Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: The little bit of nutmeg combined with the sour cream and sweet glaze makes these doughnuts taste just like the ones at your favorite bakery, if not better!
Texture: Slightly crunchy on the outside, cakey and soft on the inside. All the little cracks in these doughnuts just soak up the shiny, crackled glaze.
Ease: There’s no yeast in this recipe so you can have these doughnuts IN YOUR MOUTH in a little more than an hour from start to finish.
Pros: I think the pros are inherently implied, they’re doughnuts!
Cons: Deep fried sugary goodness ain’t too good for your diet.
Would I make this again? Yes, whenever I’m craving these old-fashioned cake doughnuts I’ll whip this recipe out.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
I have huge sweet tooth cravings on the regular. Can you relate?
When I get a doughnut craving, it’s intense.
In my experience, a lot of doughnut shops make pretty bland and greasy doughnuts that leave a weird residue on your tongue.
There are a few local shops that I LOVE, but I rarely have an excuse to make a trip to one of them.
This recipe honestly takes about the same amount of time that it takes to drive across town to my favorite bakery, so it’s kind of perfect. Plus, if you only eat doughnuts when you make them from scratch, you can’t really go overboard, right? That’s my logic at least.
These Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts are just like the old-fashioned cake doughnuts from the bakery. They’re kind of crunchy and cracked on the outside, making those nooks just perfect for soaking up the thick, shiny, crackled glaze.
We completely dunk the doughnuts in that glaze in the recipe, and it’s amazing. The inside is soft and cakey with a more firm bite than yeast doughnuts. Plus you can’t beat sour cream – it’s good with just about everything.
I don’t always prefer old-fashioned cake doughnuts to yeast doughnuts, but when I do this is absolutely the recipe I use. You can’t beat how much less time these take than yeast doughnuts, too.
Sprinkle of Science
Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts Recipe Tips
1. Use a Scale to Weigh Your Ingredients
Using a scale is a smart idea for these sour cream doughnuts. Any issues I hear about the dough being too dry or sticky are likely due to inaccurate measuring! If your doughnuts aren’t as fluffy and light as you’d like, it’s due to compacting too much flour into your measuring cup. You can learn more about how to measure flour the RIGHT way here.
2. Use REAL Bleached Cake Flour
- This is a must for these sour cream doughnuts.
- Purchased cake flour will yield light and delicate doughnuts, just like the ones from a good bakery.
- DIY substitutions don’t really cut it.
- AP flour will not create doughnuts with that same soft texture.
- Bleached cake flour will work best. Unbleached (like King Arthur Flour) won’t absorb as much moisture and you may end up with doughnuts that crumble while frying.
- You can learn more about cake flour here.
3. This Recipe is FRIED
- Yes, you must fry these sour cream doughnuts
- This recipe was specifically designed to be fried and not baked.
- USE FRESH OIL. Oil goes rancid quickly, often before the date on the bottle.
- If it has *any* unpleasant smell, don’t use it, as that flavor will transfer to your doughnuts.
Can I Air Fry These Doughnuts?
I don’t personally own an air fryer, but a reader recently messaged me, letting me know that she had success air frying this recipe. Let us know in the comments below if you have success air frying these doughnuts, too!
My Favorite Doughnut Tools:
- Digital Scale – to ensure your ingredients are measured correctly
- Doughnut Cutter – for perfectly uniform doughnuts
- Deep Fry Thermometer – to ensure your oil maintains the correct temperature
- Dutch Oven – perfect for frying!
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Krispy Kreme Copycat Glazed Doughnuts
- Baked Strawberry Lemon Doughnuts
- Chocolate Old-Fashioned Doughnuts
- Pumpkin Old Fashioned Doughnuts
- Classic Cake Doughnuts
Become a Baking Genius!
Sign up for our free email newsletter for NEW recipes & baking science secrets.
Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts
Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 2 1/4 cup (255 grams) cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
- 2 tablespoons (29 grams) butter, at COOL room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) sour cream
- Canola oil, for frying
For the glaze:
- 3 1/2 cup (350 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup hot water
Instructions
For the donuts:
- In a bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until sandy. Add the egg yolks and mix until light and thick. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream, ending with the flour.
- Mix for 30 seconds on low speed or until the dough is smooth but slightly sticky. You want to mix enough that the dough doesn't fall apart in the oil, but not so much that it becomes tough. If the dough is unbearably sticky, add extra flour one tablespoon at a time (especially if you live in a warm & humid climate).
