Apple cake donuts

Baked donuts are an easy prep-ahead breakfast option, I love how easy it is to play around with the recipes for flavor variations and the end result is a portable and customizable breakfast treat. When I got this link to an apple loaf cake recipe I knew I had to make it into a donut, that makes dessert appropriate for breakfast, right? 

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My usual weekday routine used to involve rolling out of bed last minute, hopping on a long bus ride then waking up as we arrived at the office an hour later and only then getting my morning dose of caffeine and whatever breakfast was available at the cafe. As working from home became the new normal, I found a few things that work well for a balanced but quick at home breakfast - quiche, baked donuts and sourdough toast. All the baking can take place ahead of time and in the morning it's as easy as warming up the goodies, putting some yogurt and fruit alongside on the plate and enjoying a filling and satisfying meal.

I adapted the original recipe for a lighter, more balanced version that would not spike my blood sugar early in the morning and give me a steadier energy input to start the day. I reduced the sugar and replaced it with maple syrup - the maple gives a flavor boost as well, which compliments the apples beautifully. I also replaced the oil with applesauce, it works to maintain good moisture in the crumb while keeping it light. Finally, more fruit and more spices, because that's really the best part after all.

The process is your very basic mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, fold together until just incorporated. The wet ingredients are an opportunity to incorporate a bit of extra air into the batter, use a whisk or hand mixer to whip an egg with 1/4 cup of maple syrup until lightened up a bit, and thoroughly mix in 1/4 cup of applesauce and 1 tsp of vanilla. You can add finely diced apples and pears in the wet ingredients at this point, but I find that can cause uneven texture and sticking to the donut form, so I like holding them off and pressing them into the top instead. I've tried doing apples with nectarines, but stone fruit may be too wet for this recipe, so unless you have a firm peach on hand you're better sticking to all apples, all pears or a combination of the two.

Whisk together 1 cup of all purpose flour, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder and warm spices (I used 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cardamom and 1/4 tsp cloves) in a separate bowl. Make sure the baking powder, salt and spices are well mixed in with the flour so they get evenly distributed with the wet ingredients. Fold into the dry ingredients until just incorporated, don't overmix so you don't get a tough crumb. Distribute batter evenly among 6 greased donut forms (you can use a greased muffin tin instead if you prefer).

Toss the diced fruit with a bit of extra spices (I used cinnamon and cloves) just to coat them with some additional flavor, then press into the top of each donut. Bake in the preheated 350F oven for 30-35 until springy and cooked through. Let the donuts cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before taking them out and letting them cool completely on a wire rack. Glaze right before serving to prevent sogginess.

One glaze I tried was as tasty as it was simple - sour cream mixed with a dash of maple syrup. While the maple ties in with the flavor of the cake, the sour cream coats the donut nicely while offering a tart counter note. More recently, tempted to try it out by the very very ripe mango on my counter, was an even simpler one - I blended the mango until smooth and light, then passed it through a sieve to remove some of the more stubborn fiber. This was, on its own, the perfect texture and flavor for a glaze. Spoon or drizzle over the apples, or dip the rounded bottom of the donut directly in it for even coverage. Delicious!

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Apple cake donuts

 Ingredients

• 1 eggs  
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cups apple, peeled and diced  
• 1 cup pear, peeled and diced
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp cloves

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 6 donut pan (or muffin tin if you only have that on hand).
2. Beat egg, maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until smooth. Here, you can add some of the apples in, but I like to save them for the top.
3. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and spices in a separate bowl; add to wet mixture and stir just until evenly combined into a thick batter. 
4. Divide batter evenly in prepared pan (I got ~52g in each form).
5. Toss apples and pears with a touch more cinnamon and cloves, then divide among the 6 donuts and press in to embed in the batter.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until cooked through and golden on top
7. Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Drizzle or dip in glaze just before serving.
   
