Easy Dairy-Free Glazed Baked Cake Doughnuts (donuts) is a simple recipe inspired by delicious old-fashioned cake doughnuts, but baked (not deep fried) and made without buttermilk or butter.
Ever get a craving for something delicious and cakey? Baked doughnuts are perfect.
And compared to traditional doughnuts, they’re almost guilt-free.
Baked doughnuts not only take a short time to make, they have fewer calories and a lower percentage of fat content than traditional doughnuts of the same size because they’re not deep fried and therefore do not soak up the oil.
And they are terrific to have with your morning coffee, as an afternoon snack, or a comforting treat at the end of a long day.
Making these baked cake donuts is as simple as making cupcakes. Make the batter, pour, and bake. Oh, and then add glaze. Voila!
And they’re great for anyone who is avoiding dairy, since they are made without buttermilk and butter.
FAQs for Easy Dairy-Free Baked Cake Doughnuts
Do I need a special pan to make baked doughnuts?
Yes, to get the classic ring shape, you will need a silicone or metal doughnut pan. If you don’t have one on hand, you can alternatively bake this batter in a mini muffin tin to make bite-sized doughnut holes or muffins.
How do I get the glaze to set properly on baked doughnuts?
Let your baked doughnuts cool completely before dipping them in the glaze. If the doughnuts are still warm, the glaze will melt and thin out too much instead of forming a nice, set coating.
Can I add mix-ins or spices to the doughnut batter?
Yes, you can easily customize the base batter by adding your own favorite warm spices.
How do I store leftover glazed baked doughnuts?
Store leftover glazed doughnuts in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Because they don’t have preservatives, they are best enjoyed fresh, but you can microwave them for about 5 to 10 seconds to restore that freshly baked softness before eating.
Can I freeze baked cake doughnuts?
Yes! It is best to freeze the doughnuts before glazing them. Let them cool completely, store them in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 2 months, and then thaw at room temperature before dipping them in a fresh batch of glaze.
What is the best way to fill a doughnut pan without making a mess?
Transfer the batter into a large zip-top bag, snip off one of the bottom corners, and pipe the batter evenly into each cup of the doughnut pan. Or you can use a pastry bag.
General FAQs for baking:
Why do recipes have salt in the ingredients of baked goods?
Even though salt tends to make foods, well, salty, it actually plays other roles in baking as well.
For example, the right amount of salt balances flavors in baked goods; it can bring out the sweetness of sugar and, at the same time, prevent them from tasting overly sweet. It also can help dull the bitterness of cocoa.
Salt prevents baked goods from tasting bland, while it balances the richness of the fats. It also helps develop flavor in yeast breads and works with proteins to strengthen gluten and make it more elastic.
Salt also slows down yeast fermentation because it prevents the yeast from eating up the sugars too quickly, which otherwise would cause the dough to rise too fast and then ultimately collapse, causing bread to come out flat instead of fluffy.
Salt helps baked goods stay a little fresher for a little longer and helps delay mold from growing on them.
What is the difference between white granulated sugar and brown sugar?
The short answer is that while white granulated sugar is just pure sweetness, brown sugar is white sugar with molasses mixed into it.
Here is how that change affects your baking:
- White sugar is neutrally sweet. Brown sugar tastes like rich caramel or toffee.
- White sugar makes things crisp and light. Brown sugar traps moisture, making baked goods (like brownies) dense, soft, and extra chewy.
- Brown sugar is dark and wet; white sugar is dry and clear.
Tip: If a recipe calls for brown sugar and you’re completely out, you can make your own by thoroughly mixing a tablespoon of molasses into a cup of regular white granulated sugar, and that will give you light-brown sugar. If you want dark brown sugar, you need to mix in more molasses.
What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder?
Baking soda and baking powder are both synthetic leavens that help baked goods rise, but there is a difference between them.
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, which needs another ingredient that is acidic in order to be activated. When the baking soda touches the acid, it creates a carbon dioxide gas, which helps the baked good rise. Baking soda is between 3 and 4 times stronger than baking powder, and if too much baking soda is used, your baked good will end up with a metallic flavor.
Baking powder is baking soda that is already mixed with an acid and a stabilizer and will be activated by moisture and heat. Nowadays, baking powder is called double-acting because it activates twice—once when it gets wet (when you mix the ingredients together) and again when it heats in the oven.
Replacing one with the other can be tricky, and it’s not recommended. However, if you have no choice, then do solid research for substituting one for the other for the baked good you are preparing so you don’t ruin it.
What do eggs do in baking?
Eggs are made up of two parts: the whites and the yolks (the yellow).
Egg whites are made up of protein that sets when heated and helps baked goods hold their structure. The yolks are made up of fats and vitamins and help ingredients bond.
Eggs also help baked goods rise as well as keep them moist.
It is important to have the right amount of eggs when baking, because if there are too many eggs in a recipe, this can cause a rubbery, dense texture, and if there are too few eggs, this can cause a crumbly, dry texture.
The different parts of the egg will provide different textures to baked goods; using the entire egg in baking will provide moisture and help the baked good rise evenly, using extra yolks will create richer, denser textures, and extra whites will add fluffiness but may create a drier texture.
What is the difference between butter and margarine?