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour, or until firm.
- On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness. Use a doughnut cutter or two differently sized biscuit cutters to cut out as many donuts as possible, dipping the cutters into flour as necessary to prevent sticking. You should get about 12 doughnuts and holes. If the dough gets too loose, sticky, or greasy at any point, return to the fridge to firm it back up before continuing. Refrigerate while you heat the oil so the dough is slightly cold when it fries.
- Pour 2 inches of canola oil into a heavy-bottomed pot with a deep-fry thermometer attached. Heat to 325°F. Fry the doughnuts a few at a time, being careful not to overcrowd the pot. Fry on each side about 2 minutes, being careful not to let them burn. Keep an eye on the thermometer and adjust your stove heat to maintain the correct oil temperature. Let drain on a paper bag to soak up the excess grease.
For the glaze:
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk until smooth. Immerse each doughnut into the glaze. Place on a wire rack above a sheet pan to catch any excess glaze. Let sit for 20 minutes until glaze is set. Doughnuts are best served the day they are made but may be store in an air tight container at room temperature for a few days.
One more helpful hint. For those claiming the glaze is too thick ? Don’t add milk or additional water. That will cause it not to set or dry properly on the doughnut. Simply put your glaze mixture in the microwave for about 35 seconds. Get it nice and hot and runny………then dip your donuts . Then it will harden perfectly ! Hope this helps someone out there.
Im back ! and they turned out perfect ! Exactly like the photo. I did notice something though. I had it at a perfect 325 degrees and they didn’t seem to cook too well so they cooked nicely at 375 to 400. So don’t feel intimidated ladies. It a wonderful recipe. Please don’t forget to scoop your flour into the measuring cup with a spoon then level off….you’ll have the perfect dough.. I got 11 doughnuts and 11 holes….absolutely yummy. Happy cooking 🙂
I’ve decided to give it a try in spite of the contradictions surrounding actual cake flour verses homemade cake flour. Im using store bought cake flour to be on the safe side and next time I will use homemade cake flour so I can see if theres a difference myself. I have the dough in the fridge just waiting to be made into doughnuts. I’d like to help those who have the problem with it coming out too dry? Mine came out perfect. I do believe the problem with the dryness is attributed to pushing the measuring cup down into the flour to get a cup. This will cause you to have way more flour in the recipe as it gets packed down as you scoop it. You have to hold your measuring cup, spoon it directly into the measuring cup and then level it off. This way you are sure to get an exact cup and nothing more. Then it will come out perfect. try it, you’ll see. I’ll be back with my results after frying. I have the oil in the pan with the thermometer attached just waiting to go…..
I too had issues with it being way too dry, I added milk. We’ll see what happens.
Hello Tessa,
I made the doughnuts last night. They turned out fine, very tasty. The only tweak needed is no salt in the glaze and less in the doughnut mix plus the glaze was too thick. I ended up adding in more hot water but it was still too thick. I think next time much more water as I prefer a lighter coating of icing I ended up with a proper iced doughnut which tasted too sweet.
I loved the recipe and the idea of no yeast but still perfect tasty soft doughnuts !
X
Can you leave the dough in the fridge over night?
First attempt at these today, and they are awesome.. I did use all purpose flour with cornstarch, as some have had problems, but I whisked mine quite a bit to ensure the cornstarch was incorporated correctly, and to lighten the flour. I refrigerated as instructed. The dough was very stick, but proper flour on the counter solved that quickly. The first couple didn’t crackle like I wanted, but the rest did just fine. They are divine!!! My family better come home soon so I eat the entire batch. Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try the chocolate ones!!
So glad to hear it, Jennifer!
I tried to read most of the comments but there was too many.. If I use a hand held mixer, should I only use one beater or two? I don’t have a paddle attachment.
I enjoy your recipes.
You could start out with two but you’ll probably need to go down to one or use your hands once the flour begins to incorporate. Happy baking 🙂
ok, you really have to stop publishing your recipes. Just kidding. I want to make everything. All your recipes I’ve seen so far look so delicious,my husband and I are going to big as a house.Don’t stop,keep up the good work!!
Are amazing thanks for putting them in the web
These are great thank you so much for putting
Good article! We are linking to this particularly great article on our site.
Keep up the great writing.