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.
My husband tried to make these for me. The dough was so dry. We double checked all the ingredients, but we couldn’t even roll them out.
Sounds like perhaps an ingredient wasn’t measured or left out, most like though the flour was over-measured. Be sure to fluff up the flour and spoon it into your measuring cup so it doesn’t become too compacted, or better yet use a kitchen scale to ensure perfect accuracy.
I followed the recipe and the dough was not sticky at all
Homemade donuts in a little over an hour! Nice simple recipe with ingredients every baker has on hand. The dough is quite sticky, even after chilling for an hour. Does need to be kneaded 5 or 6 times and then pat out the dough to cut. Yummy!
Hi, could these be made ahead of time and eaten an hour later? Or do they have to be eaten hot?
I thank you for posting this recipe, but it did not turn out well for me. I followed the directions to a T, but they were a major fail. For one thing, they were flat and never puffed up at all; I know they’re cake doughnuts rather than yeast doughnuts, but mine came out more like cookies than doughnuts. And I cannot blame it on rolling them out too thin because I only got 9 doughnuts out of mine, not the 12 of the recipe, so if anything, my rolling was thicker. Also, I felt they were too salty. Overall, I was very disappointed in them.
Hi! I’m sorry you had a fail. However, I am confident it is not the fault of the recipe – I have made it numerous times and so have many others (just look on Instagram!) so it would appear some troubleshooting is needed. For the flatness I can think of two things that may have caused this – expired baking powder or incorrect oil temperature. As for the saltiness did you use kosher salt? I would only use fine salt in baking.
These donuts sound awesome with all those persian favorite ingredients! Bravo idea! Thanks for sharing!
I just made this and put them in the fridge to chill for an hour… my question is this: the dough is SO dry it barely incorporated all the flour. Your recipe says it should be sticky. I checked and rechecked that I put everything in correctly and in the right order, etc. The only difference is I used AP flour with cornstarch to “make” cake flour. Can that really make a difference???
I’m super excited to try this recipe as these are my favorite type of donut!! Just wondering how to use this recipe for a chocolate old fashioned donut? Any suggestions anyone?
Thanks so much!!
Will be making these PRONTO! Thanks so much for sharing! These are my husband & I favorite donut. Bless him, I just fed him one for breakfast that was left over from our Dunkin Donut stop yesterday. I can only imagine these will be soooo much better.
Hi – Thanks for this recipe – a few quick questions (that hopefully aren’t repeats from others). I tried these today and am not thrilled with my results. I want to try again.
*Do you think it’s possible to over-mix the dough?
*Once you cut your circles, do you re-roll the scraps?
*I tried mine in a small deep fryer not a pan – is that okay?
*We usually use peanut oil for frying, but I realized that you said canola. Do you think that would affect the flavor?
*Did you try to soak excess grease from both sides of the doughnut?
Thanks so much!!
Double the recipe. You won’t be sorry. So delicious!
What if I don’t have a mixer with a paddle attachment?