Glazed Cinnamon-Sugar Donut Cakes

What I'm about to tell you will change your life.  Whether it is a change for better or worse depends on how you feel about sugar. 

I wish someone had warned me.  I wish someone had told me that I was hand-crafting my own demise.

See, there are these things called donuts.  Maybe you've heard of 'em?  But then there are these other things called hot fresh donuts - straight from your own oven!  That's when everything started to fall apart.

I got this crazy idea to make some donuts for a holiday get-together.  Donuts would be nice, I thought.  Something special.  So I crawled out of bed that morning, flipped through some cookbooks, and started baking.  Since I didn't have a donut pan, I thought it would be cute to make little donut cakes.  I even managed to finish two batches before heading out the door to work. 

I'm sure this all sounds great.  I made some donuts, everyone loved them, whoo-hoo.  But you don't understand.  They are very addictive.  And they keep calling my name.  It's now my sixth sense... I hear donuts. 

I promise that I have done other things this week besides make donuts and eat them.  But, you don't want to hear about any of that.  You want to hear about how I've been stuffing my face with glazed cinnamon-sugar donut cakes and eating too many sweets.  See, far more interesting. 

The beauty - and danger - of these is that you don't need any fancy donut equipment.  No donut pan. No special fryer.  Just a simple muffin pan and an oven.  See, told you I'd change your life today. 


Donut recipe from Vegan Yum Yum
Makes 20 donuts

Donut Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (vegan) sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tiny pinch of cinnamon
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Egg replacer for 1 egg (I used Ener-G brand)
4 Tbs Earth Balance margarine

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon with a whisk to mix thoroughly. 

Combine the soy milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, egg replacer, and margarine in a small saucepan over low heat and mix until the margarine is melted.  The mixture should not get too hot - you should be able to stick your finger in the mixture and feel slightly warm (if you burn yourself it's too hot for the dough).

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  It should form a very soft dough or thick batter.

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out the dough into an ungreased, nonstick mini-donut (or muffin) pan.  Smooth out the top of the donuts with your fingers.  This will make for more even, prettier doughnuts. 

Bake for 12 minutes until they are almost browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.  Invert the pan over a cutting board and release the donuts. 

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes while you are assembling your glaze and sugar (see my recipe below).  Brush with glaze (you can do the entire doughnut or just the tops) and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Serve warm.

Glaze
1/2 cup powdered (vegan) sugar
1 Tbs soy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix ingredients together in a small bowl and brush on donuts.  

Cinnamon Sugar
1/4 cup (vegan) sugar
2 Tbs cinnamon (depending upon your taste)

Mix together and sprinkle over glazed donuts.