   

Notes

• I've tried two kinds of glaze and I really enjoyed them both: sour cream with a dash of maple syrup is fantastic and offers a great tart contrast to the soft sweet apple. Also, even more simply, blending a mango until smooth makes a great fresh glaze to apply at serving time - kid approved too!
• I truly love the apple+pear combination (shoutout to my friend who suggested using pears!). I've tried apple and nectarine, but the nectarine was too wet and it prevented the donuts from springing properly. You can do all apple or all pear for the diced components.
• While folding fruit in the actual batter creates a creamier texture and can work, I found that it can also stick to the bottom as the fruit caramelizes and can affect the portability of the donut, so I prefer to press them on top.
• For an extra dose of caramelization, you can sprinkle some sugar on top just before baking (demerara would be great for the golden color and larger crystal structure).

Mango coconut entremet

I not-so-secretly love French pastry - love eating it, love looking at it, love learning about it and most of all, love making it. Some things are simple and perfect in their elegance, like the humble madeleine or the elusive to master plain butter croissant (coming your way soon from yours truly). However, many other things are multi element, multi day (or all day, if time allows for total focus) projects involving careful pairing of flavors and different techniques creating harmony. The latter is where we land today, with this fun but complicated adventure in the world of entremets.

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Entremets are multi layered, multi textured desserts, generally with a delicate gelatin set mousse as the primary component and often encased or topped with a shiny glaze or coating. Starting from this primary composition and inspired by these perfectly ripe and flavorful mangoes I had on hand, I set out to create my own version of an entremet, in a single-serving standalone presentation. The silicone baking cups I once got for fun muffins for the kids seemed like a perfect fit, always better to use something on hand than having to get a single purpose item (not that it's always stopped me in the past, heh).

I'll describe my creative process in the order that I built the layers, which is also the order I used them for assembly, the inside looks a bit different as you'll see in a little bit. First, the coconut sponge - I started from this lovely recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction (my muse!), scaled it down and lightened it up a smindge. It's a pretty straightforward butter based cake recipe, where the butter and sugar get creamed to incorporate some air and fluff up, then the dry ingredients and liquid get incorporated in alternating additions until mixed thoroughly. It's important not to overmix to prevent gumminess/overly dense cake, and to preserve the lightness from the whipped butter.

Next I moved to one of my favorite types of inclusions - a fruity gelee. This is a great opportunity to complement the core flavors of the entremet (in my case, mango and coconut) and add some textural and flavor contrast - here I'm thinking something tart and bright to work with a creamy mousse and a warm and nutty flavored sponge. Orange immediately came to mind, but passion fruit is such a great flavor booster. I find that orange juice on its own doesn't come across very well, but orange zest highlights the floral notes of the fruit and passion fruit adds a great tart punch. I reached for my favorite kitchen helpers here, my trusty Perfect Puree zest and puree (they keep well in the freezer, are easy to use and taste fantastic). The gelee step was pretty straightforward - I warmed up orange juice and a bit of sugar with zest and passion fruit puree, melted bloomed gelatin in the mix then let it set in a pan in a thin layer in the fridge.

Next, for the body of the entremet, I made a mango mousse that's simple but flavorful. Well ripened fruit is really essential to achieve a good level of flavor at this step, but if that's a concern reducing the puree over low heat can help consolidate the essence of the fruit. I pressed the puree through a fine sieve, because no matter how much I blend mango some of the fibers seem to always stick around. I warmed up the puree, then melted the bloomed gelatin in it and let it cool to room temperature, but not all the way (you don't want mango jello). Just as the puree is cooler (doesn't feel warm to the touch, 80-90F is ok), start the whipped cream - start at low speed, then as it becomes lighter slowly incorporate the sugar and continue whipping at high speed until medium-stiff peaks are achieved. Overwhipping cream gets you butter so be careful not to whip too much. Fold mango into the whipped cream gently but thoroughly, until no streaks remain. 

