Dessert Disaster

This was the plan:  Cook dessert for Nancy's Palm Sunday dinner. For some time we've both wondered about a recipe for Krispy Kreme Bread pudding that I spotted last year in Food & Wine.  Yes, it's a doughnut bread pudding, but not the Paula Deen version. Her version contains fruit cocktail, and is rather famous.  As a child, I once watched another kid vomit up a large quantity of Libby's Fruit Cocktail.  The sight was seared into my brain and I've never been able to eat that stuff again.  This Food & Wine recipe contains no fruit cocktail, just tons of cream and eggs. As if the bread pudding wasn't already decadent, a sauce of lightly wipped cream mixed with expresso is poured over each serving.  Insanity prevailed and I decided to make it. It seemed like a fun thing to do.  What follows is clearly the efforts of the Food Rehab part of my brain doing it's best to completely sabatoge my efforts at making this dish.  And it worked.  It was a disaster.

Things started out rather well. I cut up 18 glazed doughnuts, and baked them until they reminded me of doughnut croutons. I wonder why some snack purveyor hasn't come up with the idea--they were quite tasty.   I put them into a large bowl containing a mixture of cream, milk, 10 egg yolks, 2 whole eggs, and a bit of condensed milk. So far, everything was very easy and my only concern was whether I'd be able to fit the doughnut mixture into my baking pan.

No problem, it all fit perfectly. Then I placed the pan of bread pudding into a large roasting pan, filled the roasting pan with water half way, then baked it all in the oven.

Now, here is where it all went horribly awry.  The pudding baked up nice and brown, with a crispy crust.  I was quite pleased until I tried to lift the pan out of the roaster. The hot water burned my fingers, making me drop one end of the pan. That caused a wave effect, with the water in the roaster splashing onto my lovely bread pudding, forming a little lake on top of it.

After dropping a few choice curses, I remembered the words of Julia Child after she dropped a plate of food face down on the floor. Scooping the food up, she rearranged it on the serving dish and advised viewers to press on and not mention such accidents to guests.  What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. So, I poured the water off the pudding and put it back in the oven, hoping the heat would help dry up the moisture. Then I ran off to finish dressing for the party.  When I came back to look at my pudding, strange noises were coming from the oven, along with puffs of smoke.  And there you have it.  My burned Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.  Later Bob and I scraped the burned part off and tasted a small piece of it.  It tasted like.......doughnuts.  But, in a bread pudding way.  Then I threw the rest of it into in the garbage. 

As God is my witness, I'll never make this again. 

Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding, With Expresso Whipped Cream

(Food & Wine magazine)

1 1/2 dozen glazed doughnuts, cut into sixths
1 quart heavy cream
2 cups milk
10 large egg yolks
2 large whole eggs
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup brewed espresso, chilled


Preheat the oven to 250°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread the doughnut pieces on baking sheets and bake for about 30 minutes, until dry on the outside and semifirm in the center. Raise the oven temperature to 350°.

In a large bowl, whisk 2 cups of the cream with the milk, egg yolks, whole eggs and condensed milk. Add the doughnut pieces and let soak until the pieces are softened, about 1 hour; stir every 15 minutes.
Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Spoon the doughnut mixture into the prepared baking dish and cover with foil. Set the dish in a roasting pan and add enough water to the pan to reach halfway up the side of the baking dish. Bake the bread pudding for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for about 20 minutes longer, or until the bread pudding is set.
Preheat the broiler. Broil the bread pudding for about 3 minutes, or until top is lightly browned. Let cool for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whip the remaining 2 cups of cream to semisoft peaks. Stir in the espresso. Serve with the warm bread pudding.

Comments

[kristi]

Oh my God, this looks delicious, but yeah, after what happened, I don't blame you for not wanting to make it again. Do you think it would have been tasty if you hadn't of had the mishap?

[whaleshaman]

dear sher, this is your funniest fun-with-food adventure yet!

i can't stop laughing.

thanks for doing it so we don't have to.

next time, try a jelly pizza -- http://jellypizza.blogspot.com/2006/03/jelly-pizza.html

[i know, i know, that was a not so little bit of shameless self-promotion, sorry but it's a really good dessert, s'all i'm saying. but beware, it also has a high burn potential.]

[ashleystravel]

Thank you so much for sharing your kitchen disaster! I like to know that there are other food bloggers out there that have the same problems that I do.

[Butta Buns]

Aarrrgghhh! Those beautiful precious Krispy Kremes..oh the agony!!!!

I must say that I enjoy your cooking mishaps as much as your successes.

PS I hope your fingers are okay. Cuts and burns are the bakers' battle scars.

[Tanna]

Never again will I have anything in my mouth (water today) when I click on through to read a post of yours. Only by the grace of a higher power did my computer survive: watched another kid vomit up a large quantity of Libby's Fruit Cocktail.

That being said, I would have thought you'd do it again but only up to the doughnut croutons and stop there.
Wonderful photo's untill...well let's don't go back there.

[Sheryl]

Oh dear.

Even if it was a failure, it made a great post!

[gattina]

oooooh nooooo... your dessert really sounds super-duper nice. Just, just that darn part...*heartache* But you are such a daring darling, 10 (+ 2) yolks!!! Even merely look at the no. I feel like going back to rehab *lol* But I like it (recipe) :D

[Jennifer]

Awww, I'm so sorry it didn't turn out. I don't blame you for not wanting to try it again either. It sounds like a delicious idea, but I would have been turned off too if that happened!

