By using Otto’s cassava flour, these cake donuts are thick and cake-like. The same consistency as if they were made using wheat flour.
When we were in Austin for Paleo f(x) this year, my friend Amanda was excited to introduce me to Otto’s Naturals.
We walked up to their table together, on the expo floor, and they were preparing Paleo tortillas with their cassava flour.
Funny enough, that is exactly what I was preparing on the cooking demo stage. The only difference being my recipe uses tapioca flour, which is the bleached and extracted starch. As opposed to this cassava flour, which is a whole food; the entire root, minus the peel.
I was quite impressed with the consistency of their tortilla and decided I wanted to play around with the flour some more.
At the time they were offering free shipping to anyone who placed an order at the conference. How could I pass up the option of not having to carry an additional 2lbs home with me in my carry-on?
So, I placed my order and by the time we arrived back home, there was a brand new bag of Otto’s Cassava flour there waiting for me.
Unfortunately, we were only home for a week after we came home from Austin and before we left on our SPYR road trip, so I didn’t have enough time to really dig in and get the chance to play with the flour until now.
A Donut Weekend
For some reason, I woke up Sunday morning craving donuts.
I have already made Maple Cinnamon Paleo Donuts and I also used my donut pan to make Bacon Paleo Bagels but I decided to start from scratch with these.
How I Make A New Recipe
I thought it might be interesting to walk you through the process I used to create this recipe.
The first decision I needed to make was whether I wanted donuts or donut holes. I went with donuts.
The next thing I did was hit up Google for some recipe research and inspiration. I started with a quick google search of donut recipe and doughnut recipe just to refresh my memory on how a regular donut is made.
After reading through a few different recipes, I then decided I didn’t want to use yeast. That resulted in a new Google search: donut recipe no yeast. After reading through several of those recipes I got an idea for the direction I wanted to go.
My Inspiration.
My next decision was to determine what flavor I wanted to tackle. Naturally, I decided on chocolate cake.
With a basic idea of what a regular donut recipe consists of and the inspiration of the Krispy Kreme Chocolate Cake donut, I went to the kitchen to gather ingredients.
I knew I wanted to use Otto’s Cassava flour so I pulled that out first. The flour substitutes 1:1 for wheat flour so I didn’t have to test out quantities for my recipe (and that was one less variable to worry about!).
Next came some substitutions to the general donut recipe to make it paleo and work with what I had on hand. First up, a substitution for baking powder.
How To Make Baking Powder
If you don’t have baking powder, that’s no problem because you can make it yourself!
Mix two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda and you’ve created baking powder yourself.
For example if you mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda with 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar you’ve got yourself some homemade baking powder.
More Substitutions
Once I had my baking powder set, I needed a substitution for buttermilk. That’s where the coconut milk mixed with fresh squeezed lemon juice came into play.
Of course I wasn’t going to use regular sugar, so I substituted with coconut sugar but when everything was said and done, the batter tasted like it was missing something so I added honey to sweeten it up.
With all my ingredients ready to roll, and the oven already preheating, we turned on our phone and started broadcasting on Periscope.
Join Us On Periscope
Periscope is a video platform, making it accessible to broadcast live from your phone, anywhere in the world.
From their about page, this pretty much sums it up “A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around.”
We have been using Periscope to broadcast live from the Paleo Porn Kitchen since they launched.
You can download the app from the iTunes or Google Play store and follow us to know automatically every time we go live. Just search for Paleo Porn and hit follow!
Once you’re following us, you’ll be notified every time we go live (if you keep the push notifications on). While we’re live you can ask us any questions you may have. And don’t forget to leave us some love, by tapping the screen to give us hearts! :)
