I have not been a fan of doughnuts in my childhood as much as I am today. Baked doughnuts are the perfect little portable treats that you can dress up, then wrap up in a pretty box (without fear of being ruined) to present to friends and family. Being known as a baker in my social circles, it’s not unusual for me to gift edible treats to people who love them over other things. After all hand made things have their own special significance. This year I’ve moved over cakes and made lots of doughnuts and tartlets for my favourite people. Taking a frosted, decorated cake along is such a challenge because they never reach the destination in one piece. It definitely works with patisseries and bakeries but being a home baker, you don’t really have that kind of equipment and packaging at home. Doughnuts on the other hand are easier and individually portioned so they a joy to all (other than my husband who thinks only children eat doughnuts).
As you can see I had a lot of fun with the glaze. The best part is that I glazed them all in one single bowl. So don’t worry about having to clean up multiple dishes which is my only concern always with ombre style desserts. Culinary lavender is worth stocking up in your pantry if you are a fan of the fragrance or just want to be creative. The buds usually last for a year so you can use them for a variety of desserts and treats. My girlfriends go gaga over floral treats so in my house lavender and rosewater need to be stocked up frequently. If you don’t have lavender at hand, you can substitute with pure vanilla extract.
Baked Lavender Doughnuts
Yields 6 regular doughnuts
1 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/2 tsp ground culinary lavender
1/4 tsp salt
30 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
100 ml milk (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp)
Vanilla Glaze
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla glaze
1 tbsp milk (or more if needed)
Purple gel food colour
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. 160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Spray a non-stick doughnut pan with cooking spray and leave aside.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, lavender and salt. In a different bowl, beat together butter, egg and milk. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well until fully blended. Do not over-mix.
Spoon the batter into the doughnut cavities till each cavity is about 3/4 full. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
Remove from oven. Leave in pan for 2-3 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the Vanilla Glaze, in a medium bowl whisk the sugar, vanilla and milk. Mix well till blended. If mixture is too thick add a little more milk (remember mixture thickens upon cooling).
Add a very small qualtity of purple food colour (for the first two doughnuts). Dip two doughnuts, one at a time, letting the excess glaze drip off into the bowl. Place on the wire rack to set. Decorate with sprinkles and top with chocolate.
For the next two doughnuts, add a bit more food colour to the same bowl. Dip the next two doughnuts in the same way as the first ones. Add more food colour to the glaze for a deeper purple. Glaze the remaining doughnuts. Decorate.
Wow. My first reaction upon seeing these photos was a sort of “sadness” because since I’ve been back to work, I haven’t been able to play with my photography! The beauty and emotion your photos communicate is what I long to do with my poetry and photography: to enchant and enthrall.
Now for the TASTE! I’m sure these are just heaven on earth, Sonali. What great flavors you put together!
Have a fabulous weekend my friend. Anita
Thank you so much my friend. I hope you get some free time soon. Your art is beyond beautiful.
Good day, Sonali!
I teeter precariously between deciding on whether your stunning photography or fabulous food is my favorite. Being new to your blog, I can only say that you have hit the golden vein of succeeding in 2 very demanding areas of talent and skill.
Perhaps you can offer an entry of how you consistently know the right lighting, techniques, placement, and choice of subjects time and time again, much to the delight of your devotee’s.
As for this particular subject today, the color contrast was perfect, and the topic? Who doesn’t like doughnuts, especially homemade?
Again, thank you for sharing both your photographic and food skills!
Aww…thank you so much. I’m really touched by your comment. It means a lot to me.
these look beautiful! i love your photos, there is just so much color and they are so stunning. i bet they taste delicious too.
I’m so glad you like them. Thank you so much.
Love all the purple hues! If people eat with their eyes first, they are sure plenty satisfied just looking at your food. So lovely and I’m sure equally delicious. : )
Oh Sonali, these look stunning. And that purple colour. Your friends are sooooo lucky!
The colour on these doughnuts are amazing! And such beautiful photos too!
WOW! This idea of lavender doughnuts is simply great. This is not just delicious but looks so great. Such a great combo! Really thankful to you for sharing this! This is irresistible!
I’ve just discovered your breathtaking blog and I am SO glad I did. For one, I’m certainly not bad in the kitchen, but really I mostly just stick to the basics and haven’t really tried out anything really new or anything I’m excited about and I’ve been wanting to but just haven’t had much inspiration, motivation or time lately. My 7 year old daughter has also been asking me more and more regularly to teach her how to bake, and cook, in general. As soon as I found your blog I felt like your recipes were custom made to my tastes! I am in love with lavender, rose water, pistachios, cardamom and honestly, here in the US (I live in Florida) they mostly aren’t flavors you really get to enjoy all that often unless you are making things yourself. So, after spending a few hours shamelessly drooling over your gorgeous photography and craving every single recipe I read, I showed them to my daughter who has now requested we go shopping for ingredients tomorrow. And so, thanks to your fabulous talent, we are starting a project this summer vacation that I am really excited about! These doughnuts are definitely going on the list, along with that White Chocolate Rose Mousse and I’m definitely dying to try out white chocolate cherry mud cake too! Anyways, thank you for the inspiration – every single thing you have made looks to die for!
Hi Amanda, I’m so touched by your comment. Thank you so much my friend. I have 8 year old twins who take a keen interest in baking and are also a huge motivation to me. I hope you really enjoy the cakes and desserts as much as I do. Happy Baking!