Yep, it seems I was a bit too ambitious and plopped too many into the oil at one time, and the electric fry pan couldn't keep up (I'm not sure it got hot enough to begin with, I used a candy thermometer and it never got above 325 degrees, even before I plopped).

I think I am going to switch to a heavy cast iron pot and a propane burner and see if I can't get the oil up in temp. Either that or maybe go for a real deep fryer unit. I don't know as we will eat that many donuts to justify that sorta cash outlay.