Cake Doughnuts
Dense, tender doughnuts of a nutmeg-scented batter chilled for 30 minutes, cut into rings, fried for 15 minutes and glazed with a sweet icing.
Flour, baking powder, sugar, an egg and milk: that is a cake doughnut, not a yeast one, and it needs no rising. The dough is mixed and chilled, rolled thick, cut into rings and fried at once, which makes it a good project for a weekend morning. No yeast needed.
The batter is soft and sticky, and chilling for thirty minutes is what makes it possible to roll. Do not skip the chill, because warm dough sticks to the board, spreads in the oil and absorbs fat. Flour the surface lightly and roll the dough about 1 cm thick. Thicker rings stay cakey inside; thin ones turn crisp and dry. Cold dough rolls better.
Fry at 180°C / 355°F. Too cool and the doughnuts soak up oil and turn heavy; too hot and the outside browns while the middle stays raw. They need about a minute and a half on each side. Drain, then dip the tops in glaze while still warm so it sets in a thin, shiny shell.
What People Ask
How long does Cake Doughnuts take to make?
25 minutes of preparation and 15 minutes of cooking, plus 30 minutes of Chilling, so allow 1 hour 10 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 12.
The Method for Cake Doughnuts
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Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and sugar. Whisk in the eggs, 150 ml milk, butter and vanilla to a soft dough.
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Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
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Roll the dough on a floured surface to 1 cm thick. Cut 12 rings with a 7 cm cutter and a 2.5 cm cutter for the holes.
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Heat the oil to 180°C / 355°F. Fry the doughnuts and holes in batches for 1 minute 30 seconds on each side until golden.
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Drain on kitchen paper. Whisk the icing sugar with the 3 tablespoons milk and dip the tops of the warm doughnuts.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Worth Getting Right
- Chill the dough or it will be too soft to cut.
- Keep the oil at 180°C / 355°F; use a thermometer.
- Fry the holes too; they cook in about a minute.
What to Serve With It
Coffee · Hot chocolate · Cinnamon sugar · Fresh fruit
Leftovers and Storage
Best on the day. Keeps for 1 day in an airtight tin.
The Numbers per Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published .
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