Have your cake (for breakfast) and eat it, too, with Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts.
Why are Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts the book-inspired recipe for Echo?
Cops and doughnuts. Excuse me for going with a cliché.
It’s not my fault, though! Author Tracy Clark weaves the Chicago Police Department’s love of doughnuts, coffee, and pastries into many scenes in Echo. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to make one of my favorite doughnuts for this book-inspired recipe.
Baked, not Fried
These Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts are cake donuts. Meaning, they’re not made with yeast, and they’re not deep fried like “traditional” doughnuts.
You may remember that I don’t deep-fry anything in my house. My kitchen has crappy (read: no) ventilation, and I don’t want the house (and my clothes, and my hair, and the cat…) reeking of oil for the next week and a half.
Which is why baked doughnuts are the perfect version of these tasty treats to make at home.
Some benefits to making baked doughnuts instead of fried:
- Baked cake doughnuts don’t require yeast. This means you don’t need to let the dough rise for hours before you can shape and bake them. Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts are ready to eat in about 20 minutes.
- When you deep-fry doughnuts, you have to be careful not to crowd the fryer. This means you can only make a few doughnuts at a time. Meanwhile, you can make an entire batch of baked doughnuts at once.
- There’s a lot less mess with baked doughnuts. Instead of rolling out dough, getting flour everywhere, and cutting out shapes, you just spoon your cake doughnut batter into the doughnut pans, and you’re good to go!
What’s the takeaway here? Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts mean you can spend more time eating your doughnuts than making them.
Do baked doughnuts taste the same as fried doughnuts?
Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts look like traditional fried doughnuts. When you pick them up, they feel plump and tender like fried doughnuts.
They don’t necessarily taste like fried doughnuts, but trust me – one bite, and no one will be upset that you popped your doughnuts into the oven instead of the deep fryer.
Most people don’t consider baked doughnuts to be “real” doughnuts. However, if you go into any bakery or doughnut (donut) shop, you’ll find both baked cake doughnuts and fried yeasted doughnuts on offer.
There’s no wrong way to doughnut, people.
Why I love Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts
Is there a more quintessential doughnut than a pink frosted doughnut with colorful sprinkles? Pink frosted – or, strawberry frosted – doughnuts are always the first ones I grab from the box.
Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts are soft and tender, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. So many fried doughnuts become overly crispy and greasy, and these baked doughnuts couldn’t be further from that mess.
The drippy, glistening glaze atop each ring explodes with sweetly tart strawberry flavor, thanks to the ground up freeze-dried strawberries in the icing.
The doughnuts themselves contain a hint of vanilla along with some lemon for brightness.
What do you serve with Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts?
Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts would look gorgeous on a breakfast table alongside Lemon Poppyseed Muffins, Powdered Sugar Donut Holes, and Chocolate Cherry Scones.
If you’re indulging in these as an afternoon treat, whip up an Iced Dirty Chai Latte or an Iced Coconut Caramel Macchiato to sip on while you munch.
Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts
Ingredients
BAKED DOUGHNUT INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/8 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp lemon zest
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
PINK STRAWBERRY GLAZE INGREDIENTS
- 1/4 cup freeze-dried strawberries, ground up (or more, to taste)
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp warm water
- sprinkles (optional, but not really)
Instructions
PREP INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Spray a standard doughnut pan (makes 6 doughnuts) with baking spray and set aside.
- Zest the lemon and set aside.
- Blitz the freeze dried strawberries in a mini food processor until they resemble powdered dust. Set aside.
DOUGHNUT BAKING INSTRUCTIONS
- Use a hand-mixer to cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil in a medium bowl until the mixture is mostly smooth.
- Beat in the egg, then beat in the lemon zest and vanilla extract.
- Use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir the baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the batter.
- Alternate adding the flour and the milk into the batter, stirring until just combined between each addition, until the batter is thick and smooth.
- Divide the batter between the six rings of your prepared doughnut pan. Make sure that batter is evenly distributed around each ring and that there’s no batter covering the “hole” in the middle of the ring. Thump the doughnut pan a few times on your worksurface to release air bubbles.
- Bake the doughnuts at 375F for about 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a ring comes out clean.
- Remove the doughnuts pan from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.
- Nudge the sides and centers of the doughnuts to make sure they release easily from the pan, then turn out the doughnuts onto a cooling rack. Let doughnuts cool completely before frosting.
PINK STRAWBERRY GLAZE INSTRUCTIONS
- Whisk together the powdered strawberries, the powdered sugar, and 2 tbsp of warm water. Mixture will be thick.
- Whisk the remaining 1 tbsp of warm water into the mixture in small increments, stopping when you get to a good consistency for dipping.
PINK SPRINKLE BAKED DOUGHNUT DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the cooling rack holding the donuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Dip each doughnut into the strawberry glaze, making sure the glaze goes about halfway up the doughnut.
- Carefully twist and lift the doughnut from the glaze, then place doughnut on the cooling rack to let excess glaze drip off.
- Immediately cover the glazed doughnut with sprinkles, if desired, or any other toppings you want.
