Fluffy little circles of joy that can be dipped, coated or decorated in so many ways. My vegan baked ring donuts are sure to satisfy your sweet treat cravings and in this blog post, I’ll show you two ways to decorate them. Less than 20 minutes to make and bake. Check out the full post for non vegan and GF options.
Why I Made this Recipe
I am a huge fan of baked donuts especially when I want to ice them as they are lighter than fried donuts and are very similar to cake. And the great thing about this recipe is that it can also be used to make mini donuts and cupcakes.
Why You Need to Make These
These take less than 20 minutes to make and are the perfect treat for any occasion or a quick evening snack. Not vegan? Keep reading for my ingredient substitutions to see how you can swap out ingredients to suit your own dietary requirements.
Ingredients and Substitutions
To ensure that this recipe is allergen-friendly, I am using a couple of substitutions in place of egg and butter.
Dry Ingredients
Cake Flour: A lot of donut recipes use all purpose flour but I prefer a lighter consistency. Cake Flour has a lower protein content, less gluten and will create a more gentle texture in your baked goods. I always use it in my cakes and highly recommend it if you’re a fan of fluffy cakes. To make your own cake flour for this recipe, weigh out 240 grams of all purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons and replace it with 2 tablespoons of cornflour. Sift two times to ensure it is incorporated fully. I haven’t tried this with gluten-free flour but would recommend using a 1-to-1 GF flour substitute if you want to experiment. I frequently bake with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour with great results.
Baking Powder and Salt: Baking powder helps the donuts rise. Remember that baking powder adds PUFF to a recipe which is exactly what we want here. Salt is added to cut back on the sweetness, and also to enhance the flavours.
Sugar: I’m using white sugar in this recipe. If you want a slightly caramelly undertone, you could sub with golden or light brown sugar. You can also substitute with coconut sugar.
Wet Ingredients
Melted Butter: I am using unsalted plant based melted butter to add fat to the donuts. I prefer to use melted butter in donuts to retain that lightness. You can substitute with a light oil such as canola if you prefer or regular unsalted butter if you’re not dairy free or vegan.
Plant Based Yogurt: Yogurt is a great addition in baked donut recipes to help retain moisture and add richness. You can use flavoured yogurt if you don’t want plain donuts. Sub with dairy yogurt if you’re not vegan.
Buttermilk: My secret ingredient for fluffy donuts is buttermilk! I’m a huge fan of using buttermilk in my baking as it creates a light and fluffy texture with a little bit of tang. Did you know that homemade buttermilk is really easy to make? Just use one cup (240ml) of milk (I used almond milk) and add 1 tbsp of vinegar (I like using Apple Cider Vinegar) or lemon juice. Let it sit for 10 minutes and it’ll curdle and be ready to add to your recipe. For more information on vegan buttermilk, go to my ‘how to’ post here. I also have a video showing the process here. If you’re not dairy free, you can make this with regular dairy milk.
How to Make Vegan Baked Ring Donuts
As with all of my recipes, I recommend preheating your oven before you start gathering all of your ingredients. This ensures that your oven has time to heat up evenly and will be ready once you start making the donuts. They come together very quickly so you don’t want to wait around for your oven to heat up once your batter is made.
Grease the donut pans, ensuring that the middle is well greased. This will ensure that they come out of the pan easily once they are baked. I usually use a baking spray or you can grease with butter.
Making the Donuts
I recommend using a hand mixer to make these donuts so that you can incorporate everything quickly and it also reduces the amount of time that the batter is being mixed. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to the mixing bowl and mix together.
Add in the buttermilk, yogurt and melted butter and mix until combined. You can find out more about vegan buttermilk here.
Fill each donut cavity about three-quarters full. You can either pour it in from the mixing bowl or fill a ziploc or piping bag and pipe in the batter. Wipe off any spills with kitchen paper.
Bake at 425°F for 8 minutes. The vegan baked ring donuts should be well risen and slightly golden. Allow to cool then turn out on to a cooling rack.
