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This old fashioned cake donut recipe creates cake donuts that are crispy on the outside and give way to a perfectly soft and cakey center, making these an amazing breakfast treat! We grew up eating these and they’ll always be a treasured family favorite.
Oh my word, you guys. I know that I gave myself the title of donut (doughnut?) queen, but really, the title goes to my grandma. I’m just the donut princess.
My grandma created the best dang cake donut recipe ever and I’ve been dying to share it with you. Anytime I make these, I get shot straight back to my childhood.
Visiting my grandma on vacation, waiting impatiently for her to fry up these unbelievable donuts, and then eating them until I’d make myself sick. She would often serve the donuts plain, straight from the fryer.
I prefer them tossed in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, but powdered sugar or a glaze works great as well.
What Readers are Saying!
“Very simple but great tasting recipe. I drained the donuts on racks that were placed in paper towel lined cookie sheets.” – Mary
These are cake donuts, which means there is no waiting on yeast to do it’s thing.
Instead, the donuts have baking powder in them to help them rise.
You’ll love these donuts. I’m telling you – better than bakery donuts, by far!
How to make fried cake donuts:
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Use a stand mixer with a dough hook to beat together butter, sugar, and egg.
In a separate bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt.
Knead the dough for a couple of minutes until it is workable. If it is too sticky still, you can add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it is workable.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface trying to make it a consistent thickness about 1/4″ thick. Use a donut cutter to cut the donuts.
Add the donuts to a pot of oil that is 375 degrees F. Add in as many as will fit without crowding the pan. Fry until golden which should take about 2 minutes on each side at the recommended temp.
When you remove the donut from the fryer, drain on a paper towel lined plate.
Toss each donut on a plate with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar that uses 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Coat both sides. Alternately, place the cinnamon and sugar in a brown paper bag and shake the donuts to coat.
Helpful Tip!
Invest in a thermometer!
I know many people don’t like to fry, so here are my best tips. Invest in a thermometer! They cost about five dollars and are worth every penny.
You want to keep your oil at a consistent temperature so that your donuts don’t get too greasy. Greasy donuts means your oil isn’t hot enough! 375 degrees is perfect for these donuts.
Leftover grease ideas:
After you’ve fried the donuts, you can keep the oil covered for a week or two and use it for frying other foods.
We try to use oil that fried sweet foods for frying other sweet foods, and oil that fried savory foods for other savory foods.
Use the leftover oil to test out our biscuit donuts or potato donuts next!
If you don’t think you’ll re-use the oil, just let it cool completely and then use a funnel to pour it right back into your empty oil container or an empty milk jug. I try to keep a few empty milk jugs under my kitchen sink or in my pantry for used up oil.
Close the jug up tight and then toss it in your garbage can on garbage day. It’s a pretty simple way to deal with all that leftover oil!
The BEST Cake Donuts
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups flour more as needed
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Oil for frying
- Cinnamon Sugar mix for coating the donuts 1/2 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg.
- In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients.
- Alternate adding the milk and flour mixture until everything is well combined. Knead for just a couple of minutes. If the dough is too sticky to roll out, add more flour until it's workable, 1-2 tablespoons at a time.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick. Use a donut cutter to cut donuts.
- Add to a pot of 375 degree oil, just a few donuts at a time so as not to crowd the pan, and fry until golden, about 2 minutes each side.
- Drain on a paper towel lined plate before tossing in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in February 2014. It was updated in February 2021.
Julia Stearns @ Healthirony says
The colors are so vibrant and your photography is fantastic! Thx for sharing donuts recipe, I definitely add it to my cookbook!
Nicole says
Just an amazing recipe!! My family went nuts over these, I glazed some put cinnamon and sugar in some, confectioners sugar on some and the rest were plain. I double the recipe!! So good!! Thank you for sharing. My son said I couldn’t use any other donut recipe 🙂
Karly says
Oh, I’m so glad to hear these were a hit! <3 Thanks for sharing!
Dev says
Hi just made these. Consistency came out great! But there was an overwhelming taste of baking soda. I substituted buttermilk with almond milk and lemon juice. You think that was the problem?
Karly says
Hmm, I’m not really sure – I don’t really use almond milk so I’m not sure how that would affect it.
Justwanttosaythanks says
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I made them recently and they turned out great! I found it fun and easy to make! I did end up using about a 1/4 c more flour and added a smidge of vanilla extract. The taste and consistency was so much better than my first try at baking donuts with active yeast!! I got about 2dz with a 2” donut cutter and some “munchkins”.
Karly says
Glad to hear you enjoyed these! I need to make another batch soon.
