Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays! I just love all of the pretty colors, heart-shaped everything, and, of course, the chocolates and flowers. It might’ve started as a romantic holiday, but in my opinion, it’s the perfect day to celebrate all of your loved ones! Inspired by the memories of classroom valentines, I thought it would be fun to make cute treats to pass out to my friends and family (plus, homemade gifts are the best kind). These mini strawberry donuts actually start with cake mix, so baking them is literally a piece of cake :)! I came across the sweetest donut tutorial at Sumo Pocky , and decided to decorate these like the first character I ever fell in love with, Hello Kitty.

Ingredients: (makes about 36 mini donuts)

Donuts:

1 box strawberry cake mix

1 large egg

1 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil, or melted, unsalted butter

Mini donut baking pan

Nonstick baking spray

Large zip top bag

White Chocolate Glaze and Hello Kitty Decorations (adapted from Sumo Pocky  ):

1/2 a bag Bright White candy melts, or 6 oz  white chocolate

72 whole, raw almonds

Yellow decorating icing

Black decorating icing

72 mini red heart sprinkles

Valentine’s Day sprinkle mix

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 °F and grease your donut pan generously with butter or nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine all of the donut ingredients and whisk together for 2 minutes.
3. Transfer the batter to a large zip top bag, seal the bag, and cut a small corner off.
4. Fill each donut cavity about ½- ¾ full (sometimes I have to bake a test batch depending on the type of cake mix that I use to see how much batter is needed).
5. Bake 4-6 minutes, or until the donuts bounce back when lightly touched (you can also test them with a toothpick). Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
6. Cut the bottoms off of the raw almonds to make them each a bit shorter (and the same height).
7. Melt the white chocolate or candy melts in the microwave in 30 second intervals, at 50% powder stirring in between each interval, until they are smooth. Dip the flat end of each almond into the white chocolate and press 1 on either side of the donut to form the ears. Allow to set for a minute, and then dip the tops of each donut into the chocolate. Tap the bottom of each gently on the countertop to get the chocolate to set smooth.
8. While the chocolate is drying, carefully add two heart sprinkles to one ear to form a bow. You can also sprinkle part of each donut with the Valentine’s mix. Allow the chocolate to set.
9. Use a small round piping tip and yellow decorating icing to pipe little oval noses onto each donut. Then pipe the whiskers and eyes using the black decorating icing and a clean small round piping tip.