These 2-Ingredient Baked Cake Donuts are too good to be true! Just two ingredients for the donuts, a container of frosting for the glaze and in less than 30 minutes you’ll have great cake donuts ready to enjoy!
Do or Donut, There is No Try
Today’s the day, my friends! It’s National Donut Day!!! Yes, a day to celebrate our love for donuts & devour as many as we want without being judged. Wait, who would ever judge someone for eating donuts?! 😉 It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with donuts. I mean I wear donut shoes, donut shirts, a donut necklace and all the donut shops in town know me by name. Absolutely no shame in my donut loving game!
In honor of my love for donuts, I’m not just sharing one yummy donut recipe today, but two! Woo-hoo!
Watch Me Make Baked Cake Donuts
Join me in the kitchen as I make a batch of these amazing 2-Ingredient Baked Cake Donuts!
Two Ingredients, One Delicious Donut
First up are these incredibly easy and delicious 2-Ingredient Baked Cake Donuts with a 1-Ingredient Glaze. They’re too good to be true! This recipe is for my semi-homemade, fear of frying, need something quick & easy but still want them to taste amazing, donut lovers out there. You’re gonna love these donuts!
Okay, back to these 2-Ingredient baked cake donuts! “How can that be??” you might be asking. What about the flour! The yeast! The powdered sugar! The salt! Surely there are egg! Well, they’re actually made with a cake mix and one other ingredient mixed in. I don’t use cake mixes often because I love baking from scratch, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with using a cake mix every once in a while to make life easier & to mix things up.
So when I got this idea in my head to bake donuts with a cake mix and just one other ingredient mixed in, I ran with it and I love how they turned out! The options are plentiful when it comes to picking a flavor for these cake donuts. Just take your favorite cake mix and stir in either 2 cups mashed banana, 2 cups cinnamon applesauce or a 15 ounce can of pure pumpkin to the dough.
And you’ll never believe it, but the glaze is just store-bought frosting that’s been microwaved for about 10 seconds. It works so perfectly as a donut glaze. I was literally doing the happy dance when this little idea of mine worked so well.
The donuts are soft and cakey and the sweet glaze coats and compliments them perfectly. Oh my yum!
How to Make 2-Ingredient Donuts
To make cake mix donuts, take 1 cake mix, 1 mix-in and 1 container of frosting. Sprinkles are technically optional, but come on! Sprinkles are given when it comes to donuts, am I right?! 😉
Here we go…
You like chocolate cake donuts? For chocolate cake donuts: Use a chocolate cake mix and stir in any of the 3 mix-ins and use any frosting glaze you so desire!
For vanilla cake donuts: Use vanilla cake mix and any of the 3 mix-ins would work great and the same goes for the frosting glaze!
For Strawberry cake donuts: Use mashed bananas or applesauce for the mix-in and a strawberry frosting glaze! You like spice cake mix, go with applesauce or pumpkin and a cream cheese or plain vanilla frosting glaze!
So many yummy options! The process for making these donuts is so quick and easy it’s ridiculous. You’ll be baking these bad boys (I mean that in a good way) every chance you get.
Donuts Three Ways
I made them three different ways to show you how: Strawberry banana with a strawberry frosting glaze and sprinkles, of course! Oh la la!!
Apple Spice with a vanilla frosting glaze…sweet & simply delicious! Might be my fave!
Chocolate pumpkin with a chocolate frosting glaze and chocolate sprinkles! Party!
So what are you waiting for? Grab a cake mix, a mix-in, and a container of frosting and you’re less than 30 minutes away from baked cake donut deliciousness!
Even More Donut Deliciousness
Stay tuned for some scratch-made, home-fried Blueberry Donuts that are still super easy and can be ready to enjoy in just 30 minutes. Once again, too good to be true!
Oh, and don’t forget about the Easy Old-Fashioned Donuts, Whole Wheat Baked Banana Donuts with a Peanut Butter Glaze, and Baked Banana Donuts with a Maple Glaze recipes that I’ve posted in the past. They might be oldies on the blog, but they’re still goody good good!
I’m so excited about these donuts! They’re so easy to make, they taste great, the flavor options are endless and everyone will go crazy over them. If you make these 2-Ingredient Donuts, be sure to snap a picture and share it with me or tag me on Instagram @thebakermama so I can see. 
