I wish I had a fabulously intricate story about how these doughnuts came to be, but the reality is I bought two Kitchen Aid doughnut pans in the John Lewis summer sale and just had to test them asap. I’ve not yet felt confident enough to deep fry doughnuts, so baked ones are the best compromise I can imagine.

The recipe, adapted slightly from Sugar et Al, yields pillowy, vanilla bean-dotted doughnuts that, even when glazed and topped with chopped pecans and cashews, will melt in your mouth. The piece de resistance however is that caramelised white chocolate ganache; you’ll be hard pressed to stop licking your fingers. So, so good.

For the caramelised white chocolate, you’ll need:
340g white chocolate (look for some that contains a min 30% cocoa butter)
a pinch of sea salt

David Leibovitz provides a great step by step process to achieving the coveted caramelised white chocolate which is as divine as it sounds. You will end up with loads more than what’s needed for the recipe and that’s an entirely fabulous thing. I drizzled the surplus in porridge and over ice cream for days after and it was out of this world.

For the caramelised white chocolate ganache, you’ll need:
125g caramelised white chocolate
65ml double cream

Place caramelised white chocolate in a bowl.
Bring double cream to a near boil.
Pour over white chocolate and leave to sit for 5 minutes.
Stir with a spatula until well combined and smooth.
Leave to cool before glazing the doughnuts.

For the baked doughnuts, you’ll need:
125g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
65g granulated sugar
60ml milk
60g Greek yogurt
1 large egg
30g unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Pecans, cashews or your own choice of nuts, finely chopped, for decorating

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Grease a doughnut pan well. I use the Lurpak Cook’s Range Cooking Mist – works a treat.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Combine the milk, yoghurt and egg and whisk well.
Add the melted butter and vanilla; beat well to incorporate.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and stir with a spatula until the batter just comes together. Be careful not to over mix.
Spoon batter into doughnut pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes.
Leave to cool slightly before dipping into the ganache and decorating with the finely chopped nuts.