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.
Great recipe! Just made these this morning–wonderful texture and taste. I ended up doubling the dough for about 27 3″ donuts. One batch of glaze was enough for all of them. I mixed and cut the dough the night before (I did re-roll the scraps), covered and refrigerated overnight, and spent only 45 minutes this morning frying and glazing everything once the oil was hot enough. Yummy!
Thanks for sharing Jane! Glad you were able to make them ahead of time successfully.
looking so forward to trying these i have always been a baker my freezer is always full but for some reason i never eat my own baking but i hear it is better than a bakery, my kids are prejudiced, when i do bake i usually try and pawn some off on my parents and neighbour, donuts are something i make regular;y but just regular cake donuts, i need to try these, have you ever tried to make crulers? if so do you have a recipe?
I’m so excited to make these! I looked for this recipe about 5 years ago when my family first moved overseas, but to no avail. Now I can’t wait to taste them again! Was wondering if you have a recipe for the chocolate frosted old fashioned donuts. Those were always my favorite. Though the glazed ones sound great too.
I wanted to follow the link to your recipe for cookies and cream chocolate donuts, but can’t find it anywhere — is it still around here somewhere? Thanks!
Here you go: https://handletheheat.com/cookies-and-cream-chocolate-doughnuts/
Can these be put in the donut pans and baked?
No, this recipe was specifically designed to be fried. I have a handful of baked doughnut recipes: https://handletheheat.com/category/donut/
These did not turn out as expected. They were very heavy.
I made these sour cream donuts today and they didn’t turn out very good. I found them to be heavy and dense. The only way i altered the recipe is in the flour. I didn’t have cake flour so i looked online and found a way to make cake flour by removing 1 TBSP flour per cup and exchanging it with cornstarch. Would that make the donuts dense and heavy?
Yes, cake flour is made to be lower in protein content than all-purpose flour and that is not something cornstarch can affect. The lower protein content leads to less gluten development which results in a light and tender texture. Always use regular packaged cake flour!
What is the difficulty level for this?
I am entirely too hungry to be looking at this page at 3 in the morning. I might just have to find myself a late night grocery store before I go to bed…
Sorry about your coupon fiasco. I am one of those “coupon guru” people, so yes, i do love my coupons. But I sometimes still run into scenarios like yours too, even though I’m used to using them.
And this recipe? I LOVE old fashioned sour cream doughnuts but have yet to make doughnuts of any kind. I’m hoping to convince my mother-in-law to do a doughnut making day sometime soon though (she makes doughnuts semi-frequently) where we can try these babies out!
I just ate waaaay too many of these doughnuts. They are amazing! Both the flavor and texture are just perfect. I only wish I had seen your reply in the comments about cutter size before I made mine. I knew they’d rise during frying, but I drastically underestimated how much! I should have realized this when I only got 7 doughnuts from my batch. Anyway, they puffed up and pushed each other around the pot, breaking my beautiful doughnuts into pieces. Oh, but what delicious pieces they were! I will definitely make these again, using a smaller cutter.
Yeah, I agree about the nutmeg. It is a very overwhelming flavor and couldn’t eat more than a few bites. I love these types of donuts but wasn’t a fan of this recipe.