My soft and fluffy cinnamon donuts are baked in the oven and covered in cinnamon sugar. Made with buttermilk, these donuts are so tender and couldn't be easier to make! They're the perfect thing if you're looking for a super quick donut recipe, taking just over 15 minutes to make.
This recipe was originally published in January 2022. It has been updated with new images.
As much as I looove fried brioche doughnuts, I always turn to baked doughnuts when I need to whip up some doughnuts quickly. I've also got some chocolate cake doughnuts and maple doughnuts, so I thought it was time we tried out some cinnamon sugar doughnuts.
These donuts are made in just one bowl and you don't need to drag out the stand mixer or hand mixer! I've baked them in a metal donut pan (I always use the Wilton 6-doughnut pan for reference), and baking them instead of frying them is just way easier.
Homemade Baked Donuts versus Regular Donuts 🍩
A regular doughnut is made with a yeasted dough, while a cake doughnut is made with a leavener (like baking soda or baking powder), similar to how a cake is made.
Regular doughnuts are fried in oil, while cake doughnuts are usually baked in the oven! Basically, baked donuts are going to be a heck of a lot easier to make and less cleanup - yay!
Pantry Ingredients
- Buttermilk: I always love using buttermilk in my donut recipes, this will make your baked donut super moist! If you don't have buttermilk on hand you can use sour cream instead.
- Ground Cinnamon: because cinnamon will be the main flavor in this recipe, make sure you're using a bottle that you opened relatively recently! Spices can lose their full flavor fairly quickly, especially if they're been lurking in your pantry for a long time.
- Sugar: You'll need light brown sugar for the donuts, and white granulated sugar for the homemade cinnamon sugar topping.
- Unsalted Butter: use melted butter to brush the warm donuts before covering them in cinnamon sugar. You'll also use melted butter for the donut dough!
Super Simple Baked Donuts
Step 1: In a large bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and generously grease a doughnut pan with either butter or baking spray.
Step 2: In a small bowl or jug, whisk together all of your wet ingredients until smooth.
Step 3: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until smooth.
Step 4: Pipe into your doughnut pan until each cavity is about three quarters full. I find the easiest way to do this is to use a piping bag, though you could also put the batter into a ziplock bag and snip one of the ends. Bake for 11-13 minutes. This makes 9 doughnuts so once the first batch is out, let them cool for a few minutes before gently taking them out. Re-grease your pan and pipe out the remaining batter.
Step 5: Whisk the cinnamon sugar ingredients together in a small bowl.
Step 6: Gently brush each warm doughnut with melted butter then dip into your bowl of homemade cinnamon sugar until the doughnut is completely covered. Repeat with the remaining doughnuts.
Making Bakery Style Donuts
I used a Wilton 6-donut pan for this recipe. Because it makes more than 6 donuts, you will have to let them cool slightly before removing them from the pan and baking the next batch.
Use a pastry brush to properly grease every donut cavity - this way, no donut bits get stuck to them when baking! I use softened butter, but you could also use a baking spray.
I use a piping bag or ziplock bag with one corner cut off to pipe the donuts into the pan. You could also use a spoon to spoon out the batter, but that might be a bit messier.
I don't recommend dipping the warm doughnuts in the melted butter, the doughnuts will get too wet and may break apart! Gently brush them with the melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.
Try these doughnut recipes next!
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Thank you!
Ella
Recipe
Baked Cinnamon Donuts with Buttermilk
Equipment
- Doughnut Pan
Ingredients
Donuts
- 125 grams (1 cup) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- 56 grams (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter melted
- 106 grams (½ cup) light brown sugar
- 113 ml (½ cup) buttermilk room temperature
- 1 (1) egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar
- 150 grams (¾ cup) sugar
- ½ tablespoon (½ tablespoon) ground cinnamon
- 115 grams (½ cup) butter melted
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Grease a donut pan with butter or baking spray.
- Whisk together the flour, light brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.125 grams (1 cup) all purpose flour, ½ tsp (½ teaspoon) baking powder, ½ tsp (½ teaspoon) baking soda, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, 106 grams (½ cup) light brown sugar, ½ tsp (½ teaspoon) kosher salt
- Combine buttermilk, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract in a jug and whisk until smooth.56 grams (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, 113 ml (½ cup) buttermilk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pour buttermilk mixture into dry mixture and fold in until all incorporated. Make sure there are no flour pockets.
- Pipe the batter into the cavities, filling each ¾ of the way. Bake for 11-13 minutes, until golden brown and springy to the touch. After 5 minutes take out each donut and let cool on a wire rack, before pouring the next batch in. I like the re-grease the pan before I refill it.
Cinnamon Sugar
- Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl.150 grams (¾ cup) sugar, ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- Use a pastry brush to gently brush each warm doughnut with the melted butter, then dip into the bowl of cinnamon sugar and cover it completely. Set aside to cool completely.115 grams (½ cup) butter
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Aubrey says
These donuts were super quick and easy to make. The best part? They were delicious!!!! I recommend using a little less butter than the recipe says to butter the donuts (before coating) , though. I’m definitely making these again!! 🙂