Birthday Cake Donuts

You’ll love these baked birthday cake donuts sweetened with maple syrup! They’re a fun birthday treat or just any day that feels like it needs sprinkles!

It has been AGES since I’ve posted a donut recipe on the blog! I go through phases of things which you have probably noticed by now. For a while though I was making and posting donuts all of the time! And then we kind of forgot about our love of donuts. But the kids had started asking for donuts recently and I realized we’ve been missing out! Baked donuts are such a great treat!

So, these birthday cake donuts have the best timing because it was actually Wally’s birthday on Monday! All of the birthday treats for him! Sprinkle pancakes, sprinkle donuts and of course, sprinkle cake.

What are baked donuts?

Traditional donuts are made with yeast, and deep fried in oil. Baked donuts are a little better for the body in that the batter is baked in the oven into a donut shape. There are different types of donut pans out there that people use. I have a couple of different ones, but my favorite are the silicone donut molds! They are similar to these ones.

How do you make birthday donuts?

Donuts might sound complicated but they actually come together so quickly! You’ll need the following ingredients:

• cake flour
• baking powder
• baking soda
• Greek yogurt
• maple syrup
• egg
• vanilla bean paste
• unsalted butter
• sprinkles

Instructions for making birthday cake donuts:

1. Start by preheating the oven to 350 F and spray 6-7 silicone donut molds with nonstick spray. You can also use a metal baking tray, but they’re usually a bit more shallow so you’ll have to do 2 batches!

2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside. Next, mix the Greek yogurt with the maple syrup, egg, vanilla bean paste and melted butter. Slowly combine the two, then stir in the sprinkles gently! Depending on what sprinkles you use, the colors may bleed a bit so be very gentle with your stirring.

I recommend against using nonpareil sprinkles!

3. Fill the prepared silicone donut molds about 3/4 full with donut batter. You could use a small spoon to add the batter and smooth it out, but you could also fill a large piping bag with the donut batter and squeeze it into the molds that way! (My preferred method).

4. Bake the donuts in the heated oven for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the donuts cool in the molds for 8-10 minutes before popping them out and letting them completely cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla bean donut glaze

The glaze on the donuts is optional (but really, its not). This vanilla bean glaze is super simple to whip together so even if you run out while dunking your donuts you can easily make more!

You’ll need:

• powdered sugar
• vanilla bean paste
• pinch of salt
• milk

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar with the vanilla bean paste, the milk and a pinch of salt. You want the consistency to be dunkable but not too runny or the glaze won’t set properly. About as thick as condensed milk!

Dunk the donuts, one at a time (once cooled) into the icing and then set them back on the wire rack. You can top them with sprinkles quickly if you plan to do that!

The donuts are best served fresh, but they’re still very good the next day! After a day or two they are definitely still tasty but they’ll start to get harder and taste less fresh. The recipe doesn’t make very many donuts so we usually we don’t have any trouble polishing off a whole batch!

Do I have to use vanilla bean paste in this recipe?

You can certainly substitute the vanilla bean paste for vanilla extract! It won’t have that same super vanilla cake taste but they’ll still taste great. Just do a 1 for 1 substitution.

Can I substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour?

Cake flour is definitely ideal here as it makes the donuts lighter, fluffier and more tender. You could use all-purpose flour in its place, and it’ll still work fine. The donuts might just be a bit more dense.

You can also choose to make your own cake flour! All you need is cornstarch and all-purpose flour. Here’s a good article on how to do that.

Since you’ll definitely want to make more donuts after making these, here’s a few of my other favorites from the blog!

• baked berry donuts
• baked strawberry donuts
• green monster baked donuts

Get yourself a donut pan and start baking up some donuts for you and the fam! Start with these birthday cake donuts!

Birthday Cake Donuts

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5 from 4 reviews

• Author: Katherine | Love In My Oven
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 6–7 donuts 1x

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Description

You’ll love these baked birthday cake donuts sweetened with maple syrup! They’re a fun birthday treat or just any day that feels like it needs sprinkles!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 cup cake flour*
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles + more for decorating

Vanilla Bean Donut Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3–4 tbsp milk

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and spray 6-7 silicone donut molds with nonstick spray, or spray a nonstick donut pan. 
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and baking soda, and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt with the maple syrup, egg, vanilla bean paste and melted butter.
3. Slowly combine the dry mixture with the wet, then gently stir in the sprinkles! Depending on what sprinkles you use, the colors may bleed a bit so be very gentle with your stirring.
4. Fill the prepared silicone donut molds about 3/4 full with donut batter. Use a small spoon to scoop out the batter or fill a piping bag with the batter. Bake the donuts in the heated oven for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the donuts cool in the molds for 8-10 minutes before popping them out and letting them completely cool on a wire rack.
5. Make the donut glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar with the vanilla bean paste, the milk and salt. You want the consistency to be dunkable but not too runny or the glaze won’t set properly. About as thick as condensed milk!
6. Dunk the donuts, one at a time, into the icing and then set them back on the wire rack. Top them with sprinkles quickly!

Donuts are best enjoyed immediately, when fresh, but are still enjoyable after a day or two! They can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container.

Notes

*To make your own cake flour visit this article. You can also substitute for all-purpose flour but the donuts will be a bit more dense.

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Category: donuts
• Method: oven bake
• Cuisine: american

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