Spiced Carrot Cake Doughnuts with Liquid Cheesecake Filling, Vanilla Glaze, White Chocolate Coating, & Milk Crumb Topping

I love love love to make doughnuts. Even though it's a process, they are just so fun to make. I have been on a red velvet kick recently, well let's be honest, my entire life. So why not switch it up a bit and make some carrot cake doughnuts? I have always preferred yeast doughnuts because they are just buttery and light & fluffy. But this time, I decided to go with a cake version. The batter consists of all the typical cake doughnut ingredients, but I have added cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, buttermilk, orange zest, brown butter, and finely shredded carrots. I used a biscuit cutter and made them into larger round, like doughnut holes on steroids. After I fried them suckers up until they were brown & crispy, I let them cool enough to fill them. The filling is called "liquid cheesecake" because it literally is cheesecake... in liquid form. I just put this chilled cheesecake into a piping bag and stuffed it into the center. After they have been filled, I coated them in a classic vanilla glaze. Once the vanilla glaze has set, dip the glazed doughnuts into melted white chocolate, and then immediately dunk them into the homemade milk crumb topping. Both the liquid cheesecake and milk crumb topping comes from Momofuku Milk Bar's Carrot Cake Truffles. The milk crumb topping tastes like cereal + graham cracker crumbs + everything else delicious and sweet. Like most desserts I make, each one has about a million components, but they are all just toooooo good. Oh and just a hint to make things a little easier on yourself, I pre-made the liquid cheesecake and milk crumb topping the night before so I could just assemble them once I had fried them! We actually snatched up all these doughnuts before I could even cut into the center to take a picture of the liquid cheesecake filling, bummer (sorry guys). But, maybe that's just an excuse to make these again?! I think so!! Enjoy y'all :)

Spiced Carrot Cake Doughnuts All Lined up

Spiced Carrot Cake Doughnuts with Liquid Cheesecake Filling with Vanilla Glaze,
White Chocolate Coating, & Milk Crumb Topping

yummy white chocolate + milk crumb topping

these are sooo delicious :)

For the Spiced Carrot Cake Doughnuts:

3 ½C AP Flour

2/3C Sugar

2t Cinnamon

½t Nutmeg

½t Ground Ginger

2 ½t Baking Powder

1t Salt

¾t Baking Soda

1 Egg + 1 Egg White

1C Buttermilk

1t-1T Fresh Orange Zest

4T Unsalted Butter, Melted & Browned

1C Carrots, Finely Shredded

Canola Oil, For Frying 

For the Liquid Cheesecake Filling:

2 8oz Packages of Cream Cheese, Room Temperature

1 ½C Sugar

2T Cornstarch

1t Salt

4T Milk

2 Eggs 

For the Glaze:

3C Confectioners’ Sugar

½C Milk

½t Vanilla & Salt

 

For the Milk Crumb Topping:

1 ½C Milk Powder

½C AP Flour

¼C Cornstarch & Sugar

½t Salt

1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, Melted

6oz White Chocolate, Melted

Directions:

1. To Make the Carrot Cake Doughnuts: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 tbsp. nutmeg, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In a bowl, whisk together egg and egg white until frothy. Whisk in buttermilk and butter. Stir buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients to form dough. Transfer dough to a floured surface; gently roll to 1/2" thickness. Using a floured 3 1/4" round cookie cutter, cut out rounds of dough and transfer to parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Gather dough scraps, knead briefly to form a ball and flatten and cut out more rounds. Repeat until all dough is used. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out center of each round. Chill doughnuts and holes for 30 minutes. Pour oil into a deep fryer and heat over medium-high heat until a thermometer reads 350°. Working in small batches, fry doughnuts and holes, turning, until golden brown, 3–4 minutes on each side for doughnuts and 2–3 minutes for holes. Using tongs, transfer doughnuts to a wire rack to drain.
2. For the Liquid Cheesecake Filling: Set the oven to 300 degrees. Beat the cream cheese in a bowl with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and mix until the sugar has been incorporated. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, salt, milk, and eggs, and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Beat this mixture into the cream cheese and beat for 3 minutes. Place the liquid cheesecake in an ovenproof bowl. Place the bowl into another ovenproof pan and fill with enough boiling water to come up halfway up the sides of the liquid cheesecake. Bake the cheesecake in this water bath for 15 minutes. Remove the cheesecake bowl from the water and let it cool. Once it has cooled, pipe or stuff the cheesecake filling into the center of the carrot cake doughnut (making sure not to overstuff them).
3. For the Glaze: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until completely smooth. One by one, dip the doughnuts into the glaze until halfway submerged. Remove from the glaze, and then turn right side up on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet (to catch extra glaze). Let the glaze harden completely before adding the melted white chocolate and milk crumb topping.
4. For the Milk Crumb Topping: Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Whisk to combine 1C Milk Powder with the flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Add the melted butter and use a spatula to toss the mixture until small clusters form. Spread these clusters onto your parchment covered baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Add the remaining ½C of Milk Powder and toss, and then crush the large clusters with a fork. Pour the 6oz of melted white chocolate over the crumbs and toss until large crumbs form again. Place the crumbs in the refrigerator or freezer to let the white chocolate harden. If the crumbs are too large, crush with a fork or spin them briefly in a food processor.  Keep cold until ready to top the doughnuts.
5. Garnishing the Doughnuts: Melt the 12oz of remaining white chocolate until smooth. Dip the tops of the glazed doughnuts into the melted white chocolate, so that there’s a smooth white chocolate topping. While still melted, dip the white chocolate covered, dipped doughnuts into the milk crumb topping, so that there’s a heavy coating of the crumbs on top.

source: carrot cake truffles. nutmeg doughnuts.