We love a good doughnut, but these stunning floral doughnuts take the cake! Use edible flowers straight from your garden to garnish these.
Not sure which blooms to use? Here’s our list of edible flowers.
MAKES 8 // COOKING TIME 2 hours
INGREDIENTS
For the floral doughnuts
310 ml milk, lukewarm
2 tsp dry yeast
2 eggs
120 g butter, melted and cooled
50 g sugar
1 tsp salt
530 g cake flour
Vegetable oil, to deep-fry
For the royal icing
1 egg white
½ tsp lemon juice
200 g icing sugar, sifted
Sprinkles, to decorate
Edible flowers of your choice, to decorate
METHOD
For the floral doughnuts
1. In a bowl, combine milk and yeast. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, 5 minutes.
2. Using an electric beater, beat eggs, butter, sugar and salt into the mixture.
3. Mix in ½ of the flour until combined. Mix in the rest of the flour with a wooden spoon until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add a little more flour, 2 tbsp at a time, if the dough is too wet.
4. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7–10 minutes.
5. Grease a bowl with a little oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size.
6. Turn out the dough on to a well-floured surface and roll it out to 2 cm thick. Use two cookie cutters to cut out 8 doughnuts and make holes in them (the larger cutter should be about 10 cm and the smaller one about 3 cm), flouring the cutters as you go.
7. Arrange doughnuts on floured baking trays so there is plenty of room between them. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until slightly puffed up and delicate, about 45 minutes
8. After about 30 minutes, place the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and heat it to 180°C.
9. Carefully add the doughnuts to the oil. When the undersides are deep golden, 45 seconds to 1 minute, use a slotted spoon to flip. Cook until golden all over. Adjust the heat as needed to keep the oil at the same temperature while you fry the whole batch.
10. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
For the royal icing
1. Lightly whisk together the egg white and lemon juice. Gradually add the icing sugar, whisking until smooth.
2. Spread icing over each of the doughnuts. Decorate with sprinkles and flowers.
Recipe & styling: Diane Heierli
Photography: Christoph Heierli
This berry granola tart is another springtime favourite!
