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
Scale
- 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