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 nearlly as exciting as it used to be, but they still appreciate a home made donut.
How to make baked donuts
You will need a dough shapped 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. Just adjust to the baking time.
Filling the donut molds
Use a piping bag. It is the easiest way to get the batter into the molds. If you don't have a piping bag, make one!
Use a ziptop or other sturdy medium sized plastic bag - I use a medium sized freezer ziptop bag. Fill the bag with the batter. Push the batter towards one corner of the bag, squeezing out the air and closing the top. Twist the top the of the bag so that you can use it like you would a piping bag, pushing the batter towards one corner with the palm of your hand. Snip about ½ in off the bottom of the corner of the bag and squeeze the batter into the molds.
Important!! - don't overfill the donut pan.
Fill each mold about ⅔rds full. Here is a post where I over filled mini donuts molds, and you can see the donuts look more like like 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 equvilant of 1 egg.
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 molds.
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 done. Immediately remove from the hot pan onto your cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before decorating.
To make these vanilla donuts as mini-donuts you will just want to change the baking time. Minis will take 6-8 minutes at 350.
I've updated this post from one of my original blog posts so many years ago. At that time I made mini-donuts. Little bite-sized donuts. So perfectly cute!
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 adding a bit more milk to get a thiner consistancy 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 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
Baked Vanilla Donuts
Required equipment
- donut baking tray regular or mini donut sized
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1-½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg (scant measure)
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup almond milk (or milk of your choice)
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg replacer, prepared per package instructions, equivalent of 1 egg see notes for subsitutions
- ¼ cup vegan butter, melted
Frosting
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter, melted
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoon milk
- Sprinkles of your choice!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degress
- In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients, flour through cinnamon, with a whisk to combine thoroughly.1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ cup sugar, 1-½ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- In a separate smaller bowl whisk together remaining ingredients: milk, vinegar, vanilla prepared egg replacer and melted vegan butter. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir together to form a smooth batter. The batter will be soft.½ cup almond milk, ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 egg replacer, prepared per package instructions, equivalent of 1 egg, ¼ cup vegan butter, melted
- Using a piping bag to fill the donut molds with batter. Do not fill each mold more than ⅔rds full. You should get 10-12 donuts from this batch (or 20-30 mini donuts). Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 for full sized donuts (6-8 minutes for minis).
- Allow donuts to cool slightly before removing from the pan and moving to a cooling tray. Allow to cool completely before adding frosting.
- To prepare frosting mix together melted vegan butter with icing sugar and vanilla in a shallow bowl. Add just enough milk to get desired thickness. Mixture should be smooth and creamy.1 tablespoon vegan butter, melted, 1 cup icing sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2-3 tablespoon milk
- To ice donuts, dunk top side of cooled donuts into the frosting. Gently lift and place on cooling rack to allow the frosting to drip off. Decorate with sprinkles.Sprinkles of your choice!
Suzi says
I am loving these and vegan too. Where did you find the vegan chocolate?
infinebalance says
A local bulk food store carries a dairy free chocolate chip I like it better than carob. However, I should clarify the pink decorating chocolate is probably not vegan -- I have no idea -- I purchased it in bulk without checking before hand.
Ann says
These look amazing and you would NEVER know that they're vegan! Very nicely done...and adorable!
infinebalance says
Thanks! We had a blast making them. Little bits for little hands.