Whether it's for your significant other, your secret crush or your best friend, this is the ideal way for you to express your feelings. Because what says 'I love you' quite like a big pile of doughnuts...
I would say I am a bit of a hopeless romantic, I love love and I also love baking, so Valentines Day is a great time to combine the two together. Me and Dan don't tend to go over the top for Valentines Day, it's usually just a small meal and a cuddle on the sofa watching a movie (so the same as most evenings), but the way to his heart is definitely through his stomach!
Rather than fried, these doughnuts are baked in the oven, making them much healthier (and easier) alternative to the classic doughnuts. The only item you may need to invest in is a doughnut tray, I picked up a pack of 3 silicone moulds on amazon which were ideal and really easy to use.
Decorating is always my favourite part of the baking process. I covered half of my doughnuts with some rich dark chocolate, and the other half with some vegan white chocolate with a little pink colouring in keeping with the valentines day theme. These doughnuts are also the perfect way to write a message to your Valentine.
Vegan Valentines Doughnuts
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Servings: 12 doughnuts
Ingredients
For the doughuts:
250g plain flour
150g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
220ml milk
25ml butter
For the toppings (optional):
100g dairy-free dark chocolate
100g dairy-free white chocolate
3-4 drops pink food colouring
50g white ready to roll royal icing
Handful of sprinkles
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 160°C for fan ovens) and prepare two doughnut trays by spraying with a little oil.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, making sure there are no lumps.
Gently melt the butter in the microwave, then add to the dry mix along with the milk and vanilla extract.
Mix together gently until combined and there are no lumps.
Transfer the doughnut batter to the doughnut trays, you can either spoon this in (a very messy way of doing it) or pipe using a piping bag.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the doughnuts are nicely risen and golden in colour.
Remove the doughnuts from the oven and set aside to cool completely on a wire rack.
Break apart the dark and white chocolate into two separate bowls, keep a strip of white chocolate to one side.
Melt the dark chocolate and white chocolate separately (I used a microwave), cool a little and add a few drops of pink food colouring to the white chocolate until you have reached your desired colour.
Once cooled, dip half of the doughnuts into the melted dark chocolate and the other half into the pink chocolate.
To decorate, you can grate the remaining white chocolate, cover with sprinkles and make little hearts or write a message out of white fondant.
Notes
These doughnuts are best served fresh but can keep 3-5 days in a sealed container.
You can decorate your doughnuts as desired, this is your chance to get as creative as you want!!
Not feeling the love? For a simple sugared doughnut dip in a little melted dairy-free butter and then into sugar for some traditional sugared doughnuts.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy making these doughnuts and enjoy spreading the love. If you do try any of my recipes I'd love to know how they turn out - tag me on Instagram @josiewalshaw!
Josie xox