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.
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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.
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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
Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts
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Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 2 1/4 cup (255 grams) cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea 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 fine sea 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.
Recipe Notes
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These look amazing! I just made glazed apple cider donuts and used sour cream for the first time last week. They tasted amazing. I don’t know what the sour cream does but I love it. I can’t wait to try your recipe! I made mine in oil and in my air fryer. They worked in an air fryer but tasted better fried in oil!
Ever tried this in an air fryer?
For anyone trying to make this recipe gf: made these today with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour and they were waaaaay too dense. The BF and I agreed that the flavor was spot on though and the glaze was awesome. Will try these again w a diff GF blend. I’ve had success w Cup4Cup before so planning to try that.
I saw this recipe and ‘total time one hour’ and thought ‘perfect! I’ll have time to make these before the kids get up!’
Started in on the recipe and got halfway through and got to the step that says ‘chill for one hour’.
Needless to say, this messed up my timeline. That hour to chill should be included in the ‘total time’ at the start of the recipe!
These turned out so tender and delicious! I used two wooden spatulas to flip the donuts over. The dough was sticky but after the hour chill turned out to be soft and kind of silky. I did the DIY cake flour thing but used White Lily flour instead of my regular King Arthur all-purpose flour. (It was actually WL self-rising flour but I had it for so long the leavener was flat so used the listed amount of baking powder and adjusted the salt.). Compared to King Arthur, White Lily has a lower protein level to begin with so I think that’s why I didn’t have the issues others had with the dough being too sticky/heavy. This website shows why Tessa says it is important to use a cake flour and why your DIY cake flour may have different results. https://www.chowhound.com/post/substitute-white-lily-ap-flour-980906
Love your site ! I tried this recipe and it’s yummm! I changed a few few things-reduced the nutmeg to 1/4 , added Greek yoghurt instead of sour cream since I didn’t have-any at home , also reduced the glace to 1/2 the quantity. Got a baker’s dozen Thanks gor sharing! Also, could you chk if the page takes a long time to upload?
I absolutely LOVE the recipe, it comes out amazing every time! This time I needed to make only half a batch of the doughnuts so I halved all the ingredients but accidentally forgot and still added 2 egg yolks instead of one…do you think that will affect the overall texture/taste of the doughnut? If you still reply to comments in this post, please I would like to know as soon as possible ty! 🙂
I printed this recipe from your website it’s on my fridge with important baby family photos. My kids and I loe them. My favorite part is that’s i can make dough Friday night and Saturday morning I don’t have to wait an hour for the day dough to be ready.
Second time making them I used purchased cake flour and they were AMAZING (first time they were just ok – cake flour is key I think). Thanks for this recipe, will be making again!
Wow !!! My first attempt at any kind of donut. Turned out fabulous. I used my fryer pot mainly for temperature control. Golden bites of yummy. Hubby loved them. Glaze was the “icing on the cake” er donut !! Great recipe thanks so much, a keeper for sure 5 stars
FYI, the recipe is showing up twice on the page, separated by an add for your secret glazes. The summary in both copies of the recipe say 1 hour total, with 20 minutes inactive time. The text of the recipe (both times) say to chill the dough for an hour.
And, where in Phoenix do they make decent donuts? I’m in the valley, too, but haven’t found any.
Can this recipe be air fried?