Butter is a dairy product that is made by churning heavy cream until the fats separate from the milk (i.e., buttermilk). Margarine, however, is made from vegetable oil. Butter generally has a lower melting point than margarine as well as a lower water content (and the soft tub margarines have a higher water content than bar margarines).
Using butter in baking cookies can create a crisper, more flaky cookie, while cookies will come out softer and more cakey when made with margarine. It is also generally believed to be better to “cream” using butter rather than margarine.
Using butter adds a kind of toasted nut flavor to baked goods, while margarine doesn’t add flavor (however, sometimes with margarine, one might have a waxy feel on the roof of one’s mouth after eating something with a high margarine content).
If one wants to make a dairy-free baked good that calls for butter, a dairy-free margarine is a good substitute.
What is the difference between dairy-free margarine and vegan butter?
Vegan butter and margarine have similarities. In fact, all vegan butter is a type of dairy-free margarine. The difference between them is in the content and the baking performance.
Vegan butter is made from fats such as coconut oil, shea butter, or cocoa butter and behaves like butter in that it creates more flaky and crisp textures and has a toasted nutty flavor, while margarine is typically made with the less expensive vegetable oils.
What is the difference in using oil vs. butter or margarine?
Both margarine and butter are solid fats at room temperature, and both contain more saturated fats than oil.
While margarine and butter will change from a solid to a liquid when heated, they will change back to solids when cooled again. Oil stays liquid at all temperatures. Oil also coats flour better in the preparation process before baking.
Butter “creams” better than margarine, but one cannot cream oil at all.
When converting a recipe from butter or margarine to oil, the general conversion rate is 1 to ¾ (although if you are doing more than one batch, you might need to reduce the oil because I have found that baked goods come out oily in this case).
And when converting from oil to margarine or butter, typically the ratio is 1 to 1¼, and from margarine or butter to oil, the ratio is typically 1 to ¾.
What is the difference between real vanilla extract and imitation vanilla?
Real vanilla is made from soaking vanilla beans in alcohol, imitation vanilla is synthetic, and real vanilla costs quite a bit more than imitation. Whether or not there will be a taste difference in your baking depends on the baked good, so do some research before you decide.
I personally always use the imitation as long as I have a really good brand because it’s not worth it to me to spend the extra money.
Should I sift flour before I use it?
Unless you are concerned about bugs or clumps from moisture, the need to sift depends on your recipe.
For example, you don’t need to sift for dense baking like muffins or quick breads, where lumps won’t ruin the texture. But you should sift for recipes that rely on air bubbles, such as sponge or angel cakes or soufflés. You also should sift your flour if you are making baked goods with a high fat content, such as brownies, because it is important that the fat be absorbed throughout all of the flour, and having flour clumps could prevent this.
Sifting the baking powder and/or baking soda together with the flour and salt before mixing in the other ingredients may be able to help prevent cakes from coming out lopsided, where one side may be somewhat higher than the other.
What basic equipment is good to have for typical baking?
- a stand mixer, which I use mostly for dough and sometimes for whipping
- a hand mixer (for things that aren’t dough, and I don’t want to mix manually)
- a kitchen scale
- different sizes and shapes of baking pans, including loaf pans
- mixing bowls (or just large bowls—I have plastic, glass, and metal)
- cookie sheets
- pie dishes
- dry measuring cups
- liquid measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- whisks
- rubber spatulas (really good for when you don’t want to leave anything in the bowl)
- rolling pins
- a baking mat for rolling out dough
- baking strips
- a good supply of baking (or parchment) paper (also round for layer cakes)
- muffin tins, doughnut tins
What ingredients are good to have in my pantry for convenient baking?
- flour
- white granulated sugar
- brown sugar (light/dark—I usually keep dark)
- confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- cocoa powder
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- ground ginger
- ground cloves
- baking chocolate
- chocolate chips
- instant dry yeast
- vanilla and/or vanilla sugar
- cooking oil/cooking spray
- margarine or butter
- eggs
- honey
- instant coffee
- various extracts (real or imitation)
- a variety of fillings, frostings, and toppings:
- whipping cream
- packaged pie dough or ready-made pie crusts
- puff pastry dough
If you like this baked doughnuts recipe…
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Easy Dairy-Free Galzed Baked Cake Donuts Recipe
Absolutely delicious old-fashioned cake donuts, made without butter or buttermilk, and coated in a delicious glaze.
Ingredients
Donuts
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup dairy-free buttermilk substitute* (see notes)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons of water, oat milk, or other milk alternative
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking power, nutmeg and salt.
- Add the buttermilk (or buttermilk alternative as in the notes), eggs, vanilla, and oil and combine completely.
- Fill well-greased wells of donut pans to around ¾ high.
- Place in an oven that has been preheated to 350°F and bake for around 8 minutes or until the donuts are firm and dry (ie no longer wet) or until a toothpick inserted into them comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool a little and then remove donuts from the pans and set aside to finish cooling.
- In the meantime, make the glaze by combining together the powdered sugar, milk (or water), and vanilla and mixing well until smooth.
- When the donuts have cooled, dip each of them in the glaze so that they are completely covered and set on a wire rack to dry.
Notes
* Dairy-free buttermilk substitute:3/4 cup neutral-flavored oatmilk1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice or white vinegar
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 437Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 8gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 397mgCarbohydrates: 69gFiber: 1gSugar: 37gProtein: 6g