Milk Chocolate Ganache Brown Butter Doughnuts

I always have fun when I bake but I enjoy a messy, many-complicated-steps, every bowl in the house dirty baking adventure. If you like your baking fun with a little less chaos these doughnuts are perfect. You will need a doughnut pan as these babies are baked, not fried. The pans don't cost the earth (€15 approx.) and honestly these doughnuts are such a crowd pleaser that you will use your pan over and over.

Baked doughnuts have a different texture to fried doughnuts, being more cake-like. I went belt and braces with the chocolate topping favouring a rich chocolate ganache over an icing sugar based watery glaze.

Chocolate, coffee, men and icing - so much better when they're rich!

Doughnuts slightly adapted from joythebaker.com
Makes 6-8 doughnuts, depending on the size of the pan

1 cup plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup caster sugar
30g unsalted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the ganache
2 1/2 tablespoons of cream
70g chocolate, finely chopped

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. Add the sugar and mix well.
2. Put the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Melt gently and then continue to cook the butter. The butter will sizzle, then go silent and flecks of brown will begin to form. Allow to cool.
3. Heat the oven to 160oC and dip a pastry brush into the melted butter and use to grease the doughnut pan. Put the pan into the fridge.
4. Gently fold the buttermilk, egg, vanilla extract and brown butter into the flour/sugar mix.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The doughnuts will be pale on top but darker underneath. Use a skewer to check whether the doughnuts are cooked through. The skewer should come out clean.
6. For the ganache, heat the cream in a cup in the microwave for 20-30 seconds until just at boiling point. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir with a spoon until smooth And thick.
7. When the ganache is still warm, dunk the doughnuts into the glaze, cooked side down. Hold the doughnut over the bowl, swirling 180oC to remove the excess and ensure the ganache sets evenly.