Like the most perfect little cake in donut form, these blueberry cake donuts are incredibly easy and quick – ready in less than 30 minutes. They’re so good, they’ll be devoured in minutes.
- These are buttery and lemony with bursts of blueberry.
- The texture is amazing – soft, light, delicate and so moist.
- These truly are very quick and easy to make.
- Perfect for a morning or afternoon tea or a dessert table.
So, when my 5 year old niece looks at me and says “this is so delicious”, I know I’m onto a winner and I totally agree with her. The flavours of butter, lemon and blueberry are such a winning combination
If you love these, you’ll love these orange donuts with pomegranate icing too.
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What are cake donuts? Cake vs yeast donuts
Cake donuts are a batter, similar to a cake or even a muffin, that is generally piped into donut moulds and baked. They use baking powder and/or baking soda to leaven them and they have the look of a donut with the texture of a cake. Sometimes cake donut batter is much thicker, like a dough and they can be fried.
Yeast donuts use yeast to leaven them and are a dough that requires kneading and proofing. Most are fried though they can certainly be baked. For a classic yeasted donut, try my caramel doughnuts.
Ingredients you’ll need
Just when you thought things couldn’t get better, these glazed blueberry donuts are made with the simplest of ingredients.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Sugar: You’re after just plain white granulated sugar or caster sugar for the donut itself and icing sugar (powdered sugar) for the icing.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk has the amazing result of keeping baked goods both tender and moist. If you can’t get it or don’t have it, just add ½ a teaspoon of vinegar to ⅔ cup of milk for this recipe. You can also swap it for Greek yogurt.
- Butter: Stick to unsalted butter or if you use salted, leave out the extra added salt in the recipe.
- Egg: I use large free-range eggs.
- Lemon: We use both the zest and juice in this recipe. Make sure to zest the lemon before juicing it. A microplane is the easiest way to zest citrus. Orange works really nicely with blueberries too so you could swap the lemon for orange.
- Vanilla: Use pure vanilla extract as opposed to vanilla essence which is not a natural product.
- Flour: You just need regular plain flour (all purpose flour).
- Baking powder: The baking powder is what gives these donuts their lift and fluffy texture.
- Blueberries: I like to use fresh blueberries but frozen blueberries will work too. Keep them frozen right up until adding them to the batter.
How to make cake donuts (step-by-step)
These blueberry cake donuts take just minutes to make and minutes to cook. You can easily have these ready in under 30 minutes. There’s no separate bowl for the wet ingredients and the flour mixture – just one bowl. No stand mixer or other special appliances required.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Wet ingredients: Start by whisking together the sugar and all the wet ingredients.
- Dry ingredients: Sift in the dry ingredients and mix those in too. Now stir in the blueberries.
- Pipe them: Transfer the donut batter to a piping bag (or you can just use spoons) and use it to fill your donut pan holes to just below the rim.
- Bake: Now bake the donuts for 11 minutes and they’re done.
- Ice them: Once they’re cool, just mix together icing sugar and lemon juice and dip the donuts. Place them icing side up on a rack so they can set.
I recommend icing the side of the donut that was the top in the pan. It has a more closed texture while the underside has a lot of little holes. While the shape is prettier on the underside, the glaze will drip down into those holes and you’ll end up with little holey topped iced donuts. They still taste great though.
Tips and tricks
- Don’t overmix: Don’t overmix the batter or your donuts can turn out tough or dry.
- Grease with butter: You’ll get the best results from greasing your pan with softened butter. Oil and oil sprays end up giving the donuts big holes or even a funnel like texture.
- Sift the flour: Make sure to sift the dry ingredients as this will lighten them and add air to the cake.
- Weigh the flour: It’s so important in baking to weigh the ingredients. The way you measure into a cup measure may be different from someone else whereas weight is weight – it can’t give a different result.
Yield and storage
This recipe makes 7 blueberry donuts using a standard size donut pan.
These donuts, once iced, are definitely best eaten fresh or on the same day they’re made. The lemon icing can tend to soften or seep into the cake the longer they sit. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature.
If you want to make them ahead of time, don’t ice them until the day of serving. They will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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Ingredients
FOR THE DONUTS
- ½ cup white granulated sugar (100g / 3.5oz)
- ⅔ cup buttermilk, room temp (160ml)
- 42 g unsalted butter, melted (3 tablespoons / 1.5oz)
- 1 large egg, room temp
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (notes 1)
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 130 g plain flour (all-purp flour) (1 cup / 4.6oz)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup small blueberries, wash and dried (80g / 2.8oz)
FOR THE LEMON GLAZE ICING
- 1 ¼ cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) (165g / 5.8oz)
- 4-6 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Mixing bow, whisk and spatula
- Piping bag optional
Instructions
- FOR THE DONUTS:Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F. Grease donut pan with softened butter. Have a piping bag at the ready (see notes)
- In a large bowl using a balloon whisk, whisk together the sugar, buttermilk, melted butter, egg, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla until completely combined
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the top of the wet mixture. Whisk until just smooth (don’t overmix).
- Add the blueberries and fold in with a spatula.
- Transfer the batter to the piping bag, then pipe it into the prepared donut pans to about ¾ full.
- Bake for 12 minutes – a toothpick should come out clean. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Then you can use the empty doughnut pan to pipe and bake the last one.
- Let the donuts cool completely before icing them as they are delicate.
- FOR THE LEMON GLAZE:In a medium bowl, sift the icing sugar then add 4 teaspoons of lemon juice and mix well. Gradually add more to thin the icing and make it a dipping consistency. Add more icing sugar to thicken again if needed.
- Place a sheet of baking paper or foil underneath the wire rack to catch any drips.
- Dip the tops of the doughnuts, then place them back onto the wire rack, icing side up, and allow it a few minutes to firm up.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (= 4 teaspoons worldwide).
- For best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- Frozen blueberries: If using frozen blueberries, keep them frozen right up to the point of adding them to the batter.
More Information
These links will take you up to the post – just scroll down to get back to the recipe card.MORE CAKES AND DONUTS!
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