Assembly basically takes place in two main parts, and as soon as the mousse is mixed you're ready to proceed with the first one. I used silicone baking cups to build the dessert upside down, I chose the rose shaped ones for the cool look on top, but it did hold onto the glaze a bit too much in the ridges so simpler is better (I have these cute heart shaped ones which would be perfect). Spoon the mousse into each cup until there's 1/2" left from the top, then tap to remove any air pockets. Use a circle cutter about 1/2" smaller than the silicone cup and cut enough pieces of gelee to add to the top of each cup, then do the same with the sponge, and press both of these into the mousse until the sponge is level with the edge of the cup. Spoon a bit more mousse around the edges if there's still space remaining, then use a spatula to smooth everything even with the edges of your form and remove any excess mousse. Put all the forms in the freezer for 3-4 hours until solid while you ready the remaining component. You can leave in the freezer overnight or up to a few days if you're not ready to serve these right away, just make sure you cover them so they don't get condensation or freezer burn.

For a whimsical presentation, I wanted an edible "coaster" for this dessert. This is completely optional but it adds a crunchy textural contrast and makes the entremet easier to manipulate. I made a vanilla sable dough following the ratios from Dominique Ansel's pastry tart shell and cut it in shapes just slightly larger than the opening of my mousse forms

Finally, the glaze, which really gives this a finished look and ads a beautiful color and sheen on top. This is best applied right before serving (it sets very quickly), but it keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days assembled - note that the mirror shine may dull a bit and condensation may develop. It shouldn't affect the eating experience, but it may ding the aesthetic a tiny bit. I used ruby chocolate, which is pretty novel and exciting to me - that gorgeous color comes from ruby cocoa beans, there is no color or other flavor added, and yet it has these fruity and tart notes, almost like a raspberry chocolate. To make a simple ganache style glaze, just chop up the chocolate, melted it with hot milk and then incorporate the bloomed gelatin. This needs to cool to about 90F before applying to the entremets so it sets quickly enough when poured, but not too quickly that it flows off the cakelet or melts the mousse. I made just enough for the 6 entremets I served that same day, so if you want to make more or save some for later, scale this recipe up accordingly.

For final assembly, just before glaze is cool enough, pull the cakes from the freezer and one be one unmold and place on a cooling rack to ready for the glaze. Pour glaze over in a slow and steady stream, moving it over the edges to get uniform coverage. Give it a few of l seconds to stop dripping, then place on sable cookies. Repeat with each cake, I got 5 glazed and two more I saved up for later in the freezer (I'll make a fresh batch of glaze for them).

The final picture above gives you a good idea how the assembly went (remember the gelee and sponge went into the mousse when it was upside down in the silicone cup), then turned over, glazed and placed on the sable cookie. This was a fun project to undertake, and it gave me the confidence to create my own entremet components and play around with the flavor combinations. I think for the next go-around of the mango coconut combination I would definitely think about a built in crunchy layer - maybe a coconut croustillant like I added to my very first entremet cake a couple of years ago, following this recipe.

Scroll on for measurements and step by step directions for my mango coconut entremet cakelets.

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Mango coconut entremet

Coconut sponge 

Ingredients

• 34g butter
• 66g sugar
• 1 egg white 
• 24g greek yogurt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp coconut extract (optional)
• 48g coconut milk
• 15g shredded coconut
• 55g cake flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set out all ingredients to come to room temperature.
2. Whisk cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl until uniformly mixed.
3. Beat butter and sugar together smooth and creamy, for this scaled down recipe you can use a hand whisk or hand mixer.
4. Beat in the egg white until combined, then add yogurt and extracts, mix well.
5. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed/gently until just combined, then fold in shredded coconut. 
6. Pour batter onto sheet pan (it's quite thick), then use a spatula to spread out evenly, you're aiming for just over 1/4" thickness.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until just done and starting to turn golden on the edges. The top will start looking a bit more dull and a toothpick will come out clean.
8. Let cake cool on the pan for a few minutes, then remove parchment and place on a rack to cool completely before cutting.

Orange passion fruit gelee

Ingredients

• 60g sugar
• 105g water
• 30g orange zest 
• 215g orange juice
• 30 g passion fruit puree
• 3.5 sheets of gelatin 

Method

1. Heat sugar and water to a boil.
2. Place gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water until soft and pliable (this step is called blooming the gelatin).
3. Add orange zest, orange juice and passion fruit to the simple syrup. 
4. Pull gelatin sheets from water and gently squeeze out any excess water, then add to the warm fruit mix and stir gently until dissolved.
5. Pour into a plastic lined or very lightly oiled pan (a quarter sheet pan works well for this amount) and chill in the fridge to set. Aim for 1/4" thickness or a bit less, I had a bit of excess which I let set in a glass and it made for a great gelatin snack on its own.

