I wanted to bake us a special treat today as we will be watching our church's bi-annual General Conference and I usually like to make it with a special treat. I had seen a photo on Pinterest for some Baked Glazed Strawberry Donuts that looked absolutely Divine.
Doesn't that look good . . . all moist and strawberry-like. Wouldn't you just love to bit into that. It looks so moist and delicious and pink, and well rounded also. I decided to go for it. I made the recipe exactly as written, with very disappointing results, and I am a very experienced baker.
They were rubbery and tasteless. I did add 1/4 tsp of ground cardamom, but that would not have affected the results that much. I added a crap-load of red food colour also in an attempt to get them as pink as hers look, but even after all that the most I could achieve is what you see here. They were not as rounded as hers. I don't think this recipe is meant to make 10 donuts at all. At best it will only make six. Try as I might, there is no redeeming these. If you are looking for a good baked donut, these are not the ones.
I have to say that I am a bit miffed about this huge colossal waste of time and ingredients. I've been blogging for about 15 years and food blogging for about 10 + in one form or another. In all that time I have endeavored to be totally honest and transparent with my readers. What you see here is real. I don't doctor up my photos or present anything to you that isn't 100% doable and that doesn't work. I don't show you fake stuff mascarading as something I baked myself. Its all stuff I do myself, in my own kitchen, and whilst I am willing to allow for people's inexperience in the kitchen, or differences in taste, I like to think that if you use one of my recipes you will be pleased with the results. I guess I just hate being disappointed, cheated or lied to. I cook lots of things that you just don't see because it didn't work for one reason or another, or I wasn't happy with the results. Maybe I am wrong, but I wish that people would just be honest. I hate going to blogs and seeing pimped out, highly coloured, artificial photos. I can think of one in particular that does that, not naming any names, and I used to really enjoy visiting it until it became nothing more than a traveloque filled with highly edited and artificially coloured photos.
Is it wrong of me to expect realism and truth?
Just asking because I really do want to know.
Lets talk.
I totally agree with you Marie.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kate, the thing is this person has gained nothing from this as I would now be very dubious about trying anything else she has shown because I wouldn't want to be fooled twice into thinking it might be good. I just think we are lied to all the time by governments, the media,etc. I am sick of it. What happened to integrity? Maybe I am just tired and having a grumpy day! lol
DeleteOne thing about your food blog I love......beside all the marvellous recipes...is that what you show is how it turns out. I've never had a failure. Thanks for showing the truth!! I've often made recipes from other sources that are a big failure, but never yours.
ReplyDeleteInteresting too to just read what happened. Bravo for this post Marie!
Thanks Linda. I am just so tired of being deceived so often. Now I am a very experienced cook/baker as you know and the recipe,for those donuts just did not work, at least not so as they would look like the one in the photograph. You can see my pictures a dn they look like two different donuts! They were rubbery and had no taste of strawberry at all! Highly disappointing! And I am not alone in my experience. I have found quite a few negative reviews of it from people who had the same experience. I added a whole tsp ( much to my chagrin) of red food colour and at best I came out with a very pale pink. I used frozen berries from my own garden, thawed and blitzed in my nutri ninja. They were dull, rubbery and flavourless, and flat in comparison to,the photo. In all honesty I have never baked a donut in a donut pan and have it come out fully rounded like that, there is always a bit of a peak like you would expect from any cake/ muffin. Let's face it, baked donuts are really only cakes/ muffins bake in a donut pan! I am grateful for your faith in my recipes!
DeleteI stand with you in solidarity, Marie. I had just made a note to get hazelnuts for your wondrous looking Spiced Pear Tea Loaf as I know it's going to be delicious, tried and tested. I know I can splurge safely on any recipe you post,and I'm so grateful for your blog, your honesty and steadfast ethics and morals. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI too, agree with you entirely.
Another thing ... I get so frustrated when Pinterest holds things "ransomed" and you can only see the post if you have an account.
I appreciate you and your recipe blog very much.
Thank you!
I haven't experienced that yet with Pinterest thankfully Merry! You will love the pear loaf! It's even better the day after! Usually loaves containing whole wheat can be dry or they don't rise much. This one has none of those problems! Hope you like it!
DeleteI agree with your Marie. That's one of the reasons I love your blog. I know that you post real recipes, that you have actually made, and that they will turn out as you say they will. Even with the ingredient differences between countries, your recipes always turn out. I'm sorry the doughnuts were a flop. A long time ago I remember reading a website that took "fancy" pintrest photos and tried to recreate them at home. It never worked. It was pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ginger. Even "dressed up " with sprinkles my donuts look blah. They were like rubber jar rings. Haha I think I know the site you are talking about. Pinterest Fail or some such! Pretty funny stuff!
