Oven-Baked Donuts – Yay or Nay?

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Oven-baked donuts, yay or nay? I can imagine there’s a debate about that one! There are many factors that can go into anyone’s preference – taste, texture, shelf life, difficulty to make, healthiness, etc. To be honest, I’ll take either! I love a good donut 🙂

When I started baking donuts

As a baker and cake decorator, I’ve made my fair share of donuts. That’s the danger when you’re a baker! One day, a client may ask “do you make donuts??”. And I would usually say something along the lines of “I haven’t yet, but I can try!”. So I typically search for a recipe that I can use (usually from a blogger I’m familiar with and can trust with new recipes). I would then become a taste tester and the rest is history.

ANOTHER delicious form of baked DONUTs

On the other hand, if I have something delicious at a restaurant, I might get curious and “google” an oven-baked recipe. One evening I had beignets at a restaurant (I believe it was Milestones). And I LOVE beignets! If you’re not familiar, beignets are a deep-fried pastry originating from France and are very popular in New Orleans. They’re normally sprinkled with icing sugar and may be accompanied by a dipping sauce, like caramel or chocolate sauce. And I did find a recipe and let me tell you – I tried it, and it was sooooo yummy! I regrettably have resisted making them again. My hips will thank me later.

Here’s the recipe I made — https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/homemade-beignets/

oven-baked donut recipes

In this post, I’m sharing the baked donuts recipes I’ve tried, and ones I’d like to try from trusted pastry chefs and content creators! I never thought that donuts would be something I’d be able to offer to my clients. But in our world of “sweets tables” and “party favors”, it’s inevitable that you try making different products and baked goods!

My whole business started with making cupcakes. Then I was asked if I made cakes, then cake pops and cookies, then macarons – and the list goes on. I try not to limit myself when it comes to my offerings. If you can test it out and have a successful outcome, why not add it to your repertoire? You’ll become a one-stop shop for your clientele! With our busy, fast-paced lives, being a one-stop shop is something they’ll appreciate and value.

One day, a customer asked if I can make baked donuts for their event – of course, I said yes! I ended up buying this Wilton Mini Donut Pan and if I remember correctly, the cardboard packaging had a printed recipe on the back!

I’ve slightly altered the recipe and I actually use it when I have an order from one of my clients. It is a quick and easy mini baked donut recipe and a great snack fresh out of the oven when you have extra 😉

Oven-Baked Donuts Recipe

Yield: 12 Mini Donuts

Ingredients

DONUTS

• 2/3 Cups Flour
• ½ tsp Baking Powder
• Pinch Salt
• ¼ Cup Whole Milk or Buttermilk
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 5 tbsp Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 1 Egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
2. Grease your donut pan with margarine or melted butter.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. Combine milk and vanilla. Set aside.
5. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
6. Add egg.
7. Alternate the flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with the flour.
8. Add donut batter to a piping bag with a round piping tip. I use a Wilton 1A tip, or Ateco 806 tip.
9. Pipe batter into donut pan and bake for 10 min.

Allow your donuts to cool before decorating. I like decorating them with Wilton Candy Melts or Meltables from Sweet Tooth Fairy, making cool marble designs, or keeping them simple with sprinkles. Another yummy option is some melted butter and cinnamon sugar!! One of my favourites 🙂

It’s best to store baked donuts in an airtight container to maintain freshness. When one of my clients orders these donuts, I try to make them as close as possible to pick up or delivery. These donuts have a kind of “cake” texture. And as cake can taste stale when left out too long, so can these donuts.

A little over a year ago, I wanted to try making donuts that tasted more like the fried donuts we’re used to. Again, I found a recipe that I was interested in trying. Just like the beignets I made earlier, this recipe was also from Bigger, Bolder, Baking. I absolutely love Gemma’s recipes, and I’ve even seen her show up on TV!

This recipe was a no-knead, oven-baked donut recipe with instant yeast. It’s very easy to follow – she has an accompanying YouTube video which helps greatly step-by-step. You don’t need a donut pan for this recipe, just a high-quality cookie sheet, and a round tip to cut out the donut holes (or not if you’d rather make filled donuts). The best part – you can also fry these donuts (if you REALLY want to). I’ve personally never tried frying these donuts, but the baked version is scrumptious!

I made these birthday donuts one year for my sister, instead of making the usual cake. I baked the donuts, brought icing and sprinkles to her place, and we decorated the donuts together. We assembled them in a pile and treated them as her birthday cake!

DIY donut decorating kits for kids

I also made DIY Donut Decorating Kits! Using the same idea, I included donuts, icing, and sprinkles, with instructions for kids to decorate. It’s always a fun idea to have DIY decorating kits for the kiddies.

Thanks again to Gemma for this No-Knead Baked Donuts recipe!

While this recipe isn’t as quick and easy as the Wilton Recipe I posted above, it’s still a great recipe to try! She also includes icing recipes (vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) which I sometimes use to decorate other baked donuts. These baked donuts should also be stored in an airtight container to maintain freshness for as long as possible.

one more oven-baked donut recipe

On a more recent hunt for baked donut recipes, I also found a recipe from Preppy Kitchen! I absolutely adore John from Preppy Kitchen and his recipes are always a hit for me. I’ve made his meringues, macarons, caramel, and much more. His recipes and videos have really helped me with my struggle to make french macarons. I’ve watched countless videos and read numerous blog posts about macarons and it was an ongoing struggle for me. Until I stumbled upon his YouTube channel and watched his video on macaron tips. Suddenly, it was so much easier to make macarons!

Here’s his baked donut recipe. I think I’ll try this one next time I make donuts 🙂 I’m positive they’ll be delicious!….for my client and their guests, I mean.

Soooo….Oven-Baked Donuts – Yay or Nay?

So when it comes to “baked donuts – yay or nay?”, I say yay!! As much as I love the typical fried donuts from our local shops, I find baked donuts to be a healthier option. As much as they’re not really healthy, at least you can cut out the oil. Any time oil can be avoided is a plus for me! And mini baked donuts are a super cute addition to a sweets table, or the “donut wall” trend.

Tried any of these recipes? Comment below and let me know how it went!

Happy baking and munching!

xo

Mich