Lately I have been a little obsesses with cardamom, to say the least. So for today’s recipe I present you the orange cardamom donuts with chocolate glaze. These donuts are easy to make, and they only require 10 minutes of prep time and 10 minutes of baking time. The flavors are refreshing and rich, but not overpowering.
I like them with the chocolate glaze, but they are also flavorful enough without the glaze. Although they may look a bit plain without the glaze. They would however, make a perfect mid-morning snack.
To flavor the donuts you need zest from one orange and ground cardamom. Combined, they taste very refreshing and delicious. The chocolate glaze adds a nice texture and rich mouthfeel. I went with semi-sweet chocolate and it provided the right level of richness.
When melting the chocolate for the glaze, place it over a bain-marie and continuously mix it with a spatula until it is ¾ melted. Then take it off the heat and continue mixing until it is fully melted. Although more time consuming than fully melting the chocolate over the bain-marie, it is important to follow all these steps to preserve the glossiness of the chocolate. When you leave the chocolate unattended on a bain-marie until fully melted, the chocolate becomes matte as it solidifies. This happens because the heat breaks down the fats in the chocolate. By mixing continuously and taking the chocolate off the heat as soon as possible, you prevent the fats from getting too hot.
Depending on your preferences, you may choose to opt for milk or dark chocolate when making the glaze. They would both complement the flavors of the donuts. However, I would not recommend using white chocolate. It is too sweet and will overpower the donuts.
For baking the donut batter I used a standard 6 cavity metal donut pan. This resulted in 12 donuts.
See more donut recipes here.
Here’s the recipe for the orange cardamom donuts with chocolate glaze:
Orange Cardamom Donuts with Chocolate Glaze
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (150 g/ 5 ¼ oz.) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g/ 3 ½ oz.) granulated sugar
- 1 stick (115 g/ 4 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
- zest from one medium orange
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature for greasing the pan
For the glaze:
- 100 g (3 ½ oz.) semisweet chocolate
Instructions
For the batter:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 °C (350°F).
- Sift the flour and cardamom into a bowl, add baking powder and mix with a whisk.
- Gently melt the butter over low temperature. Make sure the butter does not bubble. Once melted, set it aside and allow it to cool a little.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl, add the sugar and beat at high speed with an electric mixer. The mixture is ready when almost triple in volume and light in color. Then add the vanilla extract, salt, and the orange zest and whisk until incorporated.
- Using a spatula add the flour mix to the bowl with the eggs in three-four steps, mixing after each addition. Make sure the flour is well incorporated, but do not over mix. Add the melted, cooled butter in two steps and mix gently until incorporated.
- Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes. Grease the donut pan, then pipe the batter filling ¾ of each cavity.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until donuts spring back when gently pressed. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the donuts to sit in the pan for 2-3 minutes before taking them out. Transfer to a rack and allow them to cool.
For the glaze:
- Place the chocolate over bain-marie until ¾ melted. Place aside and stir until completely melted. Dip the doughnuts into the chocolate and place them on the rack until chocolate glaze dries.
