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My husband came home the other day laughing after an experience of a heated debate at work. Two colleagues had arrived to a morning meeting with two different brands of freshly baked donuts. Apparently this was what began the war of 2012 among a bunch of men. For a normal work environment, I’m sure this would be similar to Christmas. For my husband’s work, this is an entirely different situation, one that conduces to a debate of which type of donut is best. These types range from cake-batter baked, deep-fried, crème filled, custard filled, and cutter shaped, and so on. There are a lot of choices but I would never seriously think a bunch of heated men would have this discussion at home. Lol, it’s more of a conversation that I would bring forth…

Last weekend, we made two different baked donuts. Sorry, both were rather of a baked cake-like variety. They were amazing and although I could never state which type of donut is my favorite, I can state that we do love donuts – especially homemade! If I were to choose though, I would have to claim nothing beats my grandmothers’ donuts. As a child I remember eating this special oblong, oval/rectangle shape that was filled with a creamy frosting and/or custard center. It was then fried and iced on top. This type of donut could only be found in my grandmother’s kitchen and purchased in one grocery store in our hometown. The reason, as I was told all throughout my childhood, is because this special recipe was brought over from Germany by my great-grandmother. The grocery store purchased the recipe from my mother’s side of the family and ever since has made this recipe. Hence, it can only be found in two different places; most likely it can also be found in Germany since that is where my great-grandmother immigrated from years ago. Therefore, this type of donut with its history will also be my favorite – no matter how many different varieties I try or make.

This weekend (boy is my husband in a donut rut lately), I made a batch of baked cake batter donuts. I got the recipe from Ryan on his adorably decorated website at Ryan’s Baking Blog. Even if you aren’t a donut person, you have to go to his website and see Natalya, the websites’ pug mascot. So cute! Seeing that my weight has increased by five pounds in two weeks, I am trying to reduce the amount of flour & sugar in my diet. The husband’s report was that while the donuts were good, they were a bit blander in flavor and very “cakey”. (Guessing that means they were too dense and not like enough…) The lemon frosting was a winner though – just make sure you add the zest and juice of 1 lemon.

If you are a cake-style donut lover, I’m sure you are going to really enjoy this recipe. I did add a few different ingredients to spike up the flavor since the original really didn’t have enough. (In my opinion from the bite I stole from my husband’s plate.)

Doughnut Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soy milk (I used rice milk but I think it would be fantastic with coconut)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
2 tablespoons vegan butter, melted and cooled ( I used Earth Balance)
Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease or spray a donut pan.
In a measuring cup, combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside for 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
In a small bowl, whisk together ground flax seeds and warm water.
Combine flax mixture, soymilk mixture, and melted butter. Whisk briefly and add into the well in the dry ingredients. Stir gently, being careful not to over mix, until everything is just combined.
Fill each doughnut cavity 2/3 full. Bake 8-9 minutes or until doughnuts golden brown around the edges and the tops spring back when touched (you can also insert a toothpick into a doughnut and if it comes out clean, they are done).
Allow them to cool in the pan about 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.
Repeat filling and baking until you run out of batter.
Lemon Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 lemon worth of juice & zest
Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice and mix until combined. Dip or drizzle your doughnuts! You may need to double this recipe if double dipping is your thing.