Mango mousse

Ingredients

• 153g mango (for me, one medium very ripe mango, peeled and chopped, fruit sizes vary)
• 20g sugar
• 1 packet of gelatin (equivalent to 3 sheets)
• 140g heavy whipping cream

Method

1. Puree and pass mango through fine mesh/sieve - this yielded about 1 cup of puree, if your fruit is very fibrous and you lose a lot to straining use a bit more fruit.
2. Bloom gelatin in water.
3. Warm up mango in a small saucepan, remove from heat before it simmers and melt bloomed gelatin in it. Let cool for 15-20 minutes.
4. Whip cream to soft peaks, then add sugar and continue whipping to medium-stiff peaks.
5. Gently fold cooled mango puree into whipping cream until no streaks remain.

Vanilla sable cookies

Ingredients

• 20g powdered sugar
• 46g flour
• 12g corn starch
• small pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste (you can use jarred or scraped from 1/4 vanilla pod)
• 32g butter, room temp
• 12g egg (I whisked a whole egg, then measured out 12g, which is about 1/4)

Method

1. Combine powdered sugar, flour, corn starch and salt in a bowl. 
2. Add the butter and vanilla paste/seeds and mix with your hands or a small spatula until the ingredients are well combined. 
3. Add the egg and mix until the dough is smooth and the egg is fully incorporated. Do not overmix.
4. Wrap dough in a piece of plastic wrap and gently press into a disc. Place in fridge until firmed up, a minimum of 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350F and place a sheet of parchment on a sheet pan.
6. Roll out dough between two pieces of parchment - add a bit of flour on both sides of the dough to ensure it doesn't stick - until very thin, about 1/8". Cut out shapes that are slightly larger than your planned forms. If they are too soft to lift, place rolled out dough in the fridge a few more minutes to firm up again before transferring to baking sheet.
7. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and set.
8. Let sit for a few minutes to cool slightly in the pan, then place on rack and let cool completely - this can be used the same day or stored at room temperature loosely covered for a couple of days until ready to use.

Ruby chocolate glaze

Ingredients

• 100g ruby chocolate, chopped small
• 1 packet of gelatin (or 3 sheets)
• 40g milk

Method

1. Bloom gelatin in 40 ml of water (if using sheets, fill a bowl with cold water, then squeeze out excess before adding to milk).
2. Bring milk to a simmer in a small saucepan, then add bloomed gelatin, mix and immediately remove from heat.
3. Pour over chopped chocolate, then let sit a couple of minutes to heat through.
4. Mix gently to melt chocolate and get a uniformly smooth mixture. If mixing doesn't quite get you there, an immersion blender can do the trick, but make sure to tap a few times to pop any air bubbles that it forms.
5. Let mixture cool to ~90F before using. If it gets too cool before use or between cakelets, you can microwave in 15-20 sec increments so warm back up.

Assembly

1. Spoon mousse into 6 silicone molds immediately after folding so the gelatin doesn't set in the bowl. Leave 1/4"-1/2" from the top.
2. Cut out circles from the set gelee (close shapes are ok too, I used hexagons as well) about 1/2" smaller than the size of the forms and center on top of the mousse.
3. Repeat with the coconut sponge and place on top of the gelee, then press into mousse until level with the edge of the form.
4. Add a bit more mousse around the edges of the inserts if needed, then smooth with an offset spatula to fill any gaps and remove any excess over the top of the mold.
5. Freeze until set, a few hours or overnight.
6. Remove from freezer when set and the glaze is near 90F and ready to use.
7. One by one, unmold mousse forms and place on a rack over a tray or plate to catch excess glaze. Pour glaze evenly and slowly on top and around the edges to cover uniformly, then let it set for a few seconds before transferring to one of the sable cookies.
8. Repeat with remaining cakelets. Glaze in the catching plate or tray can be rewarmed and reused to cover the remaining desserts. 
9. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.