Misty says
I’ve been gluten intolerant for 6 years and this is literally the best recipe. I love the nutmeg and cinnamon so they’re not so plain. The only thing I substituted besides the flour was buttermilk, I added 3/4 tsp white vinegar and it turned out perfect.
LaNiesha says
Hello and thank you for this amazing recipe!
I noticed you said your grandmother used shortening instead of butter , can you tell me what the difference in the outcome would be? Thank you sooooo much
Karly says
I haven’t made them myself with shortening since it’s not my favorite product to bake with and it’s been years and years since I’ve had hers. As far as I can remember, there’s no difference to the taste or texture. 🙂
Susan Davey says
I made these, turned out great! I added one tablespoon grated fresh lemon rind to my second batch, and they were also delicious! Great recipe, thank you for sharing it!
Karly says
Oh, I bet the lemon was a great addition!
Haley says
Hi! First of all-I LOVE LOVE LOVE This recipe! I use it all the time! I was wondering if you have tried filling the doughnuts. If so-how did you do so? Thanks a ton!
Haley
Karly says
Hi Haley!
So glad you love these as much as we do! I’ve never tried filling them. Since they’re cake donuts, they’re more dense, so they might be a little tough to fill. I believe it’s usually yeast donuts that come filled, since they are more light and airy . If you wanted to try it, I’d roll them out and cut with a biscuit cutter, fry as usual, and then use a piping bag with a long tip to fill them. Let me know how it works out!
Sweet & Simple Magazine says
I’ts definitely doughnut season at our house and this recipe looks great. Trying it today #yum
Kay says
This weekend my family wanted to deep fry with my little brother’s deep fryer, and we are buying all-organic ingredients (even the oil!) so we wanted to make the most of it. I have never made doughnuts before but i loved the idea of organic doughnuts. I tried making these but it went all wrong- i added almost a cup more of flour but still they were quite sticky, just barely able to roll and hard to pick up and get into the deep fryer without falling apart. (But we did it!) Sadly, they absorbed so much oil in the outer laters that nobody could eat more than a bite. We had to throw them out! We tried longer and shorter cooking times but it didn’t help. Since I have never made doughnuts before i don’t know what consistency is correct. I was afraid to add more than a cup of extra flour, since the recipe calls for 3 cups! Maybe you can mention in the recipe what the dough should feel like (how sticky or not sticky?) for us newbies? Or next time you make them, if you could measure how much extra flour we should expect? Thanks!
Karly says
Hi Kay!
I’m so sorry these didn’t work out for you. I know how frustrating that can be, especially with expensive ingredients!
Normally, I really only need the 3 cups of flour, but depending on humidity levels, I’ll sometimes need more. I add more flour until the dough is easy to work with. You should be able to roll them and pick them up with just a little bit of stickiness when you pull your fingers away – not enough that you’re leaving chunks of dough on your hand, but enough that you can feel the resistance. I’m wondering if your oil was hot enough as well? If the donuts are absorbing oil, that’s likely because the oil wasn’t quite hot enough.
Hope that helps and you’re able to try again!
Melissa says
These bring back memories of the doughnuts my mother made when I was growing up. She always tossed them in sugar and nutmeg instead of cinnamon. To this day, nutmeg is my favorite spice.
Brittany says
so I know it’s best to make the dough the morning of, but would it greatly suffer making the dough the night before? And having it all rolled out so you just fry in the morning?
Karly says
Unfortunately, I don’t think that would work too well. The baking powder starts acting immediately and keeping the dough overnight will negate that. Your donuts would probably be flat and dense the next morning.
Jasmine says
This recipe looks pretty amazing. I was wondering are there any substitutes for the donut cutter? trying to save a trip to the store. I have lots of cookie cutters lol 😕
Karly says
Absolutely! You can use a biscuit cutter if you have one (if not, a drinking glass will work) to cut the donut. Then you can use the lid to a bottle (like a 2 liter soda bottle or something similar) to cut out the hole. It’s definitely NOT as easy, because the holes don’t pop out of the lid without a little work, but I’ve done it many times. 😉
Karly says
Oh, and I just realized you said you have a lot of cookie cutters…if you have one large circle and one smaller circle, that would probably work even better! 🙂
Judy says
Hi Karly –
I have not made donuts before but fondly remember wishing my Nana would hurry and finish making her donuts so we could devour them! What is the best oil to use for frying them?
Thanks!
Karly says
Hi Judy!
I normally fry thing in vegetable oil, but peanut oil works really well too! Either is fine. 🙂
Janette says
I usually just like regular old glazed donuts, but this looks amazing! I’m a sucker for cinnamon and sugar so this is right up my alley! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Karly says
Enjoy!