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.
can you fkreeze these
Hi Kay! We have not tried freezing these doughnuts ourselves, but other readers have with success. In case it helps, most doughnuts can be fried, cooled, and then frozen. We recommend freezing separately on a pan for a couple of hours or until solid, and then placing inside an airtight container (so they don’t stick together). Frozen doughnuts should keep for up to a month. To thaw, leave at room temperature for a few hours, and then re-crisp in a very hot oven for a few minutes, before glazing per the instructions in the recipe! Doughnuts are definitely best eaten fresh, but they will keep for a few days at room temperature, in an airtight container, too. I hope that helps 🙂
Superb in all respects. I’ve always found commercially prepared sour cream doughnuts disappointing. Not these. Perfect texture, perfect bite. Bravo! Well done.
So happy you loved this recipe, Ian!
Great taste thank you.
Let me start with I bake a LOT. I make fried and baked donuts, Sticky Buns, filled cupcakes and too much more to list. This sounded like a good recipe but once it came out of the fridge I started questioning it. The texture to roll was ok but they don’t hold up when you go to pick them up. Also, the temp for cooking is too low. should be 340-350. On the better side, the icing was spot on, but the recipe here is the very basic one that anyone who uses this glaze has it memorized.
I forgot it was egg yolks and added 2 whole eggs. Just remade the dough. Hopefully I won’t mess anything else up!
Can’t wait to hear how they turned out, Jean! 🙂
So lovely to look at and yummy to eat
5 stars for the recipe, 4 stars for my alterations.
I included 100% hydration sourdough starter, and 00 flour in my version. And I let them rise for a bit before frying. So my results were tangy, lighter, and a bit puffier than a traditional unleavened Old Fashioned. They are delicious, but I’m going to bump the sugar up a little next time around.
My glaze is amazing. It’s a basic glaze, with vanilla, and a tablespoon of cane syrup. Wow!
No seed oils in my house. I fried the donuts in my No.8 Chicken Fryer in 340-350° lard for 2 minutes per side. Fantastic! I’ve learned that lard at the right temp never causes oil retention in the food, or a greasy mouth, or an aftertaste.
Thank you for publishing this recipe. It’s a keeper in my house!
Perfect result!
First! I love you, the site, every detail that reflects your passion. Stupid w:unsalted or salted butter?
Hi Alexis! So happy to hear that you’re enjoying Handle the Heat 🙂 Tessa always recommends unsalted butter in baking – learn why here!
Another stupid question. First time baker….. is it 2 (1/4 cups) or 2 cups and 1/4 cup…….. sorry
Hi Alexis! No problem – we all have to start learning sometime 🙂 The cake flour needed is two full cups + one 1/4 cup – but weighing your flour is the best option, if you can, to prevent adding too much flour accidentally. Read more about this here! Let us know how it goes when you make these doughnuts! 🙂
This was so so so so good♥️♥️
Can plain Greek yogurt be substituted for the sour cream?
Hi Ruth! We haven’t tried that, as sour cream is the star ingredient here – but plain yogurt is typically a good substitution for sour cream, so it should work just fine. Let us know how it goes 🙂
Hello!!
Can these be made, cut out and refrigerated overnight…then fried in the morning!
Thank you!
Hi Debbie! We have not tried it with this recipe specifically, but other readers have with success. In case it helps, most doughnuts can be fried, cooled, and then frozen. We recommend freezing separately on a pan for a couple of hours or until solid, and then placing inside an airtight container (so they don’t stick together). Frozen doughnuts should keep for up to a month. To thaw, leave at room temperature for a few hours, and then re-crisp in a very hot oven for a few minutes, before glazing per the instructions in the recipe! Doughnuts are definitely best eaten fresh, but they will keep for a few days at room temperature, in an airtight container, too. I hope that helps
hi, could you premake the dough, then roll it into a tube (think like a ground beef chub or those premade cookie tubes) and cut the donut slices that way? I don’t have a lot of roll out room in my kitchen 🙁
Hi Heather! We haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure! It might be tricky to shape the doughnuts uniformly and round the way you’re describing, but it might work! If you give it a try, let us know how it goes 🙂