Making the Toppings
In our family, two of us love cinnamon sugar donuts and two of us prefer them to be glazed (I’m on team glaze). What I love about donuts is you can really decorate them just about any way you like.
To make the cinnamon sugar, add cinnamon and sugar to a bowl and toss to combine. Toss 6 donuts in melted butter then into the bowl of cinnamon sugar. So quick and easy.
For the glaze, mix together the icing sugar and plant based milk in a bowl then dip the donuts in the glaze. If there are any bubbles in the glaze, pop them with a toothpick. You can even add colour to your glaze and sprinkles if you wish. Our youngest is a huge sprinkle fan and loves adding sprinkles to his donuts.
Common Questions
This recipe makes 12 ring donuts that are best enjoyed as soon as they are decorated. Feel free to double or triple the recipe as required. You can also make mini donuts with the same recipe.
Check out my ingredients and substitutions guide for non vegan and also gluten free options.
It is SO easy to make your own buttermilk. Add 1 tbsp of vinegar (I like using Apple Cider Vinegar) or lemon juice to 1 cup (240ml) of milk (I used almond milk). Let it sit for 10 minutes and it’ll curdle and be ready to add to your recipe. For more information on vegan buttermilk, check out my ‘how to’ post here.
Storage
These donuts are best enjoyed immediately after decorating. If you have more will power than our family and want to keep some donuts for the next day, I recommend popping them in an airtight container in the fridge. They will go slightly sticky over time but will still taste fabulous.
Craving more donuts?
We love making up a batch of donuts for a quick evening treat. Check out these recipes for more donuty goodness:
- Mini chocolate donuts are a great lunchbox treat for kids
- My red velvet donuts are perfect for parties
- If you prefer churros, why not try my air fryer churros. So good with my caramel sauce.
Vegan Baked Ring Donuts – Two Ways
Equipment
- Donut Pan 2 x 6 cavity pans
- Bowls for dipping
Ingredients
For the Donut Batter:
- 240 grams Cake Flour (2 US Cups)
- 140 grams White Sugar (Just under 3/4 US Cup)
- 10 grams Baking Powder
- 4 grams Salt
- 175 ml Vegan Buttermilk (3/4 US Cup)
- 120 grams Plant Based Yogurt (1/2 US Cup)
- 30 grams Plant Based Butter (unsalted) (2 tbsp – melted)
Toppings:
- Additional melted butter for coating
- 50 grams White Sugar (1/4 US Cup)
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 220 grams Icing Sugar (1 3/4 US Cups)
- 90 ml Plant Based Milk (1/3 US Cup)
Instructions
Prep:
- Preheat oven to 425°F and gather all ingredients and equipment.
- Grease the donut pans. I usually use a baking spray or you can grease with butter.
Making the Donuts:
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to the mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add in the buttermilk, yogurt and melted butter and mix until combined.
- Fill each donut cavity about three-quarters full. You can either pour it in from the mixing bowl or fill a ziploc or piping bag and pipe in the batter. Wipe off any spills with kitchen paper.
- Bake at 425°F for 8 minutes. The donuts should be well risen and slightly golden.
- Allow to cool then turn out on to a cooling rack.
Making the Toppings:
- Add cinnamon to the sugar and toss to combine. Toss 6 donuts in melted butter then in the cinnamon sugar.
- For the glaze, mix together the icing sugar and plant based milk in a bowl then dip the donuts in the glaze. If there are any bubbles in the glaze, pop them with a toothpick.
- Best enjoyed immediately!
Video
Notes
- This recipe makes 12 ring donuts that are best enjoyed as soon as they are decorated. Feel free to double or triple the recipe as required. You can also make mini donuts with the same recipe.
- Check out the full recipe post for substitute information and how to make vegan buttermilk.
- The donuts can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days but will become slightly sticky over time.
- I always weigh my ingredients rather than use cup measurements. This ensures accuracy for every recipe and perfect results every time. For convenience for those who prefer using cup measurements, I have converted this recipe myself. Please note that if you use the 2x or 3x ingredient feature in this recipe card, it will not increase the cup measurements. Please calculate those manually.
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