These cake donuts are baked in the oven, super easy to make, and happen to be vegan – meaning no dairy or eggs – and the ingredients are all affordable pantry staples.
I wanted a version of cake donuts that I could share with my whole family, vegans included, that resembled donuts we served at our wedding. I started with our family Wacky Cake recipe, and adapted it to add more density and chew like a proper cafe-style cake donut.
The result is my base Vanilla Wacky Donuts recipe. It can be easily adapted to other flavours or dietary needs, but it’s already dairy-free and vegan! Check out my notes at the bottom of the page for a list of potential ingredient swaps.
Recipe adapted from: our family vanilla wacky cake recipe, similar to this one.
Yield: About 3 cups of batter, or 8 large 4″ donuts, or 20 mini 1″ donuts.
Vanilla Wacky Donuts
Equipment
- Donut Pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (256g)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch (8g)
- 1½ tsp baking powder (7.5g)
- ½ tsp baking soda (2.5g)
- ½ tsp salt (3g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- ½ c brown sugar (100g)
- 6 tbsp vegan butter, melted (86g)
- 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice (15 mL)
- 1 tbsp applesauce, unsweetened (15 mL)
- 1 tbsp vanilla (12g)
- ¾ cup oat milk (180 mL)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F, and grease your donut pans. I brush my pans with vegetable oil.
- Sift and lightly whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugars.
- Combine melted butter, vinegar, applesauce, and vanilla in a small bowl or measuring cup. Add to dry ingredients and stir, or mix on low for about 30 seconds, until just combined. Batter will resemble sandy crumbs.
- Add milk to batter and stir until combined. Batter should be soft and spoonable, like a thick pancake batter.
- Fill donut molds ¾ full, no matter what type of donut molds you use. I usually use a cookie scoop to spoon batter into molds and then spread the mounds out evenly.
- Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes (this makes a nice round top when they bake), then lower oven temperature to 350°F without opening the oven until donuts are done (timing below). Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, or the tops are firm and spring back to the touch.
- For large 4″ donuts: bake at 350°F for an additional 12-15 minutes.
- For mini 1″ donuts: bake at 350°F for an additional 6-8 minutes.
- Cool in pans completely before trying to take out of the molds, at least 15 minutes. This allows them to firm up and release easier.
- Once cooled, drizzle or dunk the donuts in a simple icing sugar glaze or dip.
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