Oven Baked Vanilla Cake Donuts with Frosting.
Vanilla Cake Donuts with vanilla frosting & sprinkles are my favorite kind of donut. I think my next favorite is one covered in cinnamon & sugar. I love that I can make homemade donuts at home baked in the oven, no messy oil frying involved. The recipe is quite simple you just need a donut pan. I have 3 Wilton Donut Pans, they are non-stick and work great for making all kinds of baked donuts.
I like to use a small spoon to scoop the batter into the donut pan but you can also use a piping bag or make your own using a ziploc bag & cutting a bottom corner to pour the batter into the pan.
The tops will be a very pale golden brown when they are done and they will be springy to the touch. If you have trouble removing them from the pan try using a rubber spatula. The bottom side of the donuts will be a nice dark golden brown color (as shown above).
This recipe makes anywhere from 6-9 donuts depending on how high you fill the donut pan. I’ve made it a few times filling all 6 donut cavities to the top & it makes 6 big donuts but the hole in the middle kind of closes up so now I usually make 7-8 smaller donuts. If you don’t own a donut pan you can make your own using a muffin pan instead if you roll up aluminum foil into balls and place them in the middle of each muffin hole. To create the hole just pour the batter around the aluminum foil balls.
I actually used natural sprinkles for this recipe like the one’s they sell at Whole Foods because I am trying to stay away from food dyes. They are dyed natural from foods instead of chemicals.
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used soybean oil)
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- -Frosting-
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 tablespoon butter (melted)
- +sprinkles (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease donut pan with oil or cooking spray.
- Whisk together the sour cream, egg, vanilla, oil, butter & sugar in a bowl.
- Add flour, soda, salt, & nutmeg (optional) & stir together until well combined.
- Fill donut pan with batter & bake for 12-16 minutes or until the top is springy to the touch & the sides are turning golden brown. Remove from oven & let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
- For the Frosting: In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla, melted butter & milk together. You may need to add a little more milk or powered sugar to get the right consistency.
- Once the donuts have cooled down frost the tops of the donuts & add sprinkles (optional).
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Mmm!!! my favorite recipe, pass it on please… :)
Thanks! :)
I tried the aluminum foil balls since Indidnt have a donut pan. Might work if one had a weight of some kind inside them, but the dough just pushed them to the top and they turned into muffins with an indentation on the top ?
Hi Joy, Your best bet is to use a donut pan with the recipe but I shared the alternative method that had worked well for some other fellow bloggers. I’ve made my donuts into muffins before & they still taste just as good but you don’t get the donut look that way. Hope they still tasted good! :)
The texture was great, but unfortunately, they had no flavor! I’d add some sort of flavoring to them next time. More vanilla, chocolate, strawberry…. something.
You could try adding an extra 1/2 teaspoon or more of vanilla to both the frosting and the batter to increase flavor if you want more. Also using vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract can add a lot more flavor. Adding good quality real vanilla extract can also help, I usually buy Nielsen-Massey Brand Vanilla.
Which side of the donut do you frost?
Hi Sharon, I frosted the top of the donuts. Thanks!