Confetti Baked Donuts with Chocolate Glaze

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This simple baked donut recipe is packed with colorful sprinkles, and gets an extra boost of protein from a bit of Greek yogurt. Topped with a simple chocolate glaze, and ready in just an hour (no deep frying required!)

Baked donut with chocolate glaze and sprinkles.

A nonstick metal donut pan gives these oven baked donuts their classic shape - without the hassle of yeast dough or deep frying! Perfect for birthdays, holidays, or a cozy weekend brunch.

This recipe was developed to mimic a thick cake donut or a dense sour cream donut. The donuts are hearty and cakey, with a nice bite to them (as opposed to something like a cupcake, which has a much softer, more delicate crumb). They're topped with our favorite chocolate icing for donuts: It's quick to make and develops a gorgeous, glossy finish as it sets for a bakery-worthy treat.

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Ingredients
Variations and Substitutions
Step by step instructions
Storage
FAQs
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments & Reviews

Ingredients

Scroll to the recipe card below for a full ingredients list with exact quantities.

Before you jump in, there are a few things we want to highlight:

An egg will incorporate more smoothly into the batter if you let it come to room temperature on the counter for half an hour or so before you bake!
A pinch of nutmeg gives this donut batter a bit of depth that makes them taste like they came straight from a bakery! We tend to use a tiny pinch of nutmeg in this batter - maybe ⅛ of a teaspoon - but you can use more or less if you like!
Greek yogurt adds a bit of protein and moisture to these donuts. We prefer plain (unflavored) Greek yogurt here, although vanilla also works.
Hot water brings our smooth glaze together. We typically heat the water for this frosting in a tea kettle on the counter until it's near-boiling; you can also use straight-from-the-tap water on its hottest setting.

Please use a kitchen scale!

Measuring ingredients like flour by volume (with measuring cups) is notoriously unreliable: Because everyone measures a cup of flour a little differently, it's easy to accidentally use too much and end up with dry, dense donuts.

When you use a kitchen scale to measure by weight (in grams), you get a perfect measurement every time. So if you have a kitchen scale, please use it! (No kitchen scale? Use the scoop and level method for best results!)

Variations and Substitutions

Use any icing you like! We're including our go-to chocolate glaze here, which sets as it cools for a shiny, slightly-crackly topping that keeps the sprinkles in place. Use your favorite vanilla glaze, a thin maple frosting, or a cinnamon glaze instead if you prefer!
Yes, you can leave out the sprinkles. They add a fun pop of color, but the recipe works just fine without them!

Step by step instructions

Make the donuts

Mixing wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls.

Add your dry ingredients to a large bowl (Image 1, above) and whisk them together. In a separate large measuring cup, mix together the wet ingredients (2).

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring as you go (3). Mix until you have a thick, shaggy batter (4).

Add sprinkles (5). Gently stir to fold them into the batter until they're evenly distributed (6).

Transfer the donut batter to a piping bag (7). Twist the end to tighten (8), and then pipe the batter into a greased donut pan.

Pro Tip: Fill each donut cavity a little less than halfway full - these donuts will rise quite a bit in the oven! If you over-fill the pan, your donuts will rise too much and you won't have a neat hole in the middle.

Bake the donuts until they're lightly browned, then let them cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing them to a wire cooling rack.

Pro Tip: Baked donuts often need a bit of coaxing to get out of the pan! Use a butter knife or small spatula to gently loosen the edges of each donut, then carefully lift them out of the pan.

Let the donuts cool completely before you make the frosting.

Make the chocolate glaze

Mixing butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder for icing.

Whisk powdered sugar and cocoa powder together in a small bowl with a pinch of kosher salt. Add melted butter and vanilla extract (11), then stir everything together. It will be clumpy at this stage (12) - that's okay!

Slowly stream hot water into the icing (13), stirring constantly, until you have a smooth, shiny glaze (14). You may not need all of the hot water!

It can take some practice to get this glaze to the right consistency. Add the water slowly, and mix well between each addition. When it's ready, the glaze should resemble chocolate syrup. If the glaze is too runny, let it sit for a few minutes: It will thicken a bit as it cools.

Pro Tip: This is a very quick overview of our go-to chocolate glaze for donuts. We also use a similar technique in our cinnamon glaze!

Dipping cooled donuts into chocolate glaze.

Carefully dip each donut into the glaze, letting any extra icing run off. Place glazed donuts back on the cooling rack, then add sprinkles or other toppings while the icing is still wet. As the icing sets, it will "grab" the sprinkles and help them stay in place!

Pro Tip: To keep your sprinkles extra secure, gently press them into the icing while it's still soft.

Storage

Once frosted, let the donuts sit on the counter uncovered for an hour or so to allow the icing to set. Store frosted donuts in an airtight container on the counter. As they sit, the donuts will start to dry out: We recommend eating them within 2-3 days for the best texture!

Donut with a bite taken out to show the interior texture.

FAQs

How do I fill the donut pan without a piping bag?

If you don't have a piping bag, use a spoon to fill the donut cavities in the pan, one small scoop at a time. It helps to use a second spoon (or butter knife) to gently push each scoop of batter off the first spoon, so that you have more control over where the batter lands.

To ensure uniform baking, use a butter knife to smooth the tops of the donuts before placing them in the oven.

Filling donut pan with a spoon.

How full should the donut pan be?

These donuts rise quite a bit in the oven - you probably need less batter than you think! For best results, fill each cavity a little less than halfway:

Donuts before and after baking.

If you overfill the doughnut pans, the funfetti donuts will overflow and you won't have uniform holes:

Baked donuts overflowing from the pan after adding too much batter.

How should I grease the donut pan?

The easiest way is to use a bit of cooking spray (we love our refillable Misto sprayer!)

If you don't have cooking spray, use a pastry brush to lightly brush each donut cavity with a neutral oil (like canola, vegetable, avocado, or grapeseed oil):

Brushing oil into the cavities of a donut pan.

Why are my donuts sticking to the pan?

The shape of the indentations in a donut pan can make it a little tricky to get donuts out of the pan once they're baked.

We've found the easiest way to coax donuts out of the pan is to let them cool right in the pan for 5-10 minutes (or until they're cool enough to handle). Then, use a butter knife or a small spatula to gently press each side of the donut away from the side of the cavity, and slowly lift each donut out of the pan (pictured below).

This can take a bit of practice, but it gets easier the more you do it! It also helps to use a nonstick metal donut pan and grease it with a bit of oil or cooking spray before each use. The donuts will likely leave a thin layer of crumbs in the pan once they're removed, but they'll still hold their shape quite well.

We did test this recipe with a greased and floured pan (as opposed to just a greased pan), but didn't find the flour made much of a difference in getting the donuts out of the pan.

Using a spatula to gently lift donuts out of the pan.