Baked Red Velvet Donuts with Vanilla Bean Icing

You know and I know that something that’s baked in an oven is not a donut, no matter the shape. It may be delicious, as these donut-shaped cakes indeed are, but it belongs to another species. That said, the inattentive eater may well be fooled by these donut forgeries, and that presents the baker with its own sort of pleasure.

You will need a pan specifically designed for this sort of subterfuge. Since the ring-shaped cakes bake so quickly, you can use the same pan for several batch