The lightest, fluffiest sweet treats that are super fun to make! Top these easy no fry doughnuts with your choice of 3 delicious glaze options.
When it comes to satisfying things to bake, doughnuts have to be awarded top marks. Not only is the batter so incredibly simple to whip up, once baking in your doughnut pan it’ll rise up into rows of perfectly formed golden circles in 20 minutes or less. Then, you get to dunk each fluffy, cakey creation in a tempting glaze of your choice and go wild with the decoration! These would be amazing as a homemade gift or for bringing along to a gathering, but making baked doughnuts is always a great weekend activity even if you fully intend to eat them all yourself!
As always, these tasty bakes are completely gluten free. The batter is also dairy free, as is the vanilla glaze option.
What is the difference between baked and fried doughnuts?
With these no fry doughnuts, there’s no messing about with hot oil or time spent standing over a hot pan. Oven baked doughnuts have a fairly different texture to the traditional deep fried versions. You’ll find that they’re much more cake-like and less chewy, hence often being referred to as cake doughnuts! Made without yeast, these are also a little less full and puffy whilst still being super light, and using homemade buttermilk in the recipe keeps them moist and tender.
Here’s what goes in the simple doughnut batter:
- Gluten free self raising flour
- Baking powder
- Caster sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs
- Homemade buttermilk (just mix together any milk and a little lemon juice!)
- Vanilla extract
How full should you fill the doughnut pan?
Once you’ve whisked up the mixture, it’s time to spoon it into the pans. I used two of these 6-hole metal pans. The silicone ones work great too. It helps to grease the pan generously so you’ll be able to remove your fluffy baked doughnuts from the pan easily later on. You’ll want to fill each hole about 3/4 of the way. If overfilled, the holes in the middle of the doughnuts may close over as they rise up in the oven.
How do you tell when they’re done?
After 18-20 minutes in the oven, your homemade gluten free doughnuts should have risen up to form nicely rounded tops. You can tell they’re ready when the edges are golden brown and a skewer poked in comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
Topping your no fry doughnuts
When you make doughnuts without deep frying, the super simple process leaves you with plenty more time on your hands for the best part – decorating! I couldn’t face selecting just one flavour for the topping, so below are three equally delish glaze options for you to choose from. There’s a classic vanilla with sprinkles, pretty in pink raspberry and white chocolate or indulgent chocolate fudge. Take your pick or mix and match like I did!
How long will they keep?
Just like their fried counterparts, these are best enjoyed on the day of baking, but should keep well in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
More easy gluten free baking ideas
- Carrot cake with orange frosting
- Nutella stuffed cupcakes
- Aero mint choc chip cookies
- Strawberry and rhubarb crumble
I hope you’ll love making these delicious gluten free ring doughnuts! If you gave them a try, let me know how you got on by leaving a comment and rating below. You can also tag me in snaps of your creations over on Instagram @blueskyeating. Enjoy! 🙂
The Fluffiest No Fry Doughnuts (3 Easy Glaze Options!)
Ingredients
For the Doughnuts
- 140 ml almond milk (or other milk of your choice)
- 1 3/4 tsp lemon juice
- 180 g gluten free self raising flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 110 g caster sugar
- 90 ml vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze Option 1 – Chocolate Fudge
- 75 g unsalted butter
- 150 g light brown sugar
- 60 g double cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 60 g icing sugar
- 50 g dark chocolate
Glaze Option 2 – Vanilla Sprinkle
- 350 g icing sugar
- 2-3 tbsp almond milk (or other milk of your choice)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- ~1 tsp rainbow sprinkles
Glaze Option 3 – White Chocolate and Raspberry
- 100 g white chocolate (melted)
- 20 ml vegetable oil
- A few drops pink food colouring (optional)
- ~1 tbsp freeze dried raspberries
Instructions
For the Doughnuts:
- Mix the lemon juice with the almond milk in a small bowl and set this aside for 10 minutes. This will form your homemade buttermilk.
- Grease 2 doughnut pans with oil or butter/spread and preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan.
- Add the flour and baking powder to a large mixing bowl. Whisk well to combine.
- Add the eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and almond milk/lemon juice mixture to a separate large bowl. Again, whisk to combine.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk everything together gently until smooth. Try not to overmix.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans, filling each hole about 3/4 of the way.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until risen and slightly golden around the edges.
- Leave the doughnuts to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They should come out of the pan easily if you flip it upside down and give it a tap.
- Let the doughnuts cool for at least 20 minutes before adding the glaze.
For the Chocolate Fudge Glaze:
- Add the butter and brown sugar to saucepan and melt slowly over a low heat, stirring frequently until smooth.
- Add the double cream and stir through. Let the mixture simmer for another 2 minutes or so as you continue to stir.
- Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and icing sugar. Stir until smooth.
- Break the chocolate into squares/chunks and heat in the microwave in 30 second bursts until melted.
- Dip each doughnut in the fudge glaze mixture to completely coat the top, before drizzling over some of the melted dark chocolate with a small spoon.
For the Vanilla Glaze:
- Sieve the icing sugar into a mixing bowl.
- Add the vanilla extract and 2 tbsp of almond milk and stir through. Check the consistency – if it's too thick continue to add more milk 1/2 tsp at a time. You want it to be smooth enough that it will spread easily over the top of the doughnuts but thick enough that it won't run straight down the sides.
- Dip each doughnut in the vanilla glaze to completely coat the top. Scatter a few rainbow sprinkles over each doughnut immediately after dipping them in the glaze (before it has set so the sprinkles will stick down easily).
For the White Chocolate and Raspberry Glaze:
- Break the white chocolate into squares/chunks and heat in the microwave in 30 second bursts until melted.
- Stir through the vegetable oil and pink food colouring (if adding).
- Dip each doughnut in the white chocolate glaze to completely coat the top. Scatter a few freeze dried raspberry pieces over each doughnut immediately after dipping them in the glaze (before it has set so the raspberries will stick down easily).
These were delicious! So glad I came across this recipe, thanks for sharing!
Yay! So pleased you enjoyed them 🙂
These look amazing! Can’t wait to try.
These donuts look so delicious! My kids would love decorating these. Whenever I see doughnut recipes I think about how I need to get a doughnut pan and this recipe put me over the edge! Will be ordering one this weekend.
Thank you 🙂 Doughnut pan is definitely worth the purchase!
Since this is National Donut Day I am glad to find your recipe. I really prefer that baked donuts and thanks for giving the different options. These will be fun to make for a get-together.
Can we use normal flour ? Will it be soft then also ? 🙂
Hi Niha, I haven’t tried with normal flour but I’m assuming it would still work well! Just make sure it’s self-raising (or up the baking powder to 2 1/2 tsp if using plain/all-purpose flour).
Pinned and making ASAP!!
I didn’t know you could use other milks to make a dairy free buttermilk! So many options!
I love that these aren’t fried!
These donuts look amazing and I was wondering if you could send me a conversion recipe to US measurements. I would love to try these.
Hi Irma, if you search online for ‘UK to US baking conversion’ you should be able to find plenty of guides. I’ve been meaning to add US measurements to all my recipes so thanks for the reminder and watch this space! 🙂