Chocolate Fudge Cake Donuts. So pretty to look at! Because every week has something to celebrate!
Dark Chocolate Sprinkles for the chocolate lover.
Multicolored sprinkles to make anyone smile!
Chocolate Fudge Cake Donuts video with my family squealing with glee. I hope they make you and your loved ones laugh!
Chocolate Fudge Cake Donuts, Happiness & A Slight Change of Plans
Originally Published June 8, 2021
Working in entertainment as long as I have, I am grateful that one of my best traits, is adapting to "a change of plans." Last minute work emergencies don't face me - considering that at one point, I was working on three films from home with last minute changes, nursing an infant, and juggling my newfound motherhood and career. I am eternally grateful that with enough support, laughter, my out - of - the - box career choice, and focus, I was able to carve a niche that not only satisfied my career aspirations and made use of a lifetime of musical training, but also the ability to create a satisfying home life for my husband and daughter. The difficult decisions have been made easier, knowing that my family life errs on the hilarious, somewhat frustrating, and (fortunately) malleable. Good food and laughter help me immensely with the (sometimes) lack of control.
I'm deeply interested in why people make the decisions they make, what motivates them, and why fear and insecurity causes blame and chaos rather than accountability. It isn't an issue of moral one-upmanship (yuck... everyone makes mistakes), but a tool to understand the chaos when a behavior is repeated. Relationships are imperfect, and as a sensitive soul with a predilection to perfection, understanding and executing amongst the chaos, is daily bewilderment and hilarity for me.
Coming from a very traditional culture, why do people make the decisions they do? Where exactly is the fine line for the ego and self-preservation? Why is it a way of being for others and not for some? Why is it that we are so fundamentally bad at predicting what we think will make us happy or how things will be in the end? Is it because sometimes what we desire to make us "happy" is actually opposed to what we need? I'm hyper vigilant about the difference between necessity and choice with my toddler, not only as a survival mechanism, but as a life lesson.
As a protege of Itzhak Perlman, Dr. Maya Shankar's promising career as a concert violinist came to an abrupt end after a debilitating hand injury. What was initially a heartbreaking identity crisis, transformed into a life calling, studying deeply uncomfortable life changes. After her schooling at Yale, Stanford, Oxford, and her postdoc in cognitive neuroscience, she has helped Washington policy makers, using insights from behavioral science.
Introduced to us by her first mentor, Dr. Laurie Santos from Yale, on her podcast "The Happiness Lab", Dr. Maya Shankar's first episode presents us to Daryl Davis, a black jazz musician, who convinced a KKK member to leave the Klan. I think everyone has been deeply scarred and emotionally impacted by the decisions and events over the past year. I was curious as to how you can convince someone, who has such strong opinions, to try and reconsider an opposing view.
Thanks for reading and listening! I know the podcast is longer than a song, but I promise you, it is worth your time. I am always game to understanding multiple facets of a problem and trying to find the best solutions. I hope this helps you with the "slight change of plans" in your life and hopefully, inspire some newfound navigation. Have a wonderful week! Xo, Melissa
Chocolate Fudge Cake Donuts. Visual happiness personified! Here's to celebrating navigating your "slight change of plans" this week!
Chocolate Fudge Cake Donuts
I halved the recipe and added an extra egg, used a 1/4 of milk and added an extra tablespoon each of cocoa, flour and chocolate chips. (The batter seemed and bit runny and I wanted a more sturdy donut because I have a toddler). I baked the donuts the night before and glazed them in the morning. She was overjoyed, along with my husband, to see the chocolate donuts with sprinkles on a Wed morning! If you don't have a toddler, I'd go for the moister version. Happy hump day!
Here’s the original link. Below is the original recipe without my modifications.
Ingredients
Doughnuts
1/2 cup (43g) Dutch-process cocoa
1 1/3 cups (160g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup (160g) light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1/2 cup (85g) chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1/3 cup (76g) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vinegar, white or cider
8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, melted
Chocolate icing, optional
1 cup (170g) chocolate chips
4 tablespoons (57g) milk or half-and-half
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
To make the batter: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, espresso powder, and chocolate chips. Set aside.
In a large measuring cup or medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and vinegar.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring to roughly blend. Once you can no longer see any bits of raw egg, stir in the melted butter. There's no need to beat the batter, just make sure everything is well-combined. Perfect your technique
Lightly grease the wells of two standard doughnut pans. If you don't have two pans, simply bake the batter in two batches. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s), filling the wells about half to two-thirds full; there should be about 64g to 70g batter in each well.
Bake the doughnuts for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Don't over-bake the doughnuts, as this could dry them out.
Remove the doughnuts from the oven and after 30 seconds or so, use a nylon heatproof spatula or table knife to carefully loosen their edges. Turn the pan upside down over a rack, gently tap the pan on the rack, then give it a little shake; the doughnuts should fall onto the rack. If one or two stick, use the spatula or knife to loosen them further. Do all of this quickly; the longer you wait, the more chance the doughnuts will stick.
For simple sugar-coated doughnuts, immediately shake the doughnuts in a paper or plastic bag with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar.
If you want to ice the doughnuts rather than shake them in sugar, allow them to cool completely before icing.
To make the icing: Combine the chocolate chips and milk or half-and-half in a microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup. Heat until the liquid is steaming and starting to bubble.
Remove from the microwave, and stir until the chips have melted and the icing is smooth.
Dip the top of each doughnut in the icing, spreading to coat; or simply spread icing on the doughnuts. Garnish with sprinkles or shaved chocolate, if desired.
Store doughnuts, loosely covered, at room temperature for a couple of days; freeze for longer storage.
#chocolatefudgecakedonuts, #kingarthurflour, #thehappinesslab, @drlauriesantos, #aslightchangeofplans, @drmayashankar
