These blueberry donuts are soft and fluffy cake donuts filled with fresh or frozen blueberries topped with a sweet and tart lemon glaze. The next time you want a perfectly cozy breakfast treat, grab your donut pan, a couple of mixing bowls and a whisk and make the best blueberry cake donuts.
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
I absolutely love baked donuts. A few of my favorites from the blog are my Buttermilk Donuts, Powdered Sugar Donuts, Maple Donuts, Cinnamon Sugar Donuts, Chocolate Donuts, and Banana Donuts. I am so excited to add these incredibly delicious and easy to make baked blueberry donuts to the mix! I know you’ll love this baked blueberry cake donut recipe because:
- It has the perfect moist, dense and tender texture. These blueberry cake donuts bake up wonderfully soft and fluffy which pairs beautifully with the sweet, tart and plump blueberries.
- Easy to make with simple ingredients. These glazed blueberry donuts are made using the same simple ingredients used to make muffins and comes together in two bowls with no fancy equipment; just some good old fashioned mixing, baking and dipping.
Ingredients
This baked blueberry donut recipe requires only a handful of ingredients to make and you probably already have them in your house! Before I show you how to make blueberry donuts, make sure you have these ingredients ready to go.
For the Baked Donuts
Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
Wet Ingredients: Gather granulated sugar, light brown sugar, an egg, sour cream, milk, vanilla extract and melted butter.
For the Lemon Glaze
Gather powdered sugar and lemon juice.
Substitutions
These blueberry donuts are made to be quick and easy. So quick and easy, you can make it as a special breakfast to enjoy any day of the week. Here are my recommended substitutions to make this blueberry cake donut recipe.
- All purpose flour: This recipe hasn’t been tested with an alternative flour. However, if you want to make this recipe gluten free, use a good 1-1 flour and measure by weight rather than cups.
- Granulated Sugar and Light Brown Sugar: Make these blueberry donuts refined sugar free by swapping the brown sugar and granulated with maple sugar.
- Sour Cream: Feel free to use an equivalent amount of greek yogurt or buttermilk. Make these blueberry doughnuts dairy free by using a full fat plant based yogurt.
- Milk: Any type of milk will work well in these cake donuts.
- Unsalted Butter: Use salted butter if needed. Just make sure to omit the added salt listed in the recipe. Vegan or dairy free butter can also be used if needed.
- Eggs: This recipe hasn’t been tested without eggs.
- Vanilla Extract: This adds a lovely background flavor that pairs really well with blueberries.
- Blueberries: Fresh or frozen blueberries can be used in this recipe for blueberry donuts. I recommend using blueberries that are small (rather than the jumbo kind sold in stores). Fresh blueberries won’t bleed into the cake donut dough. Frozen ones will, so when using frozen (like I did in this recipe), make sure to fold them until they are just incorporated.
Variations
- Maple Glaze: Top the blueberry doughnuts with a sweet maple glaze. Whisk 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar with 3 tablespoons (45 ml) maple syrup, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 - 2 tablespoons (15 - 30 ml) milk, as needed. Dip the cooled donuts into the glaze, set and enjoy!
- Vanilla Glaze: Top these homemade blueberry donuts with a vanilla glaze. Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g) with 1 teaspoons (5 ml) vanilla extract and 2-3 tablespoons milk. Dip the cooled donuts into the glaze, set and enjoy!
- Cinnamon Sugar Coating: Whisk 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar with 2 teaspoons (6 g) ground cinnamon. Melt ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter in wide shallow bowl. Dip the entire blueberry donut into the melted butter. Roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture until fully coated, set and enjoy!
How To Make
Let me show you how to make glazed blueberry donuts in a few easy steps!
- Preheat the oven to 350 (177 C). Grease a 6 ct. donut pan or muffin pan (see expert tips). In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together until well combined.
- In another large bowl, pour the light brown sugar, egg, sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. Whisk well to fully combine. Next, whisk in the butter until fully combined.
- Mix the dry ingredients to the wet. Whisk well until smooth and fully combined with no lumps. Fold in the fresh or frozen blueberries.
- Spoon or pipe the blueberry donut batter into each of the prepared donut cavities in the donut pan. This should fill about ¾ of each cavity of the donut pan. Bake the donuts for about 10 - 12 minutes. The donuts are done when the tops bounce back quickly when lightly pressed. Cool the donuts in the pan for 5 minutes before gently taking them out to cool on a cooling rack.
