I’ve finally settled on calling the doughnut entremet-things doughnut creams, mostly because it’s a lot easier to say. For this recipe, I opted for banana and salted caramel, nuanced with brown butter and walnuts. The layers for this cake are a brown butter-banana-nut cake, salted caramel bavarian cream, caramelized mirror glaze, salted caramel, and bruleed banana chips.

A huge inspiration of this particular flavor came from watching a shoujo anime called Yumeiro Patissiere, specifically the 11th episode of the second season. They made a variety of chilled doughnuts, and one of the flavors was salted caramel and banana, so I wanted to give it a shot for myself.

For the cake:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup ground walnuts
2/3 cups granulated or brown sugar
5 tablespoons butter; browned
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 banana; mashed
1/2 cup milk
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 egg white

Whip together egg white, sugar, vinegar, and baking powder. Puree brown butter, banana, and milk into a smooth puree. Combine every ingredient. Bake in doughnut molds at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Chill completely.

For the bavarian cream:
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons gelatin powder + 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups heavy cream; whipped stiff

Melt together the water, sugar, and salt. Once golden, add in the milk and mix until the mixture is completely liquid. Melt the bloomed gelatin into the caramel-milk. Temper in the egg yolks, strain, and allow to cool. Once room-temp, fold in the cream. Pipe into the doughnut milks, press the doughnut cakes into the creams, and freeze solid.

For the mirror glaze:
1 1/4 cups white chocolate
1 1/4 teaspoons gelatin powder + 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons mizuame
1/4 cup water*

Caramelize the white chocolate. Mix together the gelatin and mizuame with the melted chocolate. Dilute with up to 1/4 cup water; you want the mixture to be just liquidated enough that it can glaze something. Pass through a strainer. Keep warm.

For the salted caramel:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons milk
a pinch of salt

Bring salt, water, and sugar to a boil. Once the mixture caramelizes, add in the butter and milk. Stir until smooth.

For the bruleed chips:
Banana chips
sugar

Lightly dust the banana chips with sugar and either set under a broiler for 25 seconds, or brulee with a blow torch. Cool completely.

Assembly:
Glaze the doughnuts with the mirror glaze, drizzle on the caramel, and garnish with the banana chips.