Easy baked donuts
easy baked doughnuts – They’re healthier than the fried alternative, just as delicious and with no yeast you can have these ready in no time.
Easy baked doughnuts are a fun bake for kids. This recipe uses no yeast, so there’s no need to wait for the doughnut batter to rise, and they’re baked so they’re a lot safer to make with kids than ones that involve frying in hot oil.
For these easy baked doughnuts, you simply need to make the doughnut batter then add them to a doughnut tin. The fun part comes in decorating them. My kids loved getting to choose the icing colours to glaze them and then adding all the sprinkles. It makes them a great colourful bake that’s perfect for children.
These doughnuts are quick and easy to make, and although they’re not quite the same as the ones you can get at your local ‘Crispy Cream’, they still taste pretty good!
How can kids help make these homemade baked doughnuts?
Like most baking recipes, these are really easy for kids to make. They can help measure out all the ingredients and mix them all together. If your kids have a steady hand, get them to add the batter to the doughnut pan. Unlike making cupcakes, you’ll need to use a small spoon and carefully add the batter to the pan – it’s a smaller hole to aim for so can get a bit messy if you’re not careful – using a piping bag can make this task a little bit easier.
The last part of making these doughnuts was my kids’ favourite part: decorating them. You could choose to be nice and simple and sprinkle over some caster sugar while they’re still warm but my kids loved being able to glaze these with coloured icing and decorate them with sprinkles. We used a few different colours of icing and lots and lots of sprinkles – the more the better in my kids eyes!
What sort of baking pan should I bake these in?
To make these dougnuts in their typical ring shape you’ll need a special ring doughnut pan. You should be able to find some quite easily and relatively cheaply – I used these doughnut pans which I find really easy to use, but we’ve also got a metal one.
To make sure the dougnuts come out the pan easily once they’re baked make sure you grease them fully. The silicone ones are great though as you should just be able to turn them over and pop them out.
And once you’ve bought the doughnut tin you can also use them for things like our delicious bronuts.
How long do baked doughnuts keep?
These should keep in an air tight container for a few days. If you want to keep them for longer, pop them (unglazed) into the freezer wrapped well in a freezer bag. They’ll keep for a few months in the freezer. Make sure you defrost them fully before you glaze and serve them.
How should we decorate the baked doughuts?
You can decorate these in any way you like. Keep it simple and toss them in granulated sugar, or perhaps a cinnamon sugar. Or, if you and your kids want to make these more colourful why not drizzle them in a colourful icing and add sprinkles. If you use bold colours your kids are bound to love them – they’d be the perfect eye catching treat for a cake sale or children’s party.
Similar colourful recipes
If your kids enjoyed making these baked doughnuts they might also like trying these other colourful bakes.
Rainbow cupcakes
Monster cupcakes
Rainbow M&M cookies
Funfetti cupcakes
Rainbow cake
Useful equipment
You might need the following equipment to make these baked doughnuts:
Silicone doughnut pan
Mixing bowl
Measuring jug
Digital scales
Piping bag and nozzle
Food clips
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 30 minutes plus 8 minutes baking
Serves: 15 donuts
Ingredients
150g (1 cup) plain / all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
110g (1/2 cup) golden caster sugar
120ml (1/2 cup) milk
2 eggs
20g (2 tbsp) butter (unsalted) (melted)
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the icing
250g Fondant icing sugar
1 tbsp Water
Food colouring
Sprinkles
how to make easy homemade baked donuts
Preheat the oven to 160C / 140C Fan / 320F and grease the mini doughnut tins with oil or butter to stop the doughnuts from sticking.
Mix the dry ingredients together
Get your little one to help you measure the flour (150g), baking powder (1 tsp), salt (1/2 tsp)and caster sugar (110g) out and add to a large mixing bowl. Give it all a good mix.
Mix the wet ingredients together
In a separate bowl, measure the milk (120ml), melted butter (20g), eggs and vanilla extract (1 tsp). Whisk it all together.
Mix everything together
Make a well in the flour bowl, and gradually pour the liquid in while your little ones stir it in.
Stir until it is well mixed into a smooth batter.
Bake the doughnuts
Use a spoon to carefully spoon the doughnut batter into each of the holes in the tin. Only fill up to about ¾ full as the mixture rises when it bakes. I did this bit myself as I didn’t think my kids could get the mix in the pan properly. If you have older kids, they might be able to do it themselves – it can just get a bit messy!
Alternatively, if you have a piping bag, you can use that to pipe the batter in. Use a food clip at either end to stop the batter coming out when you don’t want it to.
Make sure you don’t fill each hole too full. You want them to be half to three quarters full especially if the middle bit isn’t very high otherwise you’ll lose the hole while they bake.
Bake in the oven for around 8 minutes. They’re ready when they’re golden in colour. Remove the doughnut pan from the oven and leave them in the tin for a few minutes.
Remove the doughnuts from the tin by flipping it over and gently tapping on the base. If they won’t come out, carefully loosen the doughnuts from the tin with a blunt knife.
Glaze your doughnuts
Make the icing by placing the icing sugar in a bowl (we put it in three bowls as we were going to make three different colours). Add a few drops of water and a drop of colour and mix until it is smooth and runny.
Dip the top half of your doughnuts into your icing, place them on a wire rack and get your little ones to decorate with sprinkles.
Again this can get a bit messy. You might find it easier/less messy to drizzle the icing over the top of each doughnut with a spoon.
Leave the icing on the baked doughnuts to set before serving.
Baked donuts
Ingredients
Method
- Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar out and add to a large mixing bowl. Give it all a good mix.
- In a separate bowl, measure the milk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk it all together.
- Make a well in the flour bowl, and gradually pour the liquid in, stirring it all the time. Stir until it is well mixed into a smooth batter.
- Use a teaspoon to carefully spoon the doughnut batter into each of the holes in the tin. Only fill up to about ¾ full as the mixture rises when it bakes. Alternatively you can use a piping bag if you like (use a food clip to make sure the batter doesn't flow out when you don't want it to. )
- Bake in the oven for around 8 minutes. They’re ready when they’re golden in colour. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for a few minutes.
- Remove the doughnuts from the tin by flipping it over and gently tapping on the base. If they won’t come out, carefully loosen the doughnuts from the tin with a blunt knife.
- Make the icing by placing the icing sugar in a bowl (we put it in three bowls as we were going to make three different colours). Add a few drops of water and a drop of colour and mix until it is smooth and runny.
- Dip the top half of your doughnuts into your icing, place them on a wire rack and decorate with sprinkles.
- Leave the baked doughnuts to set before serving.
Pin homemade baked doughnuts for later
Similar recipes
If you liked these glazed baked doughnuts, you’ll love our apple cinnamon doughnuts, as well as our other favourite easy bakes for kids.
This recipe was first published in Mary 2020 and republished in October 2026 with new pictures.
Leave a Reply