Krispy Kreme donuts are the devil, I tell you. They are so good it's not even funny. Talk about a great way to sabotage one's diet!

[sandi @ the whistlestop cafe]

I wondered how a pan of donuts could turn into a disaster...
I bet the still tasted good- how could you go wrong when you start with krispy kremes.

[Claire]

For reasons I will not mention here, I happen to know that functional turkey basters are great at sucking up unwanted liquid! Sorry that your pudding burned. It was beautiful before the water episode!

[Lannae]

Oh, LOL! I just had to laugh! So, was this a "Show me a sign! Anything! Really!" experience? So, the KK bread pudding wasn't going to fly anyway, so if the first sign wasn't heeded, there was another one, and another...
Anyway, good effort, and I kind of like charred food, and I bet you I would have eaten it!

[sher]

Kristi,

I think it would have been good, if all the calamities hadn't occurred. I was so disgusted by everything--I didn't feel like eating it--or dealing with all the calories! :)

Whaleshamen,

I've seen your recipe for Jelly Pizza and I really like the way it looks. I must try that! :)

AshleysTravel,

Yes, I need to see problems or disaster by others. Then I don't feel alone! :)

Tanna,

Oh, the doughnut croutons are really great!! Let me tell you--that's a winner! And fruit cocktail is not a good thing to see being regurgitated. No sir.

Butta Buns,

Yes,it was rather depressing to throw out all that food!!!! The eggs, the cream--the doughnuts!!!! Argh!

Sheryl,

Yes, calamity is quite entertaining! :):) A small kitchen fire would have made it even better. :)

Gattina,

I think the recipe is pretty good. A once in awhile thing. But not burned to a crisp!!!!

Jennifer,

Yes, I lost my appetite when I saw that. And the burnt smell was very intense. It permeated my clothes, the house and the pudding!

Sandi@ the whistlestop cafe,

It wasn't all bad, but the burned smell was awful. And I was disgusted!!!! :):) Oh well, I hope I don't have another experience like that.

Claire,

Yes--I so agree about the turkey baster. But, people take mine and use them for other non cooking purposes! Grrrrrrr. I wanted one of them as I was trying to dump the water.

Lannae,

Yes, I could have eaten it--but my grand plan was to take it to my friend's house and palm it off on her--to avoid snacking on all those calories. I mean, that pudding was an artery killer. If I had eaten that whole pan of pudding, I think I would have died!!!! But, she didn't want it after it was burnt! :)

[s'kat]

It just goes to show one shouldn't mess with the sugary-glazed purity of a Krispy Kreme!
But oy, all that work!

[Kristen]

Oh no....I just must say...been there done that!
All that effort down the drain, literally. Sorry it didn't work out!

[Patricia Scarpin]

Oh, Sher!!! I'm sorry!

It sounds great, though - Tiffany and Miguel, from "Top Chef" (season 1) made a bread pudding out of doughnuts.

[Garrett]

Oh darling, we've all had kitchen disasters. Good for you for posting them! :)
Haha, I've set off the smoke alarm once or twice.

[Jenn]

Ha ha ha ha awwwwww! Nice one, Sher! (Was the rest of the dinner yummy?)

[Victoria]

hahaha, this got me laughing heaps. I am guilty of dropping food into the water baths, damn those baths. Mine are usually cheesecakes. eevil stuff i tell you!=)

[kate]

I totally would have stopped at 'krispy kreme croutons' and never come up for air.

there is a reason why i steer clear of donuts...well, besides my hips

[Katie]

I'm with you on the fruit cocktail.
But a glazed donut bread pudding? It makes my teeth hurt just to think about....I bet it was good....
It makes a great story!

[Christine]

I'm kind of with Katie here. But, oh my god, Sher, you tell such a good story! :))

[Kelly Cat's philosophical human]

Can't blame you for feeling that way. But, as a teacher told me a long time ago, "You don't learn anything when everything goes right."

[e]

Oh my! Disasters are inevitable. It looked like a noble effort. Maybe the bread pudding gods were trying to say doughnuts are too decadent an ingredient to be made into a humble bread pudding.

Either way, I'd still eat it. Just extra espresso sauce for me!

[layla42]

Espresso sauce, you say? Hmmm...

I made the recipe by the lovely Paula Deen (without the cocktail, I just used a mess of rasins and such). The only change I made was to slowly warm up the custard before dumping it over the donuts.
And since I live where you can't get KK's, I used a couple of boxes of glazed donut 'holes'. They were already a little stale, so I didn't toast mine.
It came out pretty good. But after your disaster, I can't blame you for just wanting to toss the whole mess!
We've all been there!

[cakegrrl]

Love this post. I saw Paula this recipe on her party show. Maybe you will never make the Krispy Kreme version of bread pudding, but if you make bread pudding again, try the King's Hawaiian Bread for the bread part in your favorite recipe. I love using that because it's not as sweet as a donut, but it's definitely sweeter than sourdough.
Cheers!

[Glenna]

I am so sorry it didn't turn out well but it wasn't your fault. I've dropped things like that too and it sounds like you had a million things going on at the same time...so sorry you put all that effort into it and didn't get the payoff!

[crabby]

Sorry to nitpick- but spell check please!
Espresso, whipped, sabotage... just trying to be constructively bitchy. Love the pics and recipes!