Jam Donuts with Lavender Sugar

I realize that I haven't been around for quite some time now. Things have been happening, some good, some not-so-good, but all is good when it ends good.
I have been watching Masterchef Australia (season 2) on TV (yeah...I started watching TV, too), and these donuts were looking so cute and delicious that I had to give them a try.
Chef Gary Mehigan was doing them, and I followed the recipe step by step. The end result?! Delicious donuts that finished in less than 20 minutes (well, we had visitors and didn't munched all of them by ourselves).
Well, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

440ml milk
100g unsalted butter, softened
75g caster sugar
4 eggs
20g fresh yeast
4 cups (600g), plain flour
Vegetable oil, for deep frying
200g raspberry jam
clotted cream, to serve

2 tsp lavender flowers
100g caster sugar

Method:

Step 1: Heat milk in a saucepan until tepid (37°C on a thermometer). Whisk in the butter, caster sugar and eggs. Place the yeast into a bowl and about ½ cup of the milk mixture. Break up the yeast with your hands to form a smooth paste. Transfer to the milk mixture, whisking to combine. Combine flour and ½ teaspoon of salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Gradually pour in the milk mixture, whisking until smooth. Cover and set aside in a warm place to prove for 45 minutes - 1 hour.

Step 2: Meanwhile, for the lavender sugar, combine lavender flowers with sugar in a large bowl, rub together with your hands until flowers are bruised. Set aside for 15-20 minutes to infuse.

Step 3: Pour oil into a saucepan until one-third full. Heat over medium-high heat until 165°C. Spoon donut mixture into 4cm round balls into the hot oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove, drain on paper towel, then toss in the lavender sugar.

Step 4: Spoon jam in a small piping bag with a 5mm straight-edged nozzle. Push nozzle into the centre of each donut and pipe enough jam to fill.

Step 5: Serve donuts with clotted cream.

My note: I couldn't find clotted cream in the shops, so I made something very similar. I mixed 250 grams of Mascarpone cheese with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence. The mixture was beaten by electric whisk until very smooth and combined, and kept in the fridge until serving time.
Sorry for the photo, it is not very presentable, but I was feeling uncomfortable taking a photo of the serving plate in front of my guests :)