Donut Showdown

Have you ever watched the Food Network show called Donut Showdown?

Three established donut makers compete for a final prize of $10,000. They are first challenged to make 2 dozen donuts using mystery ingredients. The day I watched they had to choose three ingredients from a given assortment and the three bakers selected as follows:

            Cashews, almond milk, and golden syrup

            Proscuitto, goat cheese, Creme de Cacao

            Mint, blueberries, cardomon

After the first round, one baker is eliminated and in this episode it was the mint/blueberry/cardomon baker that left the competition. In the second round the bakers are given a theme and must make three different donuts, two dozen of each. The theme that day was Pub Grub.

One guy got real cute and used the donut holes as meatballs and with a custard sauce used them to fill another donut shaped like a bun. He made a chocolate donut and sliced it to look like steak and with a custard sauce as the cheese, added them to his bun-like donut for his ‘steak sandwich’. His third donut was to look like a burger, but the toppings left something to be desired.

The other competitor made a Natcho donut with avocado and a cheese topping. She also made a burger using a brownie for her burger but used a variety of sauces for the catsup and mustard, which had a much better presentation than the other ‘burger’ donut. Her last donut had a salted whiskey glaze with nuts, crushed pretzels and a caramel drizzle. Needless to say, she won hands down.

I have to say if I wanted something with a savoury taste, I’d probably go with a bagel base rather than a donut, but the sweet offerings make my usual favourite of a chocolate dipped donut look pretty plain.