If you love homemade donuts, you’ll absolutely love this quick and easy rainbow donut recipe! Baked donuts are a much healthier option than their fried siblings, and these bakery-style donuts are super scrumptious! They’re perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday brunch, and any time you want a taste of the rainbow. So pull out your apron and let me show you how simple it is to make a batch of these tasty colorful treats for you and your family.
Ingredients for Rainbow Donut Recipe
These are the ingredients you’ll need to make these yummy homemade rainbow donuts: butter, granulated sugar, eggs, pure vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, baking soda, mace, all-purpose flour, whole milk, Neon Gel Food Coloring
and Gel in Primary Colors 
. From both of the sets you can then pick and choose which rainbow colors you’d like to use! A note about mace: if you’re wondering what this is, it’s the primary flavor you taste in donuts. Made from the lacy membrane covering the nutmeg seed, it has a more intense flavor than nutmeg and is slightly sweeter. If you don’t have mace on hand, nutmeg is a good substitute.
How to Make Homemade Donuts
Here’s how to make fabulous homemade donuts: Begin by adjusting your oven rack to the center position. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two donut pans by lightly spraying them with cooking spray. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar for about 3-4 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, vanilla extract and milk. Mix on low speed to combine.
Baked Donut Recipe
In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add them to the wet ingredients. Briefly mix everything together until incorporated. Do not over mix. The yummy batter for this baked donut recipe will be nice and thick.
How to Use Food Gel for Rainbow Donut Recipe
Equally divide the donut batter into five small bowls. Use each bowl for a different vibrant color. Add 1-2 drops of food gel to each bowl. Mix well. These are the colors I used for my own homemade donuts: pink, yellow, green, purple and turquoise blue. On St. Patrick’s Day when I make this donut recipe again, I’ll make the green section of these Rainbow donuts more pronounced by adding in an extra drop or two of green coloring.
Homemade Donut Recipe
Transfer the colored batter from each bowl into a separate plastic zip-top bag. With scissors, snip one bottom corner of each DIY pastry bag. Section by section (5 sections in all), pipe the colored donut batter into the donut pans. This recipe makes approximately 9 rainbow donuts.
How to Bake Rainbow Donuts
Bake the donuts for about 9-12 minutes. Keep a close eye on them as they bake. Unlike other donut recipes you don’t want your rainbow donuts to turn golden brown. Instead you want them to be baked all the way through but still keep their vibrant colors without browning. Use a cake tester or toothpick to check on doneness.
Important Tip for Rainbow Donuts with a Smooth Surface
Allow the baked donuts to cool in the pan for about 2-4 minutes. Mid-air, flip the donut pan over your clean countertop that’s been lined with a piece of parchment paper. Firmly tap on the back side of the pan to release the donuts. Most should fall out very easily. For those that don’t release, gently run a a mini silicone spatula around the outer rim of each donut. Gently lift your homemade donuts out of the pan. Allow the donuts to finish cooling on the parchment paper. We want the surface of the donuts to stay nice and smooth, so we won’t be putting them on a cooling rack. A cooling rack may leave slight criss-cross markings.
Helpful Kitchen Tools for Baked Donut Recipe
These are wonderful kitchen tools when making this baked donut recipe! I have several donut pans in my collection, including the lovely USA donut pan below. The two gel coloring sets, as shown, are what I used for these colorful homemade donuts.
Rainbow Donut Recipe
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 9 Donuts 1x
Description
Making a batch of beautiful rainbow donuts is quick and easy. These bakery-style donuts are baked, not fried, and they’re super scrumptious! This festive recipe for homemade donuts is absolutely perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday brunch, birthday parties, and any time you want a colorful taste of the rainbow!
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 + 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 + 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon mace
- 5 different colors of neon gel food coloring
Instructions
- Adjust your oven rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray two donut pans with cooking spray. Set them aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, vanilla extract and milk. Mix on low speed to combine.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and mace. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix briefly until incorporated. Do not over mix! The donut batter will be thick.
- Divide the donut batter into five small bowls. Select 5 vibrant gel colors. For these donuts you can use: orange or yellow, pink, green, purple and turquoise blue. Mix well.
- Transfer the colored batter from each bowl into a separate plastic zip-top bag. With scissors, snip off a bottom corner of each DIY pastry bag. Section by section (5 sections in all), pipe the colored donut batter into the prepared donut pans.
