Raspberry & Elderflower Cheesecake Love Heart Doughnuts
Two things that I'm a sucker for in life: doughnuts and nostalgia. I’m talking 90’s films, old romance and nostalgic food. So I thought, why not combine the two and make some doughnuts for my valentine that look like Love Heart Sweets! I don’t think I've had a packet of Love Heart Sweets since I was a teenager. I used to pick out the ones with cute messages and give them to my friends.
These romantic little treats are filled with an elderflower cheesecake cream and tangy raspberry compote. The base of the cream is an elderflower cream cheese whipped ganache with crushed digestives folded through. The punchy raspberry compote just brings the whole thing to life.
Once fried and filled, they're dipped in a water icing. I think the pastel colours are such a vibe and would look so pretty if they were all boxed up to gift to your valentine.
Ingredients - makes 9
Doughnut Dough:
Dough recipe from Bread Ahead
255g strong flour
1 lemon zest
30g caster sugar
3/4 tsp dried instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
75g warm water
2 eggs
60g unsalted butter, room temperature
1lt vegetable oil, for frying
Elderflower Cream Cheese Whipped Ganache:
300ml double cream
60g elderflower cordial
1/2 lemon zest
85g white chocolate
150g cream cheese
45g digestives
Raspberry Compote:
200g frozen raspberries
40g caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cornflour
To Finish:
approx. 450g icing sugar
red/pink, yellow and green food colouring
white chocolate, to pipe
Method:
Day One:
For the doughnut dough; place the flour, lemon zest, caster sugar, dried yeast and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Briefly mix the ingredients together before adding in the water and eggs. Knead the dough on medium-high speed for 5 minutes using the dough hook attachment until you have a smooth ball. Turn off the mixer, cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer onto low speed and gradually add in the butter a little at a time, waiting for the butter to be incorporated into the dough before adding the next piece. Once all the butter has been added, scrape down the bowl and turn the speed up to medium-high for 5-8 minutes. The dough should form a shiny, smooth ball that slaps around the bowl when being kneaded.
Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise somewhere warm for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Knock the dough back, re-cover and refrigerate overnight.
For the elderflower cream cheese whipped ganache; place the elderflower, cream and lemon zest into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, break the chocolate into a jug. Pour the cream over the white chocolate and leave it to melt for a few minutes. Mix the ganache together until smooth. Using a hand blender, emulsify the cream until completely combined. Place clingfilm on the surface and refrigerate overnight.
For the raspberry compote; mix the caster sugar and cornflour together before adding it into a saucepan followed by the raspberries and lemon juice. Place over low heat, stirring occasionally until the raspberries break down. Let the compote boil for a few minutes until thickened. Place into a container with clingfilm on the surface and refrigerate until cold.
Day Two:
Prepare nine pieces of baking parchment cut into rough 10cm squares. Take the doughnut dough from the fridge and knock it back. Tip it out onto a lightly floured worktop and roll to 1cm thick. Cut out 9 doughnuts using a 7cm heart cutter. Place each doughnut onto a square of baking paper and arrange them on baking trays, leaving space between them. Lightly clingfilm them and leave to prove at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. They should be puffed and not spring back when lightly touched. I like to use the leftover dough as a good indicator for how proved my doughnuts are, as it can be a little hard to tell on the larger ones sometimes.
When you’re nearly ready to fry your doughnuts, fill a large saucepan with the vegetable oil. You want to have a good few inches of oil to fry in. Set the pan over medium heat until it comes to 170°C on a digital thermometer. Have a baking tray ready, lined with kitchen towel, for the fried doughnuts to drain on.
Fry the doughnuts by lifting them by the corners of the baking paper and lowering them into the oil, being very careful not to touch the hot oil. Leave them to fry for a minute before removing the paper with metal tongs. Fry each side for a few minutes until golden brown. Make sure to keep an eye on the temperature so you can adjust the heat to keep it at 170°C. This is really important for even cooking. Try not to overcrowd the pan so that they can fry evenly too. I usually fry two or three at a time. Once cooked, carefully remove the doughnuts from the oil, using a metal slotted spoon, and place them on the kitchen towel to cool and drain.
Once the doughnuts have cooled, you can finish the cheesecake filling. Crush the digestives to a fine crumb. Whip up the elderflower cream with the cream cheese until it holds its shape but is still soft. Fold through the crushed digestives. Place the cream in a piping bag fitted with a medium-sized plain nozzle. Spoon the raspberry compote into another piping bag.
Insert a knife into the side of each doughnut and wiggle it to create a space for the filling. Fill each doughnut with the cheesecake cream about 3/4 full followed by the raspberry compote.
To glaze the doughnuts, you will need to make each glaze, one at a time, and dip the corresponding doughnuts before making the next colour glaze. Place 150g of sieved icing sugar in a bowl, add a few drops of colour and add in a few tbsp of boiling water, a little at a time, until you have a thick icing that very slowly levels itself. Dip three of the doughnuts in the glaze and repeat with the other two colours, so you have three of each colour; yellow, green and pink. Leave the glaze to set for at least an hour before continuing.
When you’re ready to pipe on the Love Heart lettering; melt some white chocolate and colour it a dark pink. Pipe a boarder on each doughnut before piping on your cute love messages.
These are best eaten on the day they’re made.