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.
Hi, I came across this post on Pinterest. I don’t usually read food blogs, maybe cause I am a professional chef and my ego won’t allow me to read what many people may have to write about food or reviews that may or may not be other than a personal opinion of something they may or may not like. However, I really loved your your style and I will publically admit that I did try your recipe and it’s way better than anything I have attempted. I am truely impressed and will be reading and following your blog. If you will allow me, I would like t make these doughnuts for my cafe.
That’s awesome Tamer! I believe recipes are meant to be shared – so feel free to use it wherever 🙂
Hell I just found your blog and had a few questions about this recipe
1. Can I use all purpose flour?
2. Instead of crying can I bake them?
Thank you it would be great if you would reply
Sarah
Hey Sarah! No, cake flour works best here. If you use all-purpose your doughnuts may wind up dry and dense. I’m assuming you meant frying not crying 😉 I’ve never baked this recipe but I’d imagine much of the delicious texture would be sacrificed if baked so I wouldn’t try personally.
I’m sorry to report I tried your recipe this past weekend as I love sour cream doughnuts and it was an epic fail. I followed your instructions to the letter but the doughnuts fell apart almost as soon as they hit the hot canola oil and none were salvageable enough to eat. I will just have to buy them from my local doughnut shop 🙂
Some notes:
ALWAYS weigh your flour. Even if it is the only ingredient you ever weigh, your results will be more consistent. Most too dry/too sticky complaints can be attributed to this. (A scale is a cheap, absolutely necessary investment for any baker, amateur or otherwise.)
When using recipes from country to country, a quick google search goes a long way to insure compatibility when substituting ingredients.
In this recipe specifically, I used cold butter chopped into small pieces and mixed with the granulated sugar on LOW to achieve a sandy texture. Butter temperature can affect final dough consistency. We are not creaming this butter and sugar, so I found cold worked best.
I also used cold egg yolks and beat the mixture on MEDIUM for 4-5 mins until light in color and doubled in volume.
I did substitute 1/2 yogurt (1/4c sour cream, 1/4c yogurt) since I did not have enough sour cream.
When adding in wet/dry ingredients to egg mixture, beat on LOW until ingredients are just combined. After the final third of flour is added, beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and begins to form a ball, then stop mixing and scrape down the mixing bowl to further combine any ingredients from the high sides of the bowl. Do not overmix your dough!
And as for frying, always make sure your oil is hot enough. Thermometers and scales, people!!
So I made these today, rainy Belgian summer day – nice, but still a baking day nonetheless. Anyhow, last donut recipe I tried failed miserably and I just was sick of them but decided to try yours out as I’ve been in search of something that would resemble my grandfather’s recipe… not quite his but definitely LOVED them. I didn’t have sour cream so I used greek yoghurt instead but they came out quite nice, the nutmeg is spot on, used chocolate and sprinkles instead of the glaze. My boyfriend and his best friend ate them in no time (seriously, no time). Also have a tip here, if you insert your finger nail through the middles you will get cute small doughnuts as well… just saying, for those small fingers at home (I have none but i love small food, it just looks too cute!). Thanks, will be definitely making these again.
Hi I haven’t got a cooking thermometer but can you fry by checking oil’s bubbles or is it risky?
It’s always best to use a thermometer!
thank you so so much for this recipe . I have tried it the other day and it was delicious
Can you use granulated sugar cause that’s all we get and I really wanna make these
My daughter and I made these yesterday. They turned out very well — and more than expected. We made about 18. Thank you for the recipe.
Hey ,
this recipe is very good , amazing ^^ !
but i had some trouble with the dough will be too most sticky… and when i was trying to make Doughnuts, it was impossible …
do you have advice to improve this recipe ?
thank a lot !
These look amazing! but what the nutritional value?
i want to try these for a dessert to take to church. do you think there’s a way to bake them?? just to make it a litttle easier, as i will probably double the recipe.. just asking
I haven’t tried baking this recipe because I know they wouldn’t be nearly as good as the fried version!