It had to happen sooner or later, the perfect marriage of the new obsession with my doughnut pan, the love of red velvet anything, and the magic I see in using Mascarpone cheese in baking. These took some playing with. My first batch did not have a firm enough filling with any binder to help it stay put. So the Mascarpone filling melted into the doughnut. I would say it was a huge fail, except that all that butterfat made the doughnuts delicious, even if there was a giant hole in the middle. They were gone in minutes at work, ironically. But I played with the filling, and these turned out awesome! I used the full 4 tablespoons of flour, being overly cautious about making sure that filling stay put. But the filling was a little firmer than I would have liked, so feel free to use less flour in the filling. It should work just fine.
Put this recipe out on accident and maybe hubby will make these tomorrow for you for Mother’s Day??? Maybe?
Happy Mother’s Day!
Mascarpone Filled Red Velvet Doughnuts with Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients:
1 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. water
1/2 Tsp. or more of red food coloring
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. buttermilk
2 Tbsp. melted butter, slightly cooled
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. white vinegar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Mascarpone filling
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. soft Mascarpone cheese
1 egg white
2-4 Tbsp. flour (more flour makes a firmer filling, less makes it softer)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar
Cream cheese glaze
2 oz. well softened cream cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp. milk (more or less as needed)
Equipment needed; Piping bag, doughnut pan (mine is from Nordic Ware)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425˚. Spray a nonstick doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix the flour with the sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, whisk the Mascarpone cheese with the egg white, flour, vanilla and powdered sugar. Let chill for 15 minutes until ready.
In a small glass bowl, mix the cocoa with the water and red food coloring until it’s a paste. Feel free to add a little more water to make it workable. Set aside.
Next, whisk the egg with the buttermilk. Add the vanilla. Add the red-cocoa paste until just dissolved. Check on your color, if it’s not red enough, add a few more drops of coloring. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisking until just combined. Add the melted butter and combine.
Finally, add the vinegar. Things will foam up and lighten as you whisk. Set aside as you spoon the Mascarpone filling that’s been chilling into a piping bag with a simple 1/8-1/4 inch tip.
Carefully spoon the batter into the doughnut molds, about 1/3 full. Next, pipe the filling twice around on top of the batter. Then spoon a layer of batter over the filling to just cover. Bake for 8-10 minute. They will puff up a lot. Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Then gently transfer to a cooling rack to cool them completely.
While you are baking the rest and cooling the others, make the cream cheese glaze. In a medium bowl whisk the cream cheese with the vanilla and powdered sugar. Add the milk until you have a glaze that is of a firm, drizzling consistency (not runny).
Place the doughnuts into the glaze top down, gently pull up and twist your wrist turning the doughnut right side up to get a smooth coating. Drizzle with sprinkles and let set on racks enjoy!
Flora is an award-winning creative director in Chicago turned food and lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. She is also author to the popular BEE NATIVE! gardening book series and various children's books that celebrate the wonder and hard work of bees and butterflies. Her blog and social spaces inspire thousands to create, learn, cook, grow, and craft, making their world lovelier one pixel/petal/seed/bite/stitch/brushstroke at a time. Follow her on all the social spaces, YouTube, and Amazon, and get creative!
Latest posts by Flora Caputo
(see all)
