Baked Donuts With Guinness Ganache

Here’s the plan…we’re going to take a little help from the grocery store to whip up the easiest, tastiest cake donuts. Then, we’re going to top them with a rich and fudgy dark chocolate stout ganache.

I KNOW!

Let’s talk donut. We’re totally cheating and using store bought cake mix for this recipe. But, we’re going to doctor it up so much that nobody will ever know. I actually picked up a version of this cake recipe from a woman that was instructing a cake decorating class I took many years ago. She used to bake wedding cakes professionally, and this was her trick. Yes, she used store bought cake mixes. Plural…

So, we’re going to start with a box of yellow cake mix and a box of pound cake mix. I didn’t want to make a gazillion donuts, so I divided each box in half by weight. This is one of those times that a kitchen scale will really come in handy to make sure we’re dividing our dry ingredients properly.

To the dry mixes, we’ll add the standard ingredients called for on the box: water, oil, and eggs. Now in my instructor’s original recipe, she only used certain brands of cake mixes (which are not what I used today), and she flavored her cake mix with vanilla butternut extract.

This specialty extract is not something that most people keep on hand. So, we’re making our own version to flavor the cake by mixing vanilla, butter, and almond extracts into our batter. I know almond extract can be a little taboo. Some people can’t stand the taste, and many people are allergic to it. If you fall in either category, leave it out. These little donuts will be just as delicious without it.

Once we have our batter mixed, we have a choice to make. To color, or not to color. I went half and half, so I add just a few drops of green food coloring to my batter to give it a nice bright flavor. Then we’ll fill our donut pan, and to the oven it goes. Unless you have more than one donut pan, you’ll be baking these in a few batches.

Once all of our donuts are baked, it’s time to make the ganache! It’s as simple of mixing equal parts of stout beer and heavy cream together, heating them until they’re just warm enough to bubble, and pouring the hot mix over some dark chocolate chips. We’ll whisk everything together until it’s a silky smooth chocolate bath, and it’s ready for our donuts.

If you’re not a fan of stout beer, have no fear. This ganache doesn’t taste like you just cracked open a cold one. I’m actually not a fan of drinking it, but I love cooking with it. The stout somehow makes the chocolate taste chocolate-ier. It’s kind of the same effect that coffee has on chocolate…it deepens the flavor. So, the end result is this rich and decadent chocolate coating.

Once the ganache is ready, we’ll dip our donuts, decorate them with some pretty sprinkles, and leave them alone for about an hour so the chocolate has a chance to set. The waiting is the hardest part!

Now, let’s say you REALLY want to make this festive holiday treat, but you don’t have the time (or the tools) to whip up a batch of these donuts right away. Let me give you an off the record tip…go to the grocery store, buy some cake donuts, make this ganache, and dip your store bought donuts in this dreamy coating. It’s not going to be the same of course, but it sure will still be pretty impressive!

The best way to describe these donuts is perfectly sweet and perfectly rich. And, could that be any more perfect? You get that extra sweetness from the almond extract in the cake mix but not in an overpowering way. The texture of the cake is perfectly soft without being crumbly thanks to the addition of the pound cake. And for someone that doesn’t like dark chocolate (ME!), I think this ganache topping is perfectly balanced with richness and chocolateyness and all of the goodness.

Alright, everyone! Now that we have dessert locked in, it’s time for the main course on Friday!

For now, enjoy! And, let’s eat!