- Bake the donuts for about 9-12 minutes. Starting at the 9-minute mark, keep a close eye on them as they bake. Unlike other donut recipes you don’t want your rainbow donuts to turn golden brown. Instead you want them to be cooked all the way through but still keep their vibrant colors intact without browning. Check doneness with a cake tester or toothpick.
- Allow the baked donuts to cool in the pan for about 2-4 minutes. Line your countertop with one or two pieces of parchment paper. Mid-air, flip the donut pan over the parchment paper. Firmly tap on the back side of the pan several times to release the donuts. Most should fall out very easily. For those that don’t release, gently run a a mini silicone spatula around the outer rim of each donut. Gently lift your homemade donuts out of the pan. Allow them to sit and cool on the parchment paper rather than on a cooling rack that can leave grid-like marks on the donuts. We want beautiful rainbow donuts with a smooth surface!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Snack, Dessert, Party
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: rainbow donuts, rainbow donut recipe, baked donuts
RAINBOW DONUTS RECIPE > PIN IT TO PINTEREST
Save this festive, scrumptious RAINBOW DONUTS RECIPE for later! Pin it to Pinterest.
OTHER RAINBOW RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
If you enjoyed this rainbow donut recipe, you’ll absolutely love these other colorful recipes too!
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RAINBOW DONUT RECIPE > JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
Do you love making or eating homemade donuts? Do you prefer using a baked donut recipe or a recipe for fried ones? What do you think about this yummy rainbow donut recipe? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
These are absolutely precious! I would have never thought to make them this way! These will be a yummy breakfast hit for my kids to have.
★★★★★
Im so glad you like them. They are a blast to make.
What is mace? Can we omit it or substitute with something else?
Hello Wahida. Mace is the sister spice of nutmeg. A nutmeg is a seed from a tree. Mace is the protective coating or web around that seed. Mace is the predominant flavor in donuts. If you don’t have ground mace, use nutmeg instead!
That looks like so much fun! Will make it when my little sister is visiting!
Nicole
★★★★★
Thank you so much.
These are so colorful and fun! They also sound amazing!!! Just was I was looking to make for this weekend!
Thanks
Susanne
★★★★★
You are so welcome. Thank you for stopping by.
This is such a fun and colorful recipe! My daughter will LOVE this treat!!
They are super fun to make. You will enjoy it.
Oh wow!!! This looks way easier to do than I expected. Love the idea!
Thank you so much.
These are too cute. My son is obsessed with donuts he would love these.
They are super fun to make. Have fun.
Wow! These are all a winner. This looks so delightful and tasty. I would love to try making this recipe. My boys would both probably DIG this!
They are a hit for sure.
OMG these are happiness and magic in donut form. Definitely visiting your blog again!
Thank you so much for visiting.
This is great! My kids would love making this for March break :)
★★★★★
They are so fun to make. A hit with the kiddos.
These literally make me happy, they are so beautiful. I’ve been thinking of getting the doughnut baking pans since it seems healthier than frying.
I love how beautiful they are too.
These are so adorable and perfect for St Patrick’s Day! Love how they’ve kept their vibrant colours, even after baking.
I love the colors too.
My sweet tooth is going crazy right now!! all of these look so pretty and delicious.
They are. They will satisfy your sweet tooth.
This is SO cool! I never knew there are actual trays for donuts to cook in – mind blown!
★★★★★
I felt the same way.
Wow! These are so pretty and look delicious! They would definitely make for a great addition to brunch!
-Jennifer
★★★★★
They are so fun to make!
You have so many colorful foods on your “Other Rainbow Recipes You’ll Love”! Appearance is key and you nailed it! The donuts are so perfect looking they almost look fake! They sound delicious! May have to try these!
★★★★★
Thank you so much!
These are So cute! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
You are so welcome.
Just pinned these donuts. This is such a great idea and they came out so pretty. Your food styling is also out of this world!
xoxo
Annie
Thank you so much! That made my week.
these are SOOO cute!! I’m loving these! Plus, donuts are the best.
★★★★★
They really are.
This donut recipe is so easy and amazing! My favourite part is that they’re rainbow!!
★★★★★
That was my favorite part too!