DeleteOh Marie, I can understand your disappointment, especially when you spend time and money on making something special only to have it fail so badly. I know that I've made things from the internet and they have been disasters, so I never go back to those sites. Or I read comments to recipes to see how others fared first. Like you, I'm an experienced cook, so I understand flavour combinations and can make a judgement on how the recipe sounds, so I get cross when I've wasted my time and ingredients.
ReplyDeleteI join the chorus of those who wholeheartedly agree with you. One of the reasons that I use your recipes is that they always, always work a treat. I know they are reliable, tasty and tested by you.
I'm really grateful that you share the recipes with us so freely and generously and feel very spoiled. Many recipes have become family favourites and I've given links to so many people who have asked for a reliable cooking site.
Thanks Marie! I would be nothing without you, my faithful readers, who inspire me every day to want to get into my kitchen and cook and share! I am so thankful for this wonderful medium which affords us the opportunity to,share with each other our successes and even our failures. I have a responsibility to,each of you to be honest and I,try hard to,be just that! I am not perfect of course, but by the time I share one of my recipes with you, you can be pretty sure it is well tested and approved by my loyal taste tester here at home! lol. Why
Deletehe iisn't the size of a barn I will never be able to,fathom! It's not fair! Xo
Yum.
ReplyDeleteNot really Regine, but thanks!
DeleteI hear you Marie. When I click on a blog looking for a recipe and the photos look very professional I don't go any further. I am looking for 'real.' I post quite a few recipes however only ones I've made, the pictures are real, instructions real and feedback real. As is.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry the donuts didn't work and I hope you find another. I have actually just purchased a donut muffin pan and have been searching for good baked donuts. Maybe between the two of us we will find something. I am looking at ones which use yeast as I believe it may give them those little airy holes. I'm certainly not a baker but I think that's how it works.
Kylie
Thanks Kylie! I am with you all th way. What is your blog? Would love to see it. I have done a lot of baked donuts (need to make those pans pay for themselves!) including jam filled, lemon, carrotcake, etc. Here is a link to most of them! https://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Baked+Donuts There are also chocolate ones! Yum!
DeleteHere is the link to my blog Marie https://homesmyhaven.blogspot.com.au.
DeleteI have found your baked donuts. The kids are away this week visiting their Grandparents but I have donut plans for their return. Thankyou for your recipes.
Kylie
Thanks Kylie. I have found it and signed up to receive updates via e-mail! I hope you will try some of the donuts. They're all very good! xo
DeleteOne of the reasons I love and follow your blog is because your recipes are reliable. I can usually tell by reading a recipe how the dish will turn out, but baking is tricky. There are so many recipes out there on the Web that it's hard to tell which ones are worth our time and ingredients. You always keep it real and I appreciate that. Thanks for all you do....I look forward to receiving each of your blogs in my email! ! ♡♡♡
ReplyDeleteThanks Sharon! It can be really difficult to tell from a recipe sometimes if a baking recipe is worth baking. I tend to go by the photographs a bit too much. Live and learn! I have plenty of failures in my cooking escapades, but I would never share one with my readers unless I was telling them NOT to cook it. I would hate it if anyone cooked one of my recipes and it was a total disaster for them, and I hadn't forwarned them about the hazards. Of course I have no control over other people's kitchens, skills and tastes, so there might be the occasional one who isn't happy with whatever I have cooked,but I really only show you what I know works and has worked for me!!! xo
DeleteI am with you on this one, Marie! and I second so many of the comments above. I look forward each day to see what you have for us knowing you put love and integrity in your recipes. I have learned that Pinterest can be a disappoint, although they are a good site for "eye candy". :) Keep doing what you do! ~Elaine
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine! I am not opposed to a bit of "Eye Candy" myself and do a lot of drooling on Pinterest, with crafts, fashion, makeup, hair, and yes recipes! I would prefer honesty though. Happy Sunday! xo
DeleteI'm sorry the doughnuts didn't work out for you but you did have me laughing at the term "crap-load." Never in a hundred years would I have expected to see you use that term; I use it all the time, personally, and think it's a great term, so you must really be miffed. I love your blog and I love the honesty you share with us. So many times you post food that I have been thinking about or reminds me of my growing up years. I was madly craving orange-flavored muffins and saw a recipe a while back. The blogger swears she makes them "all the time" for her family. I made them and could've used them for cat toys; they were tasteless and rubbery. I felt sorry for her family.
ReplyDeleteI think its a great term also Katy and beats some other alternatives! lol I would be ashamed to show people something under the masquerade of good taste if I knew it was a crummy recipe. Maybe I just have better taste? Could be she really thinks they were good. The mind boggles! I dunno! xo
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