Baked Vanilla Donuts

Make these easy vegan baked vanilla donuts when you need a quick sweet treat. Perfect for a midweek night. Small batch. Vegan recipe. Or favourite is topped with vanilla glaze and sprinkles!

I tend to break out this recipe this time of your before school starts. As my kids have gotten older, the last weekend before school starts is not nearly as exciting as it used to be, but they still appreciate a homemade donut.

How to make baked donuts

You will need a dough-shaped baking pan to make these, like this one. Donut baking pans come in various sizes. In this recipe, I am using regular donuts. But you can also use this recipe to make jumbo or mini donuts - you will need to adjust the baking time.

Filling the donut moulds

Use a piping bag. It is the easiest way to get the batter into the moulds. If you don't have a piping bag, make one!

 Important!! - don't overfill the donut pan.

Fill each mould about ⅔rds full. Here is a post where I over-filled mini donuts moulds, and you can see the donuts look more like mini bundt cakes, not round donuts.

Ingredients for vegan vanilla donuts

You will need simple basic pantry ingredients for this recipe.

• all-purpose flour
• sugar
• baking powder
• salt
• nutmeg & cinnamon - just a pinch!
• plant-based milk of your choice
• apple cider vinegar
• vanilla extract
• Egg replacer for 1 egg
• vegan butter

A note about the Egg Replacer.  I used a commercial egg replacer product where 1 teaspoon of powder plus 2 tablespoons of water equals 1 egg. Any vegan egg substitute will do for this recipe. You will need the equivalent of 1 egg.

See this post for tips on how to measure flour for baking cookies, muffins and quick breads. How to measure flour....

If you don't have an egg replacement product you can use any of the following:

Flax egg: 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 2 tablespoons of water

Applesauce: 2 tablespoons

Mashed banana: 2 tablespoons (this will give your donuts a slight banana flavour)

Step-by-step instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, flour through cinnamon, with a whisk to mix thoroughly.

In a glass bowl, heat the butter until just melted.  Add the remaining wet ingredients milk through prepared egg replacer or other egg substitute.

Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix until just combined. It should form a very soft dough.

Using a piping bag fill each donut mold on the donut pan. You will get 10-12 regular-sized donuts with this recipe. See notes above.

Do not overfill the donut moulds.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Donuts should not be browned on top. The donuts should be firm and just starting to brown around the edges. You can test with a toothpick - it will come out clean when the donuts are fully cooked. Immediately remove from the hot pan onto your cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before decorating. 

Other topping ideas!

This basic vanilla donut recipe works with so many different toppings.

Just a simple glaze - if you like less icing make a thin glaze using the same icing recipe below but add a bit more milk to get a thinner consistency and drizzle over the donuts using a spoon instead of dipping. You can still use sprinkles!

Chocolate glaze - melt together ½ cup of chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon of corn syrup (or honey which is not vegan) and 1 tablespoon of vegan butter.

Cinnamon Sugar - in a shallow bowl, big enough to dip the donuts, mix together ½ cup of white sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. Dip each donut, both sides to cover with cinnamon sugar. Repeat. Yes - dip each donut 2 times.

📖 Recipe