Baked Walnut Donuts + Blood Orange Glaze

Baked walnut donuts = nutty, light and fluffy.
Blood orange glaze = pretty pink but tasted meh..

What inspired this bake were the bountiful blood oranges laying around at work. Their red stains and high amount of Vitamin C immediately called for a healthy bake.

After browsing around, I set my mind on making a pretty pink glaze with the freeloaded blood oranges. I tend to turn away from any recipes that incorporates colors. (Or a lot of butter, such as butter cream or frosting for cakes- I want to still be eating sweets in my 90s!) I certainly get enough of my share from indulging on colorful/buttery non-homebakes. The blood oranges were perfect because their red color combined with confectioner sugar yielded a natural pink! A color that's rarely seen in any of my baking.

The baked walnut donut idea sounded amazing since I love walnuts and nutty sweets. Not gluten free, but they turned out very much like the gluten free pistachio cake I made. Very nutty in flavor. Light and airy in texture. I should experiment with subbing out the flour entirely next time.

Baked Walnut Donuts + Blood Orange Glaze
donut recipe adapted (&halved) from Sugary & Buttery 

150g ground walnuts
40g sugar
3 eggs
40 g cake flour
pinch of salt
sprinkle of cinnamon

Glaze*
juice of one blood orange

zest of half blood orange
enough powdered sugar for right consistency

1. Preheat your oven to 390°F. Generously grease donut pan.
2. Separate eggs and beat egg whites with 20g of sugar till stiff. 

3. Whisk egg yolks with remaining 20g sugar until it turns light and creamy.

4. Mix flour, salt, cinnamon and the nuts with yolk mixture.

5. Gently fold in egg whites.
6. Use a piping bag or carefully fill donut pan 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 7 minutes or until slightly golden.

For the glaze, I just whisked everything together and added enough powdered sugar to the desired glaze consistency. 

Got oil/water in the white; did not whip up nicely ):

flour + yolk mixture

lumpy batter due to coarsely grounded walnuts

halved recipe made 12 minis & 6 tart-cakes

Disappointingly, the blood orange glaze came out tasting artificial and cloyingly sweet. I added zest to bring out bright citrus flavor hoping it could mask the off sweetness. My taste testers didn't find the glaze to be too sweet and noted a strong citrus flavor. It just wasn't up to my expectations. Maybe adding butter or just a splash of vanilla extract would have helped.

ready to be glazed

pretty pink!

double-glazed

Paired together, the donuts and glaze averaged out to a 3 star!
I would definitely make these again minus the same blood orange glaze.