This baked donut recipe is irresistibly delicious! Skip the bakery and make homemade vanilla or chocolate glazed donuts.

There’s no need to run out to the bakery if you’ve got a donut craving. Try this Baked Donut recipe! They’re irresistibly tender, sweet with a moist crumb, and pure perfection topped with a rich chocolate glaze. Add a bit of confetti sprinkles, and what could be more fun? All you need is a donut baking pan and a hankering for a project. We made these for our son Larson’s birthday festivities and needless to say, they were a huge hit over here (because…donuts!).

What you need for this baked donuts recipe

There’s one special piece of equipment you’ll need for this baked donut recipe…a donut pan! Baked donuts are made with a special pan: the batter is more like a cake or cupcake. Traditional yeasted donuts are made with a yeast dough, cut into circles and then deep fried: which is fun for another day. Outside of the donut pan, the ingredients are simple ones you likely already have in your pantry and fridge. Here’s what you need:

• Donut baking pan: here’s a link to the donut baking pans we used
• Pastry bag: it’s optional but helpful; see below
• Flour
• Granulated sugar
• Cinnamon
• Baking powder and salt
• Egg
• Butter
• Milk
• Vanilla

Tips for filling the donut pan

The only tricky part about this recipe, other than finding a donut pan, is getting the batter into the baking pan. It might not sound hard, but the batter is sticky and it’s also easy to use too much! Here are a few pointers:

• Don’t overfill the pan! If you add too much batter, the donut hole in the center will be too small and the shape won’t look right. It will seem like you’re not adding enough batter, but remember that it puffs up in the oven! Fill the holes about halfway full, dividing the dough evenly between 12 donuts.
• The dough is sticky, so a pastry bag can help. Using a pastry bag to pipe in the batter is very helpful for getting the batter into the pan cleanly. But not everyone has one! You can use a spoon, but you may need to wipe off the middle of the donut hole after you add the batter. (If you want to make mini donuts, a pastry bag is crucial.)

After you get the batter in the pan, baked donuts are a breeze! Bake them up and they’ll puff up like a charm.

Toppings for baked donuts

You can eat these baked donuts plain and they’re incredibly tasty: sweet and cinnamon-scented! In fact, we prefer them without any toppings. But if you want to do it up extra like a real bakery-style donut, try these donuts with a quick glaze! It’s fast and easy to make the glaze: and it comes out rich and creamy. Here are a few options for baked donut toppings:

• Plain: They’re actually great naked!
• Cinnamon sugar: Top with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar, or dip them in melted butter then place both sides in a plate of cinnamon sugar (for bakery style)
• Powdered sugar: Place each cooled donut one at a time into a sealed bag of powdered sugar and gently shake until coated.
• Chocolate glaze: This Chocolate Glaze recipe is fast and easy; you don’t even need chocolate (just cocoa powder!)
• Vanilla glaze: Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 3 tablespoons heavy cream, 1 tablespoon water, and ½ tablespoon vanilla extract for a quick vanilla glaze.
• Sprinkles: Always fun for added flair!

And that’s it! We made this baked donut recipe for our son’s donut-themed 5th birthday party, and suffice it to say: he’s pretty obsessed.

Storage info

How long can you store homemade baked donuts? Here are a few tips on storage:

• Store fully cooled donuts up to 2 days at room temperature in a sealed container with the lid cracked to prevent them from getting soggy. If they start to dry out (or if they are unglazed), you can close the lid.
• Freeze un-glazed baked donuts in a sealed container for up to 2 months; defrost and bring to room temperature before glazing.

More baking recipes

Want more baking recipes? We’re always up for a project. Here are a few fun ideas: