It’s another been another adventurous month for the gluten free ratio rally!!!  This month we were challenged by Meg of GF Boulangerie to make doughnuts.

I don’t have great memories of doughnuts – for the most part my childhood experiences eating them were less than awesome because there was usually some dried out cake with too much sickly sweet glaze that gave me a headache.  So I was super excited when this event came around, because one I got a chance to learn how to make them and two, I could try to make a version that would better suit my tastes.

I didn’t expect doughnuts to be very difficult to convert to gluten free – after all most cake-like foods don’t really depend on the gluten, and in the case of doughnuts either a molded pan or hot oil will form the shape quite well – unlike my gluten free chocolate chip cookies which always seem to run off the edge of the baking sheet down onto the bottom of the oven.  Given my track record with absolutely covering every surface of a kitchen in oil when I attempt to deep fry anything (but man were those chestnut pumpkin fritters good!) , I decided to go the baked route.

And then we got the most gorgeous raspberries that weekend in the market, and well, they found their way in too

Baked doughnuts need doughnut pans, and without any around I settled for mini muffin tins – hence the name “mini doughnut cakes”

I decided to make two versions – the first with a prepackaged pastry flour mix so I could test my major ingredient ratios, and then a second recipe using my own blend of flour mix.  The result from the prepackaged mix was really great – super light and fluffy delicate little doughnut cakes – the raspberries stayed on top crowning the cakes like jewels.  Nice small bites.  Addicting.

The recipe ended up being 125 g GF flour, 75 g sugar, 120 g greek yogurt, 1 egg (50g), 30 g milk, 15 g butter, a little salt and baking powder. So I’m not sure what all gets categorized into liquids vs. other in this case, but it looks like my ratio is approximately 5 flour : 3 sugar : 5 greek yogurt : 2 egg : 1 milk : 0.5 fat.

 But there was a slight problem with these – after just one day, even in a sealed container, they started to dry out a bit.  I felt like I wanted to dunk them in milk like I would a cookie.  Not quite the consistency I was going for with “doughnuts”.

So I tried my own flour mix – of potato starch, almond meal, rice flour, and chestnut – I was hoping the fat from the almonds would help lend a bit more moisture.  The mini doughnut cakes from my mix ended up being slightly more dense (and didn’t rise quite as much), but they stayed soft.  They also had more flavor – I love how much almond and chestnut contribute to taste here.  Given that the raspberries stayed on top of the mini cakes in the 1st batch, for this one I really pushed them down into the center – maybe a bit too far, ha.

I’ll take my flatter, denser, richer and more moist doughnut cakes over the ones I did with prepackaged mix any day.

And if I ever find a doughnut pan, I’d love to turn these mini doughnut cakes into actual doughnuts.

But until then, I think we’ll keep this version around awhile, have them with a cup of tea, maybe try incorporating some other fruits as the seasons change (Autumn are you here yet?).  What a wonderful challenge it was this month, and so glad to know that the doughnut endeavors turned into a version that I really enjoyed

Jenn Cuisine

Gluten Free Mini Raspberry Doughnut Cakes

Adapted from Souvlaki for the Soul’s Baked Cake Doughnuts, which were adapted from Not So Humble Pie who adapted from Sur La Table.
Prep Time: 10 minutes to prep the ingredients and grease the baking pan
Total Time: about 30 minutes to make the doughnut cakes, not counting cooling and icing time.
Yield: Makes about 2 dozen mini doughnut cakes.
Ingredients:

• 125 g GF flour mix
• 75 g sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• pinch salt
• 120 g greek yogurt
• 1 egg (50g), beaten
• 30 g milk
• 15 g melted butter
• raspberries – one for each mini doughnut cake

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F (200C). Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl – flour, sugar, baking powder, salt – and whisk them together (I hate sifting so I just use a whisk).
2. In a small bowl mix together the wet ingredients – yogurt, egg, milk, butter.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Fill a piping bag with the batter and pipe into a greased mini muffin pan. Press a raspberry into the center of each one. Bake about 8 minutes or until cooked through.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack until completely cooled. Ice and serve.

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Jenn’s Baked Cake Doughnut GF Flour Mix
Yield – about 2 batches of mini doughnut cakes

Ingredients:

• 80g potato starch
• 80g almond meal
• 80g rice flour
• 40g chestnut flour

Directions:
1. Combine ingredients together, mix well.

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Easy Homemade Icing
Adapted from Lara Ferroni’s Buttermilk Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1 cup powdered sugar – really any volume because you will add the milk gradually testing the consistency as you go
• about 1/4 cup milk – but will add only tiny bits at a time! (and probably don’t need an entire 1/4 cup)

Directions:
1. Add the powdered sugar to a bowl and then add in 1 tsp. of milk. Use a spoon to combine together until it forms a thick paste.
2. Add 1/4 tsp. of milk at a time to the icing, blending together and gradually watching it get thinner and thinner.
3. Keep repeating step 2 until the desired consistency is reached. I like my icing fairly thin, so it runs smoothly off the back of a spoon.
4. Glaze away!

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The site URL: http://jenncuisine.com
The Title: Ratio Rally – Mini Raspberry Doughnut Cakes
The URL: http://jenncuisine.com/2011/09/ratio-rally-mini-raspberry-doughnut-cakes/
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Join us next time when the Gluten Free Ratio Rally crew tackles pizza crust!!

Be sure to check out the other great doughnuts made this month -
Britt of GF in the City | Blueberry Fritters
Brooke of B and the Boy! | Apricot Fritters
Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] | Beetroot Fritters
Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free | Thai Fried Bananas
Charissa of Zest Bakery | Picarones (Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Fritters)
Claire of Gluten Freedom | Chocolate Coconut or Cinnamon-Glazed Vanilla Cake Doughnuts
Gretchen of Kumquat | Peach Cider Doughnuts
Ivrin of Eat the Love | Roses and Pearls Vanilla Bean Donuts
Jean of Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes | Cinnamon Apple Fritters
Jeanette of Jeanette’s Healthy Living | Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine | Mini Raspberry Doughnut Cakes
Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen | Apple Butter Maple Syrup Doughnuts
Mary Fran of Frannycakes | Raspberries and Cream Doughnuts
Meg of Gluten Free Boulangerie | Old Fashioned Doughnuts
Mrs. R of Honey From Flinty Rocks | Jelly Doughnuts
Pete & Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem | Jelly Doughnut Holes
Rachel of The Crispy Cook | Chocolate Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
Silvana of Silvana’s Kitchen | Vanilla-Glazed Chocolate Chip Doughnuts
Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl | Glazed Yeast Doughnuts
Tara of A Baking Life | Brioche Doughnuts with Italian Plum Jam
T.R. of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | Sweet Pepper and Pancetta Fritters

Also linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays