Halloween mishaps and frankendoughnuts

This recipe almost didn’t happen. There were two versions of this recipe that didn’t make it to the blog (simply because they were devoured, so I couldn’t take photos of them) and when I’d made this batch and piped them all nicely into their moulds, the oven wouldn’t light.

You read right, I’ve ovened my oven oblivion. *insert crying emoji here*

So I figured I’d try my luck with creating an oven using the barbecue. (Shoutout to my dad for the idea!)

It was a tense ten minutes, resisting the urge to open the lid and check on my creations, but it worked! I honestly felt like a magician when I removed the lid of the barbecue to find 12, fully cooked and delicious-smelling doughnuts. This will go down as one of the most inventive bakes I have ever done. For this reason (and also because I went a little crazy with the toppings) I’m dubbing these little gems Frankendoughnuts, my little crazy creations.

Fear not, however, I’ve given you instructions for a regular oven, not for the barbecue. Although if you’re interested, send me an email to ask for the barbecue instructions!

Vanilla doughnuts:

Makes 24

• 140g butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• Seeds of 1.5 vanilla beans
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 3 cups plain flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp bicarb

Vanilla glaze:

• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 3 tbsp milk
• 3-4 drops purple food colouring
• 3-4 drops orange food colouring (I used Americolor electric purple and (orange))

Preheat your oven to 220°C. Grease two 12 capacity doughnut tins and set to one side .

Mix your butter, sugar and vanilla seeds until combined. Blend in your eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla extract. Pour in your milk and mix well. Finally, add in your sifted flour and the bicarb. Mix until just combined.

Pop your mixture into a piping bag and snip about 1cm off the end. Pipe into your doughnut moulds (fill them about 2/3 of the way up) and then pop into the oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven when they’ve rise slightly and have started to brown lightly. Pop them onto a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

While the doughnuts are cooling, make a start on your icing. Mix your vanilla bean paste into your sifted icing sugar as best you can. Add the milk, one tablespoon at a time, until it’s a nice consistency – the mixture should be runny enough that it will spread, but isn’t thin. Divide your icing between two bowls and add food colouring to each one, mixing thoroughly afterwards. I used Americolor soft gel paste colouring, which is really highly concentrated. If you’re using regular food colouring, you may need a few extra drops to achieve the same vibrancy – take it steady when adding the colouring and use your best judgement to see whether you need more.

Next, assemble your toppings.

I used Cobs lightly salted popcorn, Queen sugar pearls and dark chocolate letters, Jimmies a very dear person brought me from America, hundreds and thousands and crunch chocolate balls from Josophan’s Fine Chocolates.

Spoon your icing over the top of two doughnuts, spreading gently with the back of the spoon to encourage good coverage. Decorate these two before the icing sets, then move onto icing and topping the next two. Alternatively, rope in some small children to help out, this bit is lots of fun!

Decorate as tastefully or as spookily as you like! I ended up with four main frankendoughnut styles; sprinkled, lettered, choc-balled and popcorned.

I highly recommend you bake these babies, Halloween or not, they’re delicious, speedy and oh-so-appeasing to look at! I took so many photos of them that I felt like a paparazzi.