Doughnut Pans

[Tammy]

I have recently been recruited as the person to get doughnuts for my group.  I am an over achiever in my mind anyway, and I would like to make some cake doughnuts.  Where do I find the pans for this.  Or is there another way to do it?  My group loves chocolate and I found a recipe for chocolate cake doughnuts but I can't find the pans locally.  Can someone tell me where to get an economical pan that will take being used once a week for about 2 years?  

 

Also if you have a doughnut recipe that you just loved I'd love to hear about it.  Thank you.

[tafkap4d]

If I'm not using a pan on a regular basis I will buy the pan from Michael's or Hobby Lobby (craft store).  My donut, cake pop and seasonal cake/cakelet pans come from there.  I know you said you don't have a local place but you can order online if you aren't in a hurry.  

 

I'll post a recipe from my laptop shortly.

[Anna N]

Tammy, 

 People will be able to help you much more easily if you tell them where you're located.  

[pastrygirl]

You can cut the shapes with round cookie cutters.  Since I'm a believer that doughnuts are fried, no pans needed.  Even if you are going to bake them, try without a special pan before you invest.

[Paul Fink]

I'm with the fry dough crowd. No pan.

Like these:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/33625/cake-doughnuts/

[pastrygirl]

Also, you said once a week for two years.  If it's a regular breakfast meeting, you'll probably want to mix it up with scones, muffins, coffeecake, etc.  How many people are in the group?

[Lisa Shock]

I have worked in a mom&pop doughnut shop. Cake doughnuts are cake batter that is extruded using a special tool. Real bakeries use an automated machine.

 

Yeast doughnuts, like honey glazed, basic chocolate iced, and (my favorite) the cinnamon twist are rolled out and cut.

 

Technically, doughnut holes don't really exist for cake doughnuts unless you extrude them separately. (for small amounts, you could use a portion control scoop.

 

Coffeecake is a lot easier to make.

[Tammy]

I like coffee cake but doughnuts are the group choice.  I have served muffins and they seemed to go over ok.  I'd like a better chocolate muffin recipe than the one on allrecipes.com  I wasn't thrilled with it.  

 

I did find the doughnut pan on Sunday it was at Bed Bath and Beyond.  It wasn't cheap but it was 2 dollars cheaper than buying it on line.  

 

The group is between 20 and 60 people depending on the time of year.  We provide 24 doughnuts although I've been doing between 24 and 30.

 

I'm trying for a selection of both yeast and cake doughnuts with a preponderance of chocolate.  Those seem to go first with the filled doughnuts being the most popular.

 

I tried cinnamon rolls and I was the only one that eat them.