Cinnamon Donuts – cake style fried donuts
Delicious morsels of deep fried dough, generously coated in cinnamon sugar.
Cinnamon donuts are easy to make at home and taste even better than store brought!
Easy and delicious homemade donuts
With cinnamon and nutmeg in both the donut and the coating, your cinnamon donuts will be full of that cozy sweet flavor that you expect.
These cinnamon donuts are a cake style donut that uses baking powder instead of yeast. This cuts out any rising time and makes the donuts fluffy, soft and crumbly. Fry your donuts until they are golden and enjoy these delicious treats any time. Donuts make a great lunch box filler, they are perfect for afternoon tea and they make for a great dessert (especially served with maple walnut ice cream). Make your own cinnamon donuts at home in under an hour with this simple recipe.
Getting the best cinnamon sugar coating on your donuts
There are two key factors that will make your cinnamon sugar coating perfect, timing and the type of sugar used.
Timing – You want to coat your donuts in the cinnamon sugar when the donuts are still very warm but also when they have had time to drain out some of the oil from frying. I find that that perfect time is about 2 minutes after removing them from the oil which is about the time that you will be flipping your next batch that is frying.
Sugar – Use a fine caster sugar for your donuts. It sticks to the donuts perfectly without leaving any spaces or gaps. It wont crumble off your donuts easily. And it wont affect the donuts if the sugar dissolves in higher humidity.
Other topping ideas for these donuts
Glazed – Probably the most popular option for topping your donuts. Use various flavorings and colors to customize your glaze however you like.
Powdered – Use the same coating method to make powdered sugar donuts. Simply swap out the cinnamon sugar for icing sugar.
Choc coated – If you toss the cooked donuts in a mixture of cocoa powder and icing sugar, you can create the delicious topping. I have used this for my mini pumpkin donuts and it works really well on these too.
Perfectly frying your cinnamon donuts
This can seem like a bit of a guessing game if you haven’t deep fried donuts before.
Break open a cooked donut to check for done ness if you are not sure.
Properly cooked donuts should be lightly browned and not doughy at all on the inside.
You want your oil to sit at 190 degrees Celsius for the best results.
Signs of the oil being too hot
– dark brown color when finished
– doughy insides
– harder outside layer
Signs of the oil being too cool
– slower cook time
– not coming up to the surface within a few seconds
– a lot of oil is absorbed into the donut (when broken apart it will look like the outer edge of the donut is wet)
Can you make these donuts ahead of time?
Absolutely. They are definitely delicious warm and fresh from the fryer, but they are also great the next day when that slight crisp to the crust has softened. Store your donuts in a sealed container. Place in a cool dry place and store for 3-4 days.
Microwave for 30 seconds if you want to reheat these to serve them warm later on.
This dough also freezes really well. Meaning that you only need to cook as many as you need at a time.
To freeze your donuts simply cut them out and place them flat on a lined baking sheet in the freezer. Freeze until solid and then transfer the frozen donuts into a snap lock bag. Defrost your donuts at room temperature for about 2 hours before frying and coating.
Cinnamon Donuts – cake style fried donuts
Ingredients
Method
- In a large bowl combine your sugar, flour, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix until everything is well combined, leaving a well in the center of your bowl to add your wet ingredients.
- Pour the remaining ingredients into the center of the bowl and begin to mix together using a wooden spoon or spatula. Start by mixing in the very center, mostly mixing the wet ingredients. Then slowly work your way outwards until everything is very well combined. The dough should form into a large ball with a similar consistency to that of play dough but slightly stickier.
- Once your dough is ready sprinkle a little bit of flour over your bench top and roll out the dough to approx 1- 1.5 cm thick. Dip a 8cm round cutter in flour (or drinking glass if you don’t have one). Use this to cut out as many rounds as possible. Next use a 2cm round cutter to cut a hole out of the center of each of your donuts.
- Brush off any excess flour and then set aside.
- Re-form dough to cut out more, you should end up with approx 20 donuts. (Save a little bit of scrap dough for testing your oil temperature)
- Pour the oil into a large saucepan and heat at on a medium-high heat until it reaches 190 degrees Celsius. Once you think that you have reached the right temperature, try frying a little of the scrap dough. The donut should bubble immediately when it enters the oil and float to the top within 10 seconds.
- While your oil is heating, prepare your cinnamon sugar. Place the caster sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl, mix well and then set aside.
- Lay 2 sheets of paper towels onto a large dinner plate to absorb the oil from your cooked donuts.
- Begin to fry donuts in batched of 3. they should take 1-2 minutes on the first side before you need to flip them with a pair of metal tongs.
- Flip and fry for a further minute or until your donuts are golden and cooked through.
- Once cooked, remove the donut balls using tongs. Place onto the paper towels to drain slightly.
- Add your next batch of donuts. While the next batch of donuts cook, add the already cooked donuts (one at a time) into the cinnamon sugar mixture, shake for a few seconds, flip, shake again and remove. Set your finished donuts aside to cool.
- Repeat the same process until all of your donuts are done.
Notes
Make your own buttermilk substitute by placing 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into a 1 cup measuring cup. Top up the cup with milk and leave this to sit for about 10 minutes.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my cinnamon donut recipe. I hope you enjoy trying this out for yourself. Please feel free to add any questions or comments below. I am happy to help out wherever possible and I would love to hear how this recipe worked out for you.
