Grab a boxed cake mix and make these Easy Cake Mix Donuts featuring 3 delicious glazes including vanilla, chocolate, and maple icing, and colorful, fun sprinkles. They’re so yummy and simple to make and both kids and adults will love them!
Easy Cake Mix Donuts (+ 3 Delicious Glazes)
Hey everyone!
I’m so excited to share today’s fun recipe creation with you – Easy Cake Mix Donuts.
These cake mix donuts are absolutely delicious, easy to make, and one of our family’s favorite desserts to make together.
We love cake mix donuts, because they’re super simple to make using only a few ingredients, and best of all – these cake mix donuts can be made any time of the year, with any cake flavor, and decorated any way you desire!
This post was originally shared in October 2020, and the original photos show how my boys and I first made cake mix donuts for the Fall/Halloween season using these fun, spooky sprinkles.
I’ve since updated the post to include a step-by-step video tutorial over here, as well as additional photos with easy cake mix donut decorating ideas for all seasons, holidays, and occasions.
If you want to learn how to make easy cake mix donuts with cake mix, then keep reading below and make sure you grab the recipe for my 3 delicious cake mix donut glazes.
As much as I love a traditional fried donut and my delicious biscuit donuts, I’ve grown to absolutely love the taste of warm, freshly baked cake mix donuts.
They’re sweet, delicious, soft, and the flavor possibilities are endless!
Can you use cake mix to make donuts?
Are you wondering if you really can use a boxed cake mix for donuts?
Are Cake Mix Donuts and Old Fashioned Donuts the same?
This is probably the #1 question most people ask regarding cake mix donuts, and the answer is no, they are not the same.
Cake mix donuts are not the same as your typical yeast-based donuts which have a denser texture, but instead havea soft, fluffy, cake-like texture which is delicious!
They are also a lot easier and less time consuming to make since you don’t have to fry them and can make them quick and easy using these super affordable donut pans.
My Favorite
Are Cake Donuts Healthier Than Regular Donuts?
Because they are baked instead of fried, cake donuts are healthier than regular donuts.
Cake mix donuts also tend to have less sugar, fat, and calories since they are not as large and don’t have a fruit or cream filling.
Do keep in mind no donut out there is necessarily “healthy”, so moderation is always key. 🙂
Why Cake Mix Donuts are THE BEST
I think my favorite part about these cake mix donuts is that you can easily make them with any boxed cake mix flavor and glaze to satisfy whatever flavor you’re craving.
What cake mix flavors can I use?
Vanilla
Chocolate
Funfetti
Red Velvet
Lemon
Strawberry
Spice Cake
Carrot Cake
Any other flavor you like!
If desired, you can also easily enhance the flavors of the cake batter with different extracts like vanilla, lemon, coconut, and hazelnut.
Delicious Glaze and Topping Ideas
And when it comes to glazing these delicious cake mix donuts, our personal favorites are vanilla, chocolate, and maple, but the possibilities are endless!
Here’s just a few other ideas:
Caramel
Cinnamon Sugar
Peanut Butter
Cream Cheese
Strawberry
Lemon
Cookies and Cream
Top them off with some fun sprinkles, nuts, chopped up candies, or fruit, and you have yourself some incredibly delicious cake mix donuts!
Can I Decorate Cake Mix Donuts for Holidays/Occasions?
Absolutely! These cake mix donuts are great for making for holidays and special celebrations, and can easily be made with holiday or seasonal themed colors, flavors, and sprinkles.
Here’s just a few ideas:
Christmas – red/green icing and sprinkles, peppermint flavor, hot cocoa flavor
This will allow the donuts to cool and once you glaze them, it will ensure all the excess glaze falls onto the parchment paper for an easy clean up.
5. Let your donuts cool completely before glazing them.
If you try to glaze them while they are still warm, the icing will melt/seep into the cake and won’t firm up.
6. For a prettier glaze, glaze your donuts with the top side up.
We originally started glazing them with the bottom side and my youngest son accidentally discovered it looked better the other way. 🙂
7. Add sprinkles or toppings while the glaze is still wet.
This helps ensure your toppings will “stick” and not fall off everywhere. Also let your donuts firm up before serving/placing in an airtight container.
