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.
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
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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.
This is delicious! My husband and I used to live in New York and now that we’ve lived in Stockholm for several years his craving for old fashioned donuts hasn’t gone away. These came out excellent even though it was my first try at donuts and I had to hope that the Swedish equivalents of the ingredients were similar enough. I rolled the dough too thin a couple times but they were just as good as the thicker ones in the end. Thank you!
That’s wonderful to hear! So glad this recipe worked perfectly, thanks for sharing!
Can this dough be made the day before and left in the fridge overnight?
Hi there! We haven’t tried that, though other readers have with success 🙂 Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!
Everything that could’ve went wrong did.
My dough was still sticky despite adding flour.
It finally got stiff enough to roll and cut.
When it came time to fry it all came crumbling out in the pan….
HELP. What can I do to actually be successful at this recipe?
I’m sorry you had issues with your doughnuts, Lori! Do you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients (especially your flour)? Make sure to check out the pink tip box above this recipe for more details as sticky dough is typically due to inaccurate measuring. Crumbly doughnuts can be due to the type of flour used. We also talk about that in the pink box. I hope you give this recipe another try so you can experience these doughnuts the way they’re meant to taste! Let us know how it goes.
Going to make these right now! Thanks, looks easy and delicious.
How did it go?!
I made these! So yummy and easy to make. I added sprinkles to the donut holes so it would be like birthday cake timbits! And I also put sprinkles on some of the donuts!
So fun!! Happy you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
Not sure why, but I only got 7 out of the whole batch. Waiting to get them in a bit hopefully they taste good
Interesting! Did you use a scale to measure your ingredients? Please let us know how they turn out!
TESSA AN ALL THE LADIES THAT COME IN THIS SIGHT IS FAMILY AN MEN ME ITS SO WARMING AN JUST READING AN TEXTING IS SO FUN AN COMPLETELY ❤️ IM VERY PROUD TO BE PART OF ALL THIS FAMILY IN HERE ITS MAGNIFICENT HOLIDAYS AHEAD WITH ALL OF YOU SINCERELY BIG DAN’S I LOVE RECIPES AN ITS AMAZING 9/16/21 236 AM MY TIME OF THE EVENING
DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID BUY GIVING US THEM PERFECT FLOWER AN OIL TIPS AFTER WE FRIED THEM WE TRIED EVERYTHING YOU TOLD US NOT TO DO AN THE DOG WOULDNT EAT THEM ,WE THREW THE OIL OUT AN IT WAS FILLED WITH S SOGGY FLOUR DOUGH UR A MIRACLE WE HAD A ♦️ CARD PARTY COFFEE AN DONUTS THOUGHT THEY WERE DUNKIN DONOS ITS SO SPECTACULAR IN WITH RECIPE AN VERY PROUD TO TELL THEM FLOWER AN OILSNAFFU I’m in love your magnificent an so special we are holidays HAPPY LOVE YA BIG DAN
So happy to hear your doughnuts were such a hit!
Just a warning to be careful when working with all that hot oil. I’m sitting here with a painful blister because some oil splashed up on my hand. Also, I had a hard time keeping the oil temperature at a consistent degree so most of them burned and were very dry. The first few that didn’t burn were okay but I didn’t like the flavor of the glaze so basically all of them went in the trash. Unfortunately it was a big waste of time and ingredients for me. I hate leaving a poor review; I’m sure all of these issues were my fault. Just be careful with the oil!
Hi! Can I use an airfryer to make these?
Hi Kaya! None of us here at Handle the Heat own an air fryer; however, one of our readers reported in that she had success air-frying this recipe 🙂 Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!
So easy and without going to the
bakery results
So happy you loved this recipe, Tom!
Can you use Gravpeseed oil instead of canola oil?
We haven’t tried that! Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!