Happy Birthday Donuts

These Happy Birthday Donuts combine pantry staple ingredients with rainbow sprinkles and cotton candy flavoring to create light and fluffy glazed cake donuts! Serve up just under two dozen homemade donuts in only 25 minutes!

This easy recipe skips out on the hassle of using yeast while still delivering incredible donuts! For another donut recipe that doesn’t require yeast check out my Coffee Donuts or Baked Blueberry Donuts!

Sweeten up birthday celebrations with a batch of these Happy Birthday Donuts! These tender, sweet donuts are baked up to delicious perfection and then topped with a 5-ingredient cream cheese glaze and fun sprinkles!

Don’t have anyone’s birthday to celebrate? Not to worry, you can still enjoy these Funfetti Donuts anyway! After all, any day is a good day for a donut!

Especially homemade ones that are made right at home in the oven! This easy recipe uses mostly pantry staple ingredients and only 10 minutes of prep time. In under 25 minutes, you’ll have a large batch of baked donuts to share with the whole family!

Happy Birthday Donuts Ingredient Notes

To make this Birthday Cake Donuts Recipe, you’ll start by first combining the dry ingredients. These are all-purpose flour, light brown sugar, granulated white sugar, baking powder, and rainbow sprinkles.

Afterward, you’ll mix the wet ingredients together. For that part, you’ll need eggs, whole milk, lemon juice, cotton candy flavor, vanilla extract, and melted butter.

Then you’ll combine the wet and dry ingredients. This donut batter is then portioned out in a donut pan and baked up to a light brown perfection!

As the doughnuts are cooling, icing can be made. The icing recipe calls for softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, whole milk, and pink food coloring.

After the Birthday Cake Donuts are covered with icing, you can finish them off with rainbow sprinkles!

How To Make Birthday Cake Donuts

1. Whisk together the all-purpose flour (make sure to Measure Your Flour properly), light brown sugar, granulated white sugar, baking powder, and rainbow sprinkles.
2. Mix the eggs, whole milk, lemon juice, cotton candy flavor, and vanilla extract together in a separate bowl.
3. Stir the melted butter into the milk mixture.
4. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until completely combined.
5. Pipe the donut batter into the greased cavities on the donut pan (affiliate link).
6. Bake the Birthday Cake Donuts in the oven until a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean. Afterward, cool them in the pan before transferring them to a wire rack.
7. Prepare the icing by beating the cream cheese with powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Next, slowly add in the whole milk, then continue to beat.
8. Mix in the pink food coloring.
9. Dip each donut into the glaze or drizzle it over the tops while they’re on the wire rack. Garnish with sprinkles if desired!

Birthday Cake Donuts FAQs

What’s The Best Way To Store These Birthday Cake Doughnuts?

You can store them uncovered at room temperature for up to 24 hours. For longer storage, place them in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 3 days.

The donuts can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Why Did My Glaze Turn Out Lumpy?

I’d say the cream cheese wasn’t brought up to room temperature before using it. If the cream cheese is too cold, it will lump up instead of cream perfectly into the sugar.

How Do I Know If My Donut Batter Is Mixed Together Enough?

The batter should be completely combined without any lumps but not stiff. You want it to be thicker than cake batter but softer than cookie batter.

Be careful not to overmix, though, or the donuts will turn out dense and thick!

Do I Have To Whisk The Dry Ingredients Together?

I highly recommend completing this simple step! Doing so ensures the baking powder is evenly distributed throughout the batter. It also ensures that the powders aren’t lumpy, preventing you from having to over-mix the batter to get them out later while mixing.

Can I Fill The Donut Cavities To The Top With Batter?

You don’t want to overfill the cavities! These donuts do rise a bit, so if they’re overfilled, they’ll rise up and connect. This will cause the hole in the middle of the donuts to close up!

Do I Have To Use Lemon Juice In This Recipe?

It is necessary for the donut batter, so yes.

Can I Use Unsalted Butter Instead?

Yes! I would just suggest adding a pinch of salt to the dry ingredients if you choose to use unsalted butter.

What If I Don’t Have A Piping Bag For The Batter?

Easy! Just simply add the batter to a Ziploc bag and then cut one of the corners off. You could also just carefully spoon the batter into the donut pan.

Can I Substitute Half and Half For The Whole Milk In The Donut and Glaze Recipes?

You can, or you could also use lower-fat milk. Just keep in mind you may end up with a slightly less tender and rich donut as well as a thinner and less rich glaze.

Celebrate your birthday morning by eating as many of these Birthday Cake Donuts as you’d like! Don’t worry, when your birthday is over, you can make another delicious donut recipe to enjoy!

• Air Fryer Chocolate Donuts – Soft, fluffy donuts that are filled with the best chocolate flavor!
• Brioche Donuts with Vanilla Cream – Follow these detailed, step-by-step instructions for crispy, light donuts that are made from scratch!
• Boston Cream Donuts – This quick and easy method delivers your favorite donut in just 25 minutes!
• Easy Donut Holes – Bite-sized donuts that are made using canned biscuit dough in only 30 minutes!
• Baked Strawberry Glazed Donuts – These sweet, tender donuts are made with fresh strawberries, strawberry yogurt, and strawberry preserves!

Let’s Connect!

If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!

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