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.
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!
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.
I tried making these this weekend and the dough was SUPER sticky. I couldn’t even roll them out. Should I add more flour? And then I put them in a fryer and they sunk down and stuck to my frying basket because they were so dense and sticky. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Hmmm as mentioned in the recipe the dough is quite sticky but as you can see from that last picture it definitely shouldn’t have prevented you from rolling them out and certainly should not have been so dense. Is it possible an ingredient was incorrectly measured or left out? I had great success with this recipe and many others have too so I’m thinking something went wrong along the way for you. Better luck next time!
Good recipe. FYI, spending $5 to save $10 gives you a $5 savings and $5 worth of free stuff.
can you make these with AP flour? don’t have cake flour at home
You can, though they may be slightly more dense.
Just found this today on Pinterest and am really excited to try them out! I do have a question for you though-I make doughnuts each Christmas as our traditional dessert. However, it comes at the end of a big meal that we prepare and share with our big extended family. Is this a recipe I can make earlier in the day and have ready to fry ahead of time (mixed & cut)? I have been using a yeast doughnut and the difficulty I have is remembering to get them out of the fridge to let them rise before frying! I want something equally delicious and lower maintance:)
Thank you Tessa for that recipe! My doughnuts where a hit but they where also very hard, i must have made an error while doing the dough. Any tip on how to make them softer? Also mine where alot more uniformed than yours although when i look at your picture of the dough, mine where pretty much the same.
Hi! It sounds like either the dough was over-worked or the oil was too cold or too hot while frying. Also as a note – this type of doughnut will be a little more “hard” than the fluffier yeast-raised kind.
Hi! These look super yummy! I was wondering if I could use shortening to fry these instead of Canola oil?
Sure!
My son and I made these for breakfast this morning, and they were delicious! I have been sort of afraid of frying doughnuts, and I decided it was time to get over that. thanks so much for the fantastic recipe! 🙂
So thrilled to here that Michelle. Frying can be a bit intimidating but it’s so worth it isn’t it?!
Munchkin and I are going nuts over these photos. She has informed me that she wants these! LOL
Haha! I would gladly make these for Munchkin anytime 🙂
i live in Scotland but i moved to canada for just over 3 yrs and was addicted to tim hortons sour cream donuts but have never known how to make these im soooo going to try this recipe coz they look juuuuust like them mmmmm thank you sooooo much i miss those so much….its funny the things you miss from somewhere, when i lived in canada i missed Scottish bread lol xx
Isn’t that funny? You always miss what you can’t get!
What type of butter? Salted, unsalted, etc….
It’s such a small amount that it really doesn’t matter salted vs. unsalted!
Made these today. They were excellent!
Glad to hear it!
hey tessa.. these doughnuts look too tempting to try .. i want to make them .. but we dont get sour cream at our place.. is there i can substitute for sour cream ? what about yogurt ?