- While the blueberry cake donuts cool, whisk the powdered sugar with the lemon juice until the lemon glaze is to your desired consistency. Dip the top of the cooled blueberry donut into the lemon glaze, shake off any excess and return to the cooling rack to fully set. Once set, enjoy your delicious, bakery worthy blueberry donuts!
How To Store, Freeze and Thaw
Like donuts you get from a donut shop, these baked cake donuts taste best the day they are made. However, if needed they can be stored and enjoyed later.
- Store donuts at room temperature: These berry donuts are truly best when enjoyed the same day they are made. If needed, place them in a single layer in an airtight container. Store them at room temperature for 2 days.
- To freeze and thaw plain cinnamon donuts: Place the unglazed baked blueberry donuts in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for a few hours. Dip in the lemon glaze and enjoy!
M’s Expert Tips
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature: This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly.
- Measure the flour properly: I highly recommend using a food scale to get perfectly measured dry ingredients every time.
- Don’t overmix the blueberry cake donut batter: Always use the lowest speed on your electric mixer or mix in the dry ingredients by hand. Make sure to mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
- Use small blueberries. After a few rounds of testing, I found that small blueberries work the best in this recipe for blueberry donuts. If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw them before mixing them into the batter.
- Use a piping bag or ziplock bag to pipe the batter into the pan. Transfer the blueberry cake donut batter into a ziplock bag with the tip cut off for the easiest way to fill the donut pan.
- Cool the donuts in the pan for no longer than 5 - 10 minutes.
FAQs
They are both blueberry cake donuts inspired by cake doughnuts, but they do not taste the same. This recipe for blueberry cake donuts is more like the glazed blueberry donut from Dunkin Donuts.
Yes! If you don’t have a donut pan and still want to make this blueberry cake donuts recipe, use a muffin pan instead! Fill each cavity of a 12 ct. muffin pan ¾ full. Bake at 350 F (177 C) for 18 - 20 minutes or until the tops of the muffins bounce back when gently pressed. You can also use my Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins recipe or Mini Blueberry Muffins recipe as they are written.
Fried donuts are yeast based. When fried they become light and airy when fried in hot oil. Baked donuts have a denser, more cake like texture and rely on leaveners such as baking powder to provide some lift.
Other Blueberry Recipes to Try
If you try this Blueberry Donuts recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking!
Blueberry Donuts Recipe
Equipment
- 1 6 ct. donut pan
- 1 whisk or spoon
- 1 piping bag or ziplock bag optional
Ingredients
Blueberry Donuts
- 1½ cups (180 g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg (US), room temperature
- ⅓ cup (79 ml) milk, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60 g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp (57 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to warm
- 1 cup (190 g) fresh or frozen blueberries
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 2 - 3 tbsp (30 - 45 ml) lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 (177 C). Grease a 6 ct. donut pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together until well combined.1½ cups (180 g) all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- In another large bowl, pour the light brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. Whisk well to fully combine. Next, whisk in the melted butter until fully combined.¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar, 1 large egg (US), room temperature, ⅓ cup (79 ml) milk, room temperature, ¼ cup (60 g) sour cream, room temperature, 4 tablespoon (57 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to warm, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- Mix the dry ingredients to the wet. Whisk well until smooth and fully combined with no lumps.Fold in the fresh or frozen blueberries.1 cup (190 g) fresh or frozen blueberries
- Spoon or pipe the blueberry donut batter into each of the prepared donut cavities in the donut pan. This should fill about ¾ of each cavity of the donut pan.
- Bake the donuts for about 10 - 12 minutes. The donuts are done when the tops bounce back quickly when lightly pressed.
- Cool the donuts in the pan for 5 minutes before gently taking them out to cool on a cooling rack.
- While the blueberry cake donuts cool, whisk the powdered sugar with the lemon juice until the lemon glaze is to your desired consistency. Dip the top of the cooled blueberry donut into the lemon glaze, shake off any excess and return to the cooling rack to fully set. Once set, enjoy your delicious, bakery worthy blueberry donuts!1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar, 2 - 3 tablespoon (30 - 45 ml) lemon juice
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