Baked Red Velvet Donuts Recipe

RECIPE: Red Velvet Donuts ~ Baked, Not Fried

February 7, 2014 at 2:15 pm · Filed under Cookies-Cake-Pastry, Valentine's Day

For all your Valentine—the recipe makes two dozen donuts (photo © Farmgirl Gourmet).

This recipe is courtesy of Farmgirl Gourmet, one of our favorite blogs. Author Heather Scholten, the author, is a recipe developer, food blogger and photographer. She writes: “I love whipping up deliciousness in my 100 year old kitchen. My emphasis is on family friendly recipes with a gourmet twist. I grow it, I cook it, I snap it, I eat it.”

What better way to start off Valentine’s Day than with Heather’s red velvet donuts? They’re dipped in cream cheese frosting and decorated with sprinkles to add even more festivity.

The donuts are easy to make—baked, not fried. Prep time is 15 minutes, cook time is 20 minutes. The full recipe was originally published on Zak.com.

RECIPE: RED VELVET DONUTS

Ingredients For 24 Donuts

1 cup cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup white sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon red gel food coloring (see section below on food coloring types)

1 cup milk

2 eggs

4 tablespoons olive oil

For The Icing

4 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons milk

Garnish: red sprinkles or candy hearts

Plus

Donut baking pans

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Spray a donut baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

2. COMBINE the flours, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk until fluff.

3. ADD the milk, eggs, food coloring and olive oil and mix until just combined. Carefully pour into prepared baking pan. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer tacky. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool.

4. PREPARE the icing: Combine all ingredients for icing in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high at 30 second intervals, stirring in-between until cream cheese melts and frosting is a runny consistency. Add additional milk if frosting becomes too thick.

5. DIP the cooled donuts in the icing and sprinkle with candy sprinkles of your choice. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

The red velvet donuts have cream cheese frosting. Photo courtesy Farmgirl Gourmet.

WHY USE SOFT GEL INSTEAD OF LIQUID FOOD COLOR

The typical food colors available in supermarkets are water-based liquids that work well for most purposes. In many recipes, you use so little of it that the teaspoon or so of water isn’t going to impact the outcome of the recipe.

But if you are looking for intense color—such as in red velvet cake—you need to use a lot of liquid to get the vibrant color. Too much liquid will alter the consistency of cake, candies, donuts and deep-colored frostings.

Soft gel food coloring (sometimes called liquid gel, not to be confused with the conventional liquid coloring) delivers a deep, rich color without thinning the batter or frosting.

Gel paste food coloring is very concentrated and provides even deeper, more vivid colors than gel. It should be used in very small quantities.

Powdered food coloring is another very concentrated option that is often used to decorate cookies.

You can often find gel food colors in craft stores, as well as in baking supplies stores and online, where you can buy red only or the four basic food colors. Wilton sells a set of eight gel colors, as well as neon and pastel sets.

Don’t substitute one for another, unless you have time to test the results.

COLORED ICING TIPS

If exact color is important, mix the color in daylight so you can see the true hue. Start with less color and adjust as you go.

Note that the longer the icing sits, the stronger the color will be. Proceed accordingly.

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