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 1 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.
These doughnuts are so good!!! i love this recipe. i made them just a little bit ago and am eating one with the cream cheese frosting as i write this. yum! sad part is, i don’t have a doughnut pan so i tried shaping them myself. they turned out flat:( i am going to put a doughnut pan on my wish list for christmas. then maybe they’ll look as good as yours, Katie.
Aww so excited you liked them!!
just made these today and they were AMAZING! Used a mixture of rice and tapicoa flour, ghee for the fat, and stevia + dextrose instead of sugar. I made a small batch as a test run and will definetly be making them again! Next time i plan on putting a dollop of raspberry jam in the centre, and rolling the tops in melted butter and sugar to recreate jam doughnut muffins that i made as a kid!
oh also, FYI for the egg substitute i used tapioca gel (basically put 1/2 tsp tapioca flour in some water and heat until you create a thick viscous liquid!)
THANK YOU! I just made these and I’m in love! I’m thinking of making them with vanilla bean or cinnamon. Thank you so much for this recipe
could you maybe try a chocolate cake doughnut? i’m obsessed with dunkin’s chocolate glazed (not to be confused with the chocolate frosted) and if i could have a healthy version i’d be in heaven all my life <3
I will try!
Try taking out a 1/4 cup of flour and sub1/4 cup of cocoa powder. It should work.
Hey Katie,
I finally got to make this recipe after eying it for sometime now. I never attempted before, because unfortunately I do not have a donut pan. (Before today I never looked at the nutritional info.) So when I realized I could make it I whipped up a batch.
Orignally I was going to form them by hand, but I used a flax egg, making the mistake of actually preparing it rather than just adding 1 TB to the dry mix. The dough was unworkable by hand, even after I spooned it unto some parchment paper and tried swirling a hole in the middle, the dough just filled it back in. So they all went into the mini muffin pan. I cooked up the pancake flat dough mass too.
OMG, SO good!!! I glazed some of the mini-cake-batter-donut-muffins (which I guess would technically be mini-cupcakes, but that’s such an ORDINARY NAME) with a half and half raw honey/ coconut oil glaze (do you eat honey Katie? If so I highly recommend making this glaze) and some with a triple berry jelly/coconut oil glaze. They were so light and fluffy, with a VERY subtle nutty taste (from the flax). Not as pretty to look at as yours, but delicious none the less.
Oh and by the way, the messed up hand formed doughnuts?- turned out to be irresistably delicious cookies!! Chewy top, super super soft on interior (like pancake soft) with a golden crispy underbelly. It was even better than the doughnut-muffin itself, and would be amazing with some semi-sweet Guittard’s! (I think ghiradelli would overpower the subtle sweet notes it creates, but that’s just me.) I highly suggest you try it yourself, using a flax egg of 1:3 ratio (flax to water)… and droping it onto parchment paper by the tablespoon, cooking as normally…simply heavenly…let me know what you think if you try it!
I don’t really have any problems with honey… I think more bugs die in the organic kale I buy! I do know that it’s not “technically” vegan to eat honey, and I don’t go out of my way to eat it or cook with it, but if it’s in something a person has made for me, I don’t freaak out ;).
Your cookies sound delicious!
I just have to say I made this recipe yesterday in mini muffin form and my husband and I LOVE THEM. I will be making more of these soon. They don’t take long to make and they taste soooooo good. A+++++ on this one 🙂
can you use regular cows milk and regular eggs?
I just made them with Skim milk, one regular egg, and white vinegar instead of apple cider and they came out the same and are delicious!
do you have a substitution for the apple cider vinegar? I am highly allergic to apples but really want to make these!
White vinegar 🙂
Thanks!!! Going to try them this weekend for sure!
hey katie, i was wondering if i would be able to omit the ener-g egg replacer in this recipe, because i was thinking about making it this thursday – but i don’t have that ingredient. any suggestions??? thanks! 🙂