Birthday Cake Donuts
These Happy Birthday Donuts combine pantry staple ingredients with rainbow sprinkles and cotton candy flavoring to create light and fluffy glazed donuts! Serve up just under two dozen homemade donuts in only 25 minutes!
These Happy Birthday Donuts combine pantry staple ingredients with rainbow sprinkles and cotton candy flavoring to create light and fluffy glazed cake donuts! Serve up just under two dozen homemade donuts in only 25 minutes!
This easy recipe skips out on the hassle of using yeast while still delivering incredible donuts! For another donut recipe that doesn’t require yeast check out my Coffee Donuts or Baked Blueberry Donuts!
Sweeten up birthday celebrations with a batch of these Happy Birthday Donuts! These tender, sweet donuts are baked up to delicious perfection and then topped with a 5-ingredient cream cheese glaze and fun sprinkles!
Don’t have anyone’s birthday to celebrate? Not to worry, you can still enjoy these Funfetti Donuts anyway! After all, any day is a good day for a donut!
Especially homemade ones that are made right at home in the oven! This easy recipe uses mostly pantry staple ingredients and only 10 minutes of prep time. In under 25 minutes, you’ll have a large batch of baked donuts to share with the whole family!
Ingredients For Happy Birthday Donuts
- Donuts:
- All-Purpose Flour
- Light Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Rainbow Sprinkles
- Large Eggs
- Whole Milk
- Lemon Juice
- Cotton Candy Flavoring
- Vanilla Extract
- Salted Butter
- Icing:
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
- Whole Milk
- Pink Food Coloring
- Sprinkles
How To Make Birthday Cake Donuts
- Whisk together the all-purpose flour (make sure to Measure Your Flour properly), light brown sugar, granulated white sugar, baking powder, and rainbow sprinkles.
- Mix the eggs, whole milk, lemon juice, cotton candy flavor, and vanilla extract together in a separate bowl.
- Stir the melted butter into the milk mixture.
- Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until completely combined.
- Pipe the donut batter into the greased cavities on the donut pan (affiliate link).
- Bake the Birthday Cake Donuts in the oven until a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean. Afterward, cool them in the pan before transferring them to a wire rack.
- Prepare the icing by beating the cream cheese with powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Next, slowly add in the whole milk, then continue to beat.
- Mix in the pink food coloring.
- Dip each donut into the glaze or drizzle it over the tops while they’re on the wire rack. Garnish with sprinkles if desired!
How To Store Birthday Cake Doughnuts
You can store them uncovered at room temperature for up to 24 hours. For longer storage, place them in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 3 days.
The donuts can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
More Donut Recipes:
- Air Fryer Chocolate Donuts – Soft, fluffy donuts that are filled with the best chocolate flavor!
- Brioche Donuts with Vanilla Cream – Crispy, light donuts that are made from scratch!
- Boston Cream Donuts – This quick and easy method delivers your favorite donut in just 25 minutes!
- Easy Donut Holes – Bite-sized donuts that are made using canned biscuit dough in only 30 minutes!
- Baked Strawberry Glazed Donuts – Made with fresh strawberries, strawberry yogurt, and strawberry preserves!
Steps
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease donut pans with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, light brown sugar, granulated white sugar, baking powder, and the rainbow sprinkles until combined.
In a separate bowl beat together the eggs, whole milk, lemon juice, cotton candy flavoring, and vanilla. Whisk them together until combined.
Whisk in the melted butter and then add the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix it all together until completely combined.
Use a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner cut off to pipe the donut batter into the prepared donut pan(s). You want to fill them just over 75% full but not much more than that, or they could overflow while baking
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a donut comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow the donuts to cool for 3 to 5 minutes and then gently twist them out of the pan and place them on a wire rack.
While the donuts are baking, use a stand or hand mixer and a medium-sized mixing bowl to blend together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. You will want to start the mixer on the lowest setting so that the powdered sugar doesn’t fly out of the bowl.
Slowly add in the whole milk, continuing to beat, until completely combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again for a minute or two until the glaze is completely smooth. You should have a thick glaze at this point.
Mix in the pink food coloring until you reach your desired shade of pink.
Dip the donuts in the glaze, or pour it over the top of the donuts while they are on the wire rack, and garnish with party sprinkles, optional.
Notes
- Cotton Candy Flavor: I recommend using Amoretti cotton candy flavoring, I find that LorAnn has a very unpleasant flavor and don't recommend using it in this recipe. You can also use cotton candy sugar in place of the granulated sugar in this recipe. If you can't find or don't have time to order cotton candy extract, you can use almond flavoring or more vanilla flavoring.
- What's The Best Way To Store These Birthday Cake Doughnuts? You can store them uncovered at room temperature for up to 24 hours. For longer storage, place them in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 3 days. The donuts can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Why Did My Glaze Turn Out Lumpy? I'd say the cream cheese wasn't brought up to room temperature before using it. If the cream cheese is too cold, it will lump up instead of cream perfectly into the sugar.
- How Do I Know If My Donut Batter Is Mixed Together Enough? The batter should be completely combined without any lumps but not stiff. You want it to be thicker than cake batter but softer than cookie batter. Be careful not to overmix, though, or the donuts will turn out dense and thick!
- Do I Have To Whisk The Dry Ingredients Together? I highly recommend completing this simple step! Doing so ensures the baking powder is evenly distributed throughout the batter. It also ensures that the powders aren't lumpy, preventing you from having to over-mix the batter to get them out later while mixing.
- Can I Fill The Donut Cavities To The Top With Batter? You don't want to overfill the cavities! These donuts do rise a bit, so if they're overfilled, they'll rise up and connect. This will cause the hole in the middle of the donuts to close up!
- Do I Have To Use Lemon Juice In This Recipe? It is necessary for the donut batter, so yes.
- Can I Use Unsalted Butter Instead? Yes! I would just suggest adding a pinch of salt to the dry ingredients if you choose to use unsalted butter.
- What If I Don't Have A Piping Bag For The Batter? Easy! Just simply add the batter to a Ziploc bag and then cut one of the corners off. You could also just carefully spoon the batter into the donut pan.
- Can I Substitute Half and Half For The Whole Milk? You can, or you could also use lower-fat milk. Just keep in mind you may end up with a slightly less tender and rich donut as well as a thinner and less rich glaze.
Nutrition
- Calories157
- Carbs28g
- Protein2g
- Fat4g
- Saturated fat2g
- Fiber0.3g
- Sugar21g
- Sodium37mg
Estimates per serving, when a serving size is listed.
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