Babycakes Baked Cake Doughnuts

Believe it or not these doughnut, or donuts as they call them at Babycakes, are gluten, wheat, egg, soy, dairy and nut free. They are also vegan. I should think they are suitable for almost anyone! I tried an authentic Babycakes donut when I was in LA back in February and it was love at first bite. Upon my return I promptly bought a copy of their cookery book. This weekend I finally got organized enough to bake a batch of doughnuts!

Babycakes is American, but as I bought their cookery book here in the UK I was delighted to discover they had adapted the recipes to be with UK grams rather than cups. They also give suggestions for alternative flours and ingredients when a recipe calls for some that aren’t available in the UK. Great stuff!

The doughnut batter is more like a cake batter rather than a dough and I actually piped the mixture into the tins. I did still have to adapt the recipe ever so slightly, as I didn’t have any potato starch so used white teff flour instead. I also substituted sunflower oil for the coconut oil called for as I have yet to find these in the shops. Oh and I made my own unsweetened apple sauce from a Bramley apple as not sure unsweetened apple sauce is even available in the UK. The apple puree adds moistness and structure to the finished doughnut without any detectable taste of apple, so don’t let that put you off.

The resulting donuts were soft and did have a slightly fried doughy flavour which was lovely; I think the combination of flours helped this. They didn’t puff up quite as much as I would have liked and they were not as moist as the one I had in LA, but for a first attempt they were delicious. So delicious in fact I ate 4 on the day I baked them! Best made the day they are baked and all that… I expect Babycakes has got a few tricks of the trade they use to make them extra moist and fluffy. I expect being able to find coconut oil would have helped, I'll have to experiment.

After baking I had the fun task of choosing toppings. I decided on cinnamon sugar, lemon glaze and chocolate ganache. Mmmmmm. The doughnuts were nicely sweet by themselves and the cinnamon sugar added a nice touch of crunch and spice. They held together well on biting and were sturdy enough to hold in one hand without falling to pieces, a must for that authentic doughnut experience. No one wants to have to eat their doughnut with a plate and fork!

My favourite one was actually the chocolate ganache topped doughnut. This surprised me as I would have probably put that last on my list before tasting them. The combination of smooth bitter chocolate against the sweet doughy doughnut was a lovely combination. The ganache also made it extra moist when allowed to sit for a few hours.

If you’ve been craving baked doughnuts, this recipe is definitely a good place to start.

Baked Cake Doughnuts

(Recipe from Babycakes Covers the Classics by Erin McKenna)

Ingredients

75ml melted coconut oil (I used sunflower)

160g caster sugar

100g white or brown rice flour (I used brown)

40g garbanzo bean flour (gram/chickpea flour)

70g potato starch (I used white teff flour)

30g arrowroot

1½ tsp gluten free baking powder

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda

6 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce (about 90g, see below)

2 tsp vanilla extract

125ml hot water

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease 2 large 6 ringed doughnut trays.

Add the sugar to a large bowl. Sift over the flours, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, xanthan gum and arrowroot. Mix together briefly.

Add the apple puree, vanilla, oil and hot water. Beat together well using a spatula until combined and no streaks of flour remain.

Spoon 2-3 teaspoons of batter into each mould and smooth out to fill. (I piped mine into the moulds using a piping bag, which made it very easy).

Bake the doughnuts for 8 minutes, then rotate the tins and bake for a further 5-6 minutes until ever so slightly golden brown in colour.

Allow the doughnuts to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out of the tin onto cooling racks.

If coating the doughnuts in sugar, do this straight away while they are still warm. Otherwise, allow to cool for 15 minutes before coating in the icings and toppings of your choice.

Makes 12 baked doughnuts

Homemade unsweetened apple sauce/puree

Peel, core and finely dice a large-ish Bramley apple. Add 1 tbsp water and either lightly cook in a small saucepan until smooth and completely broken down, or else blast it in the microwave for about 3 minutes. Smoosh into a puree with the back of a spoon. Allow to cool slightly before weighting out the amount required.