I’ve received several questions and comments regarding issues with your donuts turning out too soft/falling apart, and most often this isn’t an issue with my recipe, this has to do with baking.
Please follow my tips and guidelines listed both in the recipe and below to avoid any issues with this.
Help! My donuts are too soft/why did my donuts fall apart when I tried to get them out of the pan?
This problem can be the result of a couple different things.
A. Under baking your donuts and
B. Removing them from the pan too soon.
How to avoid this issue:
First off, make sure you fully bake your cake mix donuts until they are done. One way to tell when the donuts are done is they will have pulled away from the sides of the pan, the edges will be a light golden brown, and the middle will be spongy (and bounce back) to touch.
DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE PAN until they are cool to the touch. Typically I let mine cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, but this is just a guide and you might need to let them cool longer.
Lastly, use a spoon or butter knife to go around the edge of the donut pan and underneath the donuts to gently remove them from the pan. You also want to make sure you spray your pan liberally with non-stick cooking spray before baking them so that they don’t stick.
Recommended Kitchen Tools:
How to Make Cake Mix Donuts with Cake Mix
Mix
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and spray your donut pans with non-stick spray.
Place your cake mix, egg, oil, milk, and vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer or whisk, until well combined.
Fill
Next, place your donut batter into a large piping bag or large plastic Ziploc bag, snip off the corner, and carefully fill each donut cavity 3/4 of the way full.
FYI – This method is so much easier than trying to spoon in the batter one by one, and will save you a lot of time, hassle, and mess.
Bake/Cool
Place your donut pans into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cakes are a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Mine baked perfectly at 10 minutes.
Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rackto cool completely. (about 10-15 minutes)
Glaze
While your donuts are cooling, prepare the vanilla, chocolate, and maple glaze by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and whisking together.
Place each glaze in a shallow bowl for easy dipping. Each glaze should be a pourable icing consistency, but not runny.
If it is too thick you can always add more milk, until desired consistency is reached.
Place the top side of your donuts into the glaze for a few seconds and let excess drip down into the bowl before flipping and placing on the wire rack for the glaze to set.
Decorate
If desired, add sprinkles, chopped up candies, or nuts on top of your donuts while the glaze is still wet.
These cake mix donuts are so easy to make and kids will really enjoy helping with this step.
You can easily personalize donuts for holidays, birthdays, or any other special occasion.
Grab a boxed cake mix and make these Easy Cake Mix Donuts featuring 3 delicious glazes including vanilla, chocolate, and maple, and fun sprinkles. They’re so yummy and simple to make and both kids and adults will love them!
Ingredients
UnitsScale
Cake Mix Donuts
1 box cake mix, any flavor (I used a yellow cake mix)
1 large egg
1/3cup vegetable oil
3/4cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
sprinkles, if desired
Vanilla Donut Glaze:
3/4cup powdered sugar
1–2 tablespoons milk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Optional: food coloring
Chocolate Donut Glaze:
3/4cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1–2 tbsp milk
Maple Donut Glaze:
3/4cup powdered sugar
1–2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp maple syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and spray your donut pans with non-stick spray.
Place your cake mix, egg, oil, milk, and vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer or whisk, until well combined.
Next, place your donut batter into a large piping bag or large plastic Ziploc bag, snip off the corner, and carefully fill each donut cavity 3/4 of the way full.
Place your donut pans into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cakes are a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely (about 10-15 minutes).
While your donuts are cooling, prepare the vanilla, chocolate, and maple glaze by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and whisking together. Place each glaze in a shallow bowl for easy dipping. Each glaze should be a pourable icing consistency, but not runny. If it is too thick you can always add more milk, until desired consistency is reached.
Place the top side of your donuts into the glaze for a few seconds and let excess drip down into the bowl before flipping and placing on the wire rack for the glaze to set.
If desired, add sprinkles, chopped up candies, or nuts on top of your donuts while the glaze is still wet.
Notes
Leftover donuts can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week
Leftover icing can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks
