These sour cream baked donuts are what happens when a box of cake mix realizes it could have been a donut all along. Just 3 ingredients, no yeast, no frying, and no standing around waiting for dough to get in touch with its feelings. They're soft, tender, incredibly easy, and once that buttery glaze goes on, breakfast has officially abandoned all pretense of good behavior.
Table of Contents
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🥰 Is this baked sour cream donut recipe for you?
- You want donuts without the drama. No yeast, rising, frying, or sacrifices to the old gods of the Yeast Kingdom.
- You appreciate a unexpectedly short ingredient list. Cake mix, sour cream, and nutmeg. That's it.
- You want them fast. These are very much I would like a donut now, please donuts.
- You love soft, cakey donuts. Sour cream keeps them tender and gives them that old-fashioned donut-shop vibe.
- You believe glaze is foundational. Technically optional. Emotionally mandatory.
🎥 Video
🧾 Ingredients
Three ingredients. THREE. Because apparently we can make soft, tender baked donuts without summoning half the baking aisle into the kitchen.
- Cake mix - One 15.25-ounce box of yellow or white cake mix. Either works beautifully, so use whatever is lurking in the pantry.
- Sour cream - The secret to ridiculously tender, moist donuts without adding a parade of extra ingredients.
- Nutmeg - Just enough to give them that classic old-fashioned donut flavor.
For the optional glaze
- Powdered sugar - The sweet foundation of our glaze situation.
- Butter - Melted butter makes the glaze richer because we have standards.
- Vanilla - Adds warm, bakery-style flavor.
- Milk - Add just a splash if needed to thin the glaze to perfect drippy-donut consistency.
If you don't have a donut pan this Nordic Ware pan is the one I use. It's heavy, easy to clean, and the donuts bake evenly.
📖 Recipe
Sour Cream Baked Donuts
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 15.25 ounce yellow cake mix
- 1 ½ cups sour cream, do not use low fat or fat free
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
Glaze
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons milk, or more as needed to thin glaze
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375℉. Spray a donut pan with no-stick spray and set aside.
- Mix the cake mix, nutmeg, and sour cream until all of the sour cream is mixed in and it creates a thick dough (see video). The dough will be thick like a quick bread dough.
- Spoon the dough into the prepared donut pans, filling them about ⅔ - ¾ of the way up.
- Bake for about 8 minutes or until an instant read thermometer shows 195℉.
- Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before turning out of the pan and spooning the glaze over the top.
Glaze
- Mix the melted butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Add milk, if needed, until the mixture flows from a spoon.
- Spoon over the warm donuts.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)
🍩 The batter is REALLY thick. Yep. It should be closer to a soft biscuit or thick quick-bread dough than traditional cake batter. Don't start pouring in milk because it looks suspicious. Spoon it into the donut pan and carry on.
🍩 The donuts are dry. They probably baked a little too long. Cake mix is not known for its patience. Start checking early and pull them when the tops spring back lightly when touched and the donuts register 195F on an instant read thermometer.
🍩 They stick to the pan. Grease the donut pan well, including around that pesky center post. Let the donuts cool for a few minutes before gently loosening them.
🍩 The glaze is too thick. Add milk a teaspoon at a time until it reaches drippy perfection. We're glazing donuts, not spackling drywall.
🍩 The glaze is too thin. Add more powdered sugar until it thickens. Don't panic and dump in half the bag at once. Powdered sugar has no respect for boundaries.
🍽 More easy baked donut recipes
These sour cream baked donuts are proof that sometimes the easy answer is also the delicious one. Three ingredients, one bowl, no frying, and absolutely no negotiations with yeast. Slap some glaze on them, pour the coffee, and accept that you are now a person who can produce donuts on a whim. 🍩
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