These Red Velvet Donuts are red-colored cake donuts baked and topped with a cream cheese frosting with the flavor of red velvet cake.
They are reminiscent of red velvet cupcakes and make a perfect sweet treat for special occasions like Valentine’s Day or Christmas!
To make baking these donuts easy, I recommend using a donut pan to give them their round shape.
These are not like my Vanilla Frosted Donuts. In this case, chocolate cake donuts are transformed into easy red velvet donuts, one of my favorite donut recipes.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love These Donuts
- Classic Red Velvet Flavor – I love the red velvet flavor and color in this red velvet donut recipe. If you loved my Red Velvet Blossoms Cookies, you’ll love these donuts!
- Cream Cheese Frosting – These donuts are topped with a luscious, rich cream cheese frosting. Of course, if you let it melt a little on the warm cinnamon rolls, it will become more like a cream cheese glaze.
- Easy Homemade – There’s no red velvet cake mix in this recipe. It is a homemade red velvet donut recipe made from scratch. Don’t worry; it is still easy to make.
Ingredient Notes
Below, I discuss the ingredients and possible substitutions if you don’t have a specific ingredient. However, if you are looking for the specific measurements of each ingredient, scroll down to the bottom of this article, just above the comments, for the printable recipe card, which includes all the ingredients and the specific amounts of each one.
- All-purpose flour – I used all-purpose flour, and the donuts were great. However, some prefer to use cake flour for cake donuts with a softer and tender texture. However, if you use cake flour, you’ll need to add 2 additional tablespoons for every cup of flour. For example, for 1 cup of all-purpose flour, you would need 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of cake flour.
- Cocoa powder – The important thing is to ensure that you use a natural cocoa powder. It can be dark, Dutch, or black cocoa as long as it is a natural cocoa powder.
- Granulated Sugar
- Baking powder – Check the expiration date. If it is expired, the donut dough won’t rise, and you’ll have flat donuts.
- Baking soda – Check the expiration date on baking soda as well. Like baking powder above, you won’t have the necessary chemical reaction to ensure that the donuts rise and have the cake texture we seek.
- Salt
- Buttermilk – If you don’t have buttermilk, don’t worry. You can easily make your own by adding 1 tablespoon of either lemon juice OR white vinegar to 1 cup of whole milk.
- Eggs – Start with room-temperature eggs to ensure that the batter is smooth and cohesive.
- Vanilla – I recommend using pure vanilla. You could also use Mexican vanilla if you like.
- White vinegar
- Red food coloring – Food coloring is optional, but it does make the donuts so pretty!
- Cream cheese
- Butter – Use real butter and not margarine for the best results.
- Confectioners sugar
- Heavy cream
How To Make Red Velvet Donuts
- In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. (Pictures 1 and 2.)
- In a large bowl, mix the buttermilk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and vinegar. (Picture 2.)
- Add the buttermilk mixture (wet ingredients) to the bowl with the dry ingredients (the flour mixture.) (Picture 3.)
- Add the red food coloring and stir until well combined. (Picture 4.)
- Spoon or pipe the dough into the donut pan. (Picture 5.)
- Bake for 10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes, then place the donuts on a cooling rack. Repeat until all the dough has been baked. (Picture 6.)
How To Make Cream Cheese Icing
- Beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and confectioner sugar together. Thin the frosting with cream until you get the consistency you wish. (Pictures 1 and 2.)
- Dip the cooled donuts in the cream cheese frosting, or spread the frosting over the top of the donuts with a knife and sprinkle with crumbs or sprinkles. (Pictures 3 and 4.)
Recipe Tips
If you don’t have buttermilk, don’t panic; you can make buttermilk. It’s easy. Combine 1 cup of milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. Let it sit for 3 minutes before using.
See more tips in the ingredient notes section above.
FAQs
You can make the donut dough the night before, up through step 5. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Before continuing the recipe the next morning, let the donut dough come up to room temperature.
If you have any leftover donuts, place them in an airtight container and store at room temperature, for up to 3 days.
I recommend freezing the donuts without the cream cheese glaze. Then you can store them in a freezer-safe, airtight container for up to 3 months in the freezer.
Equipment
The affiliate links below will allow you to see the product on Amazon.com. If you purchase one of the items, I will receive a very small commission on the product, which does not increase the price.
- Donut pan
- Wire rack or cooling rack
- Large Bowl, specifically a large mixing bowl
- Small Bowl
- Piping Bag
More Breakfast Sweets
- Strawberry Donuts
- Chocolate Donuts
- Gingerbread Pancakes
- Chocolate Strawberry French Toast Casserole
- Cinnamon Rolls
For more breakfast recipes, visit our Breakfast Recipe Collection, which includes recipes for pancakes, breakfast tacos, breakfast casseroles, and more!
If you make these Red Velvet Donuts and love them, please leave a 5-star rating by clicking on the five stars under the small photo in the recipe card below and clicking on the heart to save the recipe.
Recipe
Red Velvet Donuts Recipe
Ingredients
Red Velvet Donuts
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
Cream Cheese Icing:
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temp
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. and spray a donut pan with cooking spray.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
- In a large bowl, mix the buttermilk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and vinegar.
- Add the buttermilk mixture (wet ingredients) to the bowl with the dry ingredients (the flour mixture.)
- Add the red food coloring and stir until well combined.
- Spoon or pipe the dough into the donut pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes, then place the donuts on a cooling rack. Repeat until all the dough has been baked.
Notes
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Steffie says
Wow, these baked red velvet cake donuts look absolutely looking tasty!
Michele says
Hi Steffie,
Thank you! They are delicious!
Michele