Time to make the doughnuts...

Dear Readers,

Buttermilk cake-style doughnuts - mine 

Doughnuts are a thing of glorious beauty.

Especially when they're freshly made and still warm... though to be fair, even when they're not, they're still pretty good.

Happily, making doughnuts from scratch is relatively easy and beyond worth the effort.

People might argue that the best thing about making doughnuts yourself is that it enables you to flavor them to your liking, but I think the best thing about making doughnuts is... well... doughnuts.

There are a million 'baked not fried' doughnut recipes out there, but I don't think you need to bother with a baked doughnut.

I mean... why? :)

My opinion is that if you're eating so many doughnuts they affect your heath... perhaps you should reevalute your lifestyle.  I believe that if you're going to have a treat, you should really enjoy that treat.

Alternately, throw caution to the wind and simply exist on doughnuts... I promise you it will be a brief, yet glorious existance.

Classic Berliner with organic blackbery preserves - mine

Basic Cake Doughnuts 
Adapted From:
Glazed, Filled, Sugared & Dipped

• 3c         Flour
• 3/4 c     Sugar
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp.    Baking Powder
• 1/2c      Buttermilk
• 1           Egg
• 2           Yolks
• 2oz       Butter (melted)

Optional ingredients: Vanilla extract, lemon zest, cinnamon sugar, nutmeg etc..

Quick Glaze

Mix together: 

• 1c       Confectioners sugar
• 2T      Milk

Optional: Vanilla extract, bourbon, cinnamon etc...
--------------------------------

Procedure:

Place buttermilk, egg/yolks and melted butter into a bowl or stand mixer.  Add the flour, sugar, baking soda/powder and mix just until a dough forms (do not overmix!). Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper (or plastic wrap) and roll until approximately 3/4 inch thick.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour.  

Heat at least 2 inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pan (or deep fryer) until the temperature reaches 350 degrees.

Prepare a tray or cookie sheet covered with paper towels in order to drain the fried doughnuts.

Roll out the dough and cut into the desired shape.  Be sure to get creative with this step and use all of the fun cookie cutters you have lying around.  Doughnuts don't need to be round, only delicious!

Fry dough in the hot oil for approximately 2 minutes or until they are golden brown, turning occassionally so they don't get too dark on one side.

Remove from the heat, dip in glaze or toss in sugar flavored however you prefer.

Pair them with good quality fruit preserves and coffee.

Delicious.

I really hope you've enjoyed this, if you've never made fresh doughnuts before, be sure to give this recipe a try, I promise you'll love them.  :)

Stay Sweet!

Lisa

Sweet "little Earths"

Dear Readers,

There's a new trend in wedding cakes for 2016, with geode inclusions made from rock candy!

The word geode means "rounded stone with a hollow center lined with crystals" from the Greek geodes, meaning "earth like." So geodes are often affectionately called "little earths."

Geode Wedding Cake - Intricate Icings

People have been making these for a while, though putting them on wedding cakes is a fairly new (and gorgeous) trend.

I tend to make them around Easter and include them as part of the baskets I sell; I try and make my baskets almost non-denominational and more nature inspired in order to have a wider appeal.

There are a few different ways to make sugar geodes.

The first is extremely time consuming, though I'd argue makes the most authentic looking geodes. It involves growing rock candy crystals in a concentrated sugar solution.  The biggest problem with this method is that it can be unreliable and not grow as many crystals as you might need for a cake.

However, the crystals that do grow are both gorgeous and realistic.

White Chocolate and rock candy geodes - my own

A much easier way to make rock candy geodes is to simply break up hard candy (like lollipops) and glue them into a candy shell with a touch of royal icing.

In my opinion, geodes made this way don't look as realistic, but the advantage is it's much quicker and you never have to worry about running out of them in the middle of decorating a cake.

I like to keep a small amount of hard candy on hand, just in case my crystals don't form properly.

Whatever method of geode formation you choose, rest easy in the knowledge that people will love them.  Though don't allow people to get too precious with them, these geodes are meant to be eaten and enjoyed.

Here is a simple tutorial so you can make your own geodes at home.  Rock Candy Geodes

Remember that you can color and flavor your geodes in any way you like and there is no way you can possible mess it up or have something go wrong.  Geodes exist in nature, and nature isn't perfect, so be sure to embrace your perfect imperfections.  :)

Have fun with this project and good luck!

Stay Sweet!

xo
Lisa