Red Velvet Donuts with Cream Cheese Icing is the answer when you are looking for a quick but delicious breakfast or sweet treat!
Sometimes you don't have time to make an elaborate breakfast spread but you still have to eat, right?
Well, look no further because this recipe for Baked Red Velvet Cake Donuts is just what you are looking for!
They are so quick and easy to stir together, bake in about 15 minutes, and the glaze is ready when the donuts come out of the oven!
This recipe makes about 12 regular-size cake donuts but it doubles and even triples very easily! Just click on the toggle button in the recipe card to easily double or triple the ingredients for you!
What Does Red Velvet Cake Taste Like?
Red Velvet Cake is essentially a chocolate cake but is a bit more rich and dense. The buttermilk gives the cake its richness while the cocoa powder lends a chocolate flavor that is not overwhelming but noticeable.
The red food coloring is not necessary for the flavor of Red Velvet Donuts. But the signature coloring does make these donuts pretty and festive for Valentine's Day, Christmas, or just because! Leaving out the red coloring will result in a pinkish-brown donut - still delicious but not the prettiest!
A dash of vinegar helps to intensify the red food coloring. For the most intense color, use gel coloring (I use Wilton). You can use liquid food coloring but you will need more coloring to achieve the same intensity of color.
Ingredients Needed for this Recipe
The ingredients for these donuts are easy to keep on hand for that impromptu donut craving. You'll need:
- All-purpose flour - Good old All-purpose flour is the best option here!
- Light Brown Sugar - Brown sugar adds depth of flavor and additional moisture over granulated sugar.
- Cocoa Powder - Using Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder will increase the depth of the chocolate flavor and also the brown color. You can use a lighter cocoa powder such as Hershey's for a light color if you are also OK with a lighter chocolate flavor.
- Baking Powder - No yeast in these donuts means no waiting for your dough to rise! Baking powder will provide all the rise that we need as it reacts to the acidic nature of cocoa powder and buttermilk.
- Salt - Salt is there to deepen the other flavors!
- Buttermilk - If you don't have buttermilk, you can use milk with a splash of lemon juice or vinegar as a substitute.
- Unsalted Butter - Melt the butter and then make sure that it has mostly cooled before adding to the other liquid ingredients so that you don't cook the eggs.
- Vegetable Oil - Just a little bit of vegetable oil helps to keep these donuts moist for up to 3 days!
- Vanilla Extract - Optional but recommended!
- Eggs - Use room temperature eggs for a better emulsion of liquid ingredients and to keep the butter from curdling and not mixing in smoothly.
- Distilled Vinegar - Helps to intensify the red coloring and give the distinctive red velvet flavor and texture.
- Red Food Coloring - Technically, you don't HAVE to use any food coloring in these Red Velvet Donuts at all. But everyone loves the signature red color!
For the Frosting, you will need:
- Cream Cheese - Make sure the Cream Cheese is very soft. Full-fat cream cheese is the best choice to make sure that the icing is not too thin and soft.
- Unsalted Butter - Like the cream cheese, make sure that your butter is very soft.
- Vanilla Extract - Flavor enhancer!
- Salt - Another flavor enhancer!
- Powdered Sugar - Sift the powdered sugar to ensure that clumps are broken up.
- Milk - The amount of milk used will depend on the consistency that you want your icing to be. Using about 2 tablespoons of milk will make an icing that you can spread. Use 3 to 4 tablespoons to thin the icing so that the donuts can be dipped.
- Red Sprinkles, optional - I have seen people sprinkle donut crumbs on top of their icing for decoration. But I am not willing to sacrifice a whole donut for that! So I go for the red sprinkles!
How do you make Red Velvet Donuts?
Making these red velvet donuts couldn't be easier!
These Baked Red Velvet Donuts are made using the muffin method - wet ingredients in one bowl, dry ingredients in another bowl, and then stir them together! That's it!
No mixer is required for these baked donuts but you will need a hand mixer or a stand mixer to make the icing. Once all of the icing ingredients have been added, whisk for about 1 to 2 minutes to make a light and fluffy frosting! Then add more milk if you want a thinner icing for dipping instead of spreading.
Tips for Baking Success
Tip 1: Make sure that your ingredients are at room temperature before beginning to make the recipe. This will ensure that the ingredients incorporate into the batter and create a better texture.
Tip 2: Make sure that your rising agents (baking soda, baking powder, etc.) are FRESH to ensure proper rising in your baked treat.
Tip 3: Measure accurately! The most accurate way to measure when baking is with a kitchen scale. Using a scale will give you consistent results every time that you make a recipe. If you do not have a scale, use the scoop and sweep method for measuring flour. Scoop the flour out of the bag or container into your measuring cup with a spoon and sweep across the top with knife to level it off.
The pans that I use to make Baked Donuts are so affordable that I have several! Each pan makes 6 donuts at a time so I recommend buying at least two pans so that you don't have to wait for the pan to cool to pipe the second batch of donuts.
I also find it easier to pipe the batter into the pans using a piping bag with the tip cut off. You can also use a plastic bag with the corner cut off or just spoon the batter into the donut wells.
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Other Donut Recipes to Try:
Baked Red Velvet Donut
Equipment
- Donut pan(s) to make 12 donuts
- Pan Spray
Ingredients
For the Donuts
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk or make your own, see NOTE
- 4 tablespoon butter melted and cooled
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon distilled vinegar
- Red Food Coloring gel preferred
For the Cream Cheese Icing
- 5 ounces full fat cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dash salt
- 4 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 2-4 tablespoon milk
- 1 tablespoon Red Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray doughnut pan/s with pan spray generously and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla, distilled vinegar, and eggs. Gently fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Be careful not to over-mix. Too much stirring and folding will cause the donuts to be tough and dense. Fold in the red food coloring and stir until combined.
- Spoon the donut batter into the prepared doughnut pan/s, and bake for 13-16 minutes, or until the doughnuts spring back when pressed lightly on top. Allow doughnuts to cool a few minutes in the pans and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract on medium speed until completely smooth. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted powdered sugar. Add in the milk one tablespoon at a time. If you want to spread the frosting on the donuts, you will only use about 2 tablespoons of milk. If you want a thinner glaze, add more milk, one tablespoon at a time until it is smooth and dippable.
- Spread the frosting on the cooled donuts with an offset spatula or dip into the thinner icing and add sprinkles.
Video
Notes
- Using Gel Food Coloring with a small amount of vinegar is the best way to get that gorgeous red color! You can leave the coloring out if preferred. The donuts will still taste delicious but will be a light to medium brown in color, depending on the color of your cocoa powder.
- The recipe is adapted from www.bakerbynature.com
- If you don't have buttermilk, you can use milk with a splash of lemon juice or vinegar as a substitute.
sallybr says
loved the video! your yellow hand held beater is very very sexy! 😉