Donuts are still new enough to me that I see ideas for toppings in just about everything. Fleshing out odd pairings is one of my favorite pastimes. It’s that type of excitement you can pursue for days and weeks and months and then, right when you think you’re out of ideas, something genius comes along that makes all the effort entirely worth it. Here are several of BabyCakes NYC’s most popular donut toppings. Some require Vanilla Icing to get them to adhere to the donut. In every case, I find it is easiest to put the mixture in a wide bowl so that dunking the cakes isn’t too much of a fuss.

Ingredients

　　1 cup vegan sugar

　　2 tablespoons food coloring of your choice (India Tree preferred)

　　Vanilla Icing (page 127)

　　Place the sugar and food coloring in a small bowl. Mix using your fingertips until all the sugar is coated in coloring. Add extra coloring for more vibrant color, or more sugar to tone down the hue. Dip the donut in Vanilla Icing, then coat it in sprinkles.

　　Reprinted December 9, 2011, with permission from Babycakes Covers the Classics by Erin McKenna, © 2011 Clarkson Potter. Buy the full book at Penguin Random House, Amazon, or Bookshop.