I’m excited to share this recipe today, because it’s completely my own—and that wasn’t originally going to be the case. You see, I’d planned to make doughnuts following a recipe I’d cut out of Vegetarian Times a few months ago. However, when I tried their recipe, the results were, ummm, less than stellar. (Understatement!) Sorry VT, but your recipe was a complete failure!
If you’re curious, here’s a photo of my ugly doughnuts.
After that, not willing to give my trust to anyone else, I jotted down my own recipe, keeping in mind the reasons I suspected VT‘s didn’t work (too much fat and too much liquid being my main guesses). I’m happy to say my recipe came out perfectly!
So soft and cake-like… yet they are much healthier than traditional doughnuts!
Cake-Batter Doughnuts
Loosely based off a recipe from Vegetarian Times
- 1 level cup flour (see note below, for what type)
- 2/3 cup milk of choice
- 1/3 cup plus 1Â tbsp evaporated cane juice or sugar (or Sucanat)
- 1/2 tsp apple-cider vinegar
- 1 and 1/2 tsp ener-g egg replacer OR 1 tbsp flaxmeal
- 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp pre-melted butter-type spread (such as Earth Balance)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Optional: sprinkles! Or cinnamon, raisins, peanuts, chocolate chips… be creative!
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flax or ener-g with all wet ingredients except vinegar. In a separate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients. Then add the vinegar to the wet, and immediately pour wet onto dry. Mix (but don’t overmix), pour into doughnut pans, and cook for 12 minutes.
Flour Notes: I used white-whole-wheat. You can use all-purpose or Bob’s gluten-free or spelt flour. Whole wheat pastry can be used, but the doughnuts will be a tad more dense.
View Cake Batter Donuts Nutrition Facts
If you don’t have a doughnut pan, the above link also lists ideas for how you can still make these! And it includes some un-edited photos. I thought I’d include them so you can see what the doughnuts look like in a non-photoshoot format.
Tomorrow: Frosting Recipes!
If you can’t wait til then, try my Vanilla-Fudge Frosting.
Or sprinkle on cinnamon-sugar or powdered sugar while the doughnuts are still warm.
Katie, Katie, Katie, I really need to stop reading your blog when I’m on a cleanse. It is just not fair to me 🙂
Please come out with an E-book!! You’re so talented.
There is going to be a book :).
YAY!!!
Yay! from me too! 🙂
Fed Ex me a dozen? Thanks gril!
😉
Whitney
I hate donuts ’cause they always make my tummy hurt. But I have a feeling your donuts wouldn’t make my stomach go wack-o. I haven’t eaten a donut in almost 20 years, but I’m seriously thinking about trying yours. 🙂
Oh man, I really want to try making these gluten and sugar free! Why must you always tempt me so? I don’t have time to make doughnuts….but I’ll probably do it anyway!
I’m going to embarrass myself and say that I went out IMMEDIATELY after reading your post and bought a doughnut pan. Oh yes I did. And when I got home, I got busy making doughnuts a la CCK!
They were INCREDIBLE!!! Even my not healthy eating sister LOVED them and had two! She even had her first one sans any topping at all. And this is coming from a girl who will not touch whole wheat ANYTHING with a ten foot pole! Thank you, Katie, for yet another delicious healthy dessert! 🙂
Eating one right now! Oh my gosh, so good! I definitely added the sprinkles :). They should not be optional :).
Wow. They look stupendous. How sweet of you to give directions when you DO NOT OWN a donut pan. But… I was thinking muffin top pan and cut out donuts holes when done?
My mind was blown! I used half white and half whole wheat pastry flour, white vinegar instead of apple-cider vinegar (that was all I had), and baking powder instead of ener-g egg replacer (I didn’t have ener-g egg replacer and I was too lazy to grind my flax seeds. I wasn’t sure if the purpose of the egg replacer was to bind or leaven so I just took a guess with the baking powder). I halved the recipe and baked 18 mini muffins (: They were so cute! And I was surprised at how well they held together…they weren’t crumbly at all! They were soft, cakey, and subtle-tasting. I frosted them with a mixture of coconut butter and strawberries. It was kinda strange. My nine year old sister didn’t like it but I thought it was an interesting flavor and I liked it. For some reason though I can barely stomach even small amounts of coconut butter (or lite coconut milk). It tastes so rich and fatty :/ I feel like I’m eating a stick of butter… I know coconuts are high in saturated fat but supposedly plant based saturated fats differ from animal based saturated fats. How do you feel about coconuts being so high in saturated fats, Katie? Are they good fats? I’m kind of wary about it…:/
Hey Elise!
I’m so sorry about the coconut feelings… apparently some people are allergic to coconut, and it gives them a stomache ache. Maybe that is the case with you? As for the saturated fat, there are many studies that have proven what you mentioned: it’s only saturated fat from ANIMAL flesh that has a negative effect on one’s heart and organs. The saturated fat in coconuts doesn’t act upon the body with the same detrimental effects. In fact, if anything, coconut has been proven to HELP nourish one’s organs. Weird, right? 🙂
Thank you for clearing this up for me 🙂 I feel better now!
So i tried to make them and they definately needed more baking time than 12 mins – or my oven is way different than yours – they were not done all of the way through (i’m assuming they’re supposed to be ‘doughy’ but they had an almost oatmeal-like texture in the middle when i took them out….) so I baked them for longer and turned up the heat to 375. Thanks though, the recipe was great!
Hmmm… maybe it was the oven… or maybe it’s a difference in outdoor temperatures/altitudes? Or maybe we used different flours or you used measuring cups and I used a food scale? LOL can you see how unscientific I am? 😉
In any case, I’m glad they eventually turned out ok for you!