to use up all kinds of sprinkles!
This recipe bakes into a batch of donuts that is not too sweet on their own, but absolutely perfect when iced. The texture is somewhere between a regular donut and a muffin, as they don’t have the fried exterior, but they’re moist and satisfying all the same. I think that they’re best on the day that they’re made because that is when they are at their most donut-like; they will keep well for 2-3 days in an airtight container, but become more moist and muffiny over time. These little donuts are too small to fill with jelly or anything like that, so I finished them off with some glaze and sprinkles. If you’re motivated, melt some chocolate and dunk the donuts in for chocolate-glazed mini donuts!
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I couldn’t help by smile when I spotted this Giant Donut Cake Pan at Williams-Sonoma over the weekend. I probably would have had an even bigger smile on my face if they had had a fully-baked donut cake out on display! The cake pan set includes two round pans that each make half of the donut. After baking the halves are stacked together, then you can glaze them like your favorite type of donut! Each of the donut pan halves – which are essentially ring pans and can be used for recipes that call for a ring pan when you’re not baking donuts – has a capacity of 5 cups, which is about the same capacity as an 8-inch round cake pan. The set includes a recipe with it, but you will be able to adapt other cake recipes that would otherwise make an 8-inch layer cake to this pan very easily.
When making a cake that sandwiches two separated layers into one big cake, I would recommend leveling out the edge where the two cakes meet. Even if your cakes look very even, you’ll get a much neater finished product if you trim a bit off to blend the edges.