I love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the recipes I share. Enjoy!
xoxo,
2-Ingredient Baked Cake Donuts
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 7 mins
- Total Time: 22 mins
- Yield: 12
- Category: Breakfast
Description
These 2-Ingredient Baked Cake Donuts are too good to be true! Just two ingredients for the donuts and a container of frosting for the glaze and in less than 30 minutes you’ll have great cake donuts ready to enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 cake mix, any flavor (just the dry mix)
- 1 mix-in (2 cups mashed banana OR 2 cups cinnamon applesauce OR 1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin)
- 1 container frosting, any flavor
- Sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray one (or two) 6 cavity donut pans with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cake mix (just the dry mix, no other ingredients listed on the box) with one of the mix-in options until well combined. Transfer the batter to a gallon-size resealable baggie and seal shut. Cut a small piece off one corner off the bottom of the baggie and fill each donut ring almost completely full with batter. You can also use a piping bag, if you have one. (Should make 12 donuts)
- Bake for 7-8 minutes or until donuts are set and spring back up when touched. Let donuts cool in pan for at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack set over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to collect glaze drippings. Repeat process with remaining batter if you don’t have two donut pans.
- Heat frosting in a microwave safe bowl for 10-15 seconds until of drizzling consistency. Dip one donut at a time into the frosting glaze and place upright back on the wire rack. If sprinkling with sprinkles, do so immediately after glazing each donut. Repeat with remaining donuts. Allow glaze to set for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
If using a mini donut pan, bake for about 5 minutes before testing doneness.
Is there a difference in the baking time between a metal, glass or silicon donut pan?
Hi Jacquie! Yes, I’ve found that recipes bake slower and get less browned/crisp around the edges with a silicon baking pan. I’ve never seen a glass donut pan so I couldn’t say for sure on that. I prefer my metal donut pans. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
Hello, I am so excited to try this out. Do you think using sugar free cake mix and unsweetened apple sauce would turn out the same. My husband is diabetic and he loves this cake mix so it would be awesome to be able to make him so donuts he could enjoy
Hi Amanda! It’s certainly worth a try. I know the unsweetened applesauce will definitely work, but I’m not familiar with sugar free cake mixes so I couldn’t say for sure. If you’ve used the sugar free cake mix before and it bakes up similar to a normal cake mix, then it should work! Fingers crossed they bake up just as great and that your husband loves them!
I just made pumpkin ones with a Sugarfree yellow cake mix and pumpkin. I added pumpkin pie spice and they turned out Awesome!! The only downfall is the pre made Sugarfree frosting doesn’t harden up like a glaze would
Can I use yellow cake mix for the doughnuts? And if I use a cupcake pan, how much would I put in it and how?
Hi Aleesha! Yes, you can definitely use a yellow cake mix for any of the combinations. And to bake them as cupcakes, just divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups, filling each one about 2/3 full. They’ll bake for about 18-20 minutes. Enjoy!
How long can the made donuts (with icing) be stored? I was thinking of making them and then taking to work the next day. I can’t wait to make them
Hi Jaymee! They’re best if eaten within 3 days. Just store them in a single layer on a platter, covered in plastic wrap, at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Don’t seal them in a container as the moisture will release and cause the donuts to be wet and the frosting to start melting off. Enjoy!
> > > I am so EXCITED for this post . . . Pampered Chef is coming out with a mini donut pan Sept 1, 2018 and we’ve all been trying new ideas. These will def be part of the process of yumminess! Thanks for the idea and to everyone who shared.
Uh 1- i dislike the taste of pumpkin so that one isn’t an option 4 me.
2- i save my bananas for banana bread
3- I have the mott’s brand in my local store for applesauce but have never seen cinnamon applesauce where the heck do i buy THAT and if i don’t buy it how much cinnamon do i add to normal applesauce to get what you say is needed in this recipe as i assume normal applesauce can not be used because you specify cinnamon applesauce
Hi Amy! A few of the applesauce brands sell a cinnamon applesauce that is perfectly spiced with cinnamon and sugar, but you can certainly add your own. If you are using a spiced cake mix and want to increase the cinnamon flavor, try whisking in a teaspoon of cinnamon before stirring in the applesauce. Or you can definitely use normal applesauce and the donuts will still turn out great. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
This looks so fun, who knew cake mix could be used for other stuff? (I have to be careful now or I will try it for everything! LOL) I am a super klutz, I literally can’t drink water out of a glass without knocking it over, so I wondered about this part (I always like to follow new recipes exactly the first time, someone created it, and it worked, so why not?)
But here: “Transfer the batter to a gallon-size resealable baggie and seal shut. Cut a small piece off one corner off the bottom of the baggie and fill each donut ring almost completely full with batter”
I have this pic in my head of all of that spilling all over my apron and the floor. I haven’t ever made donuts but I use an ice cream scoop to get batter into cupcake tins, so I wonder if that could work. Or is it important to use the baggie?
This is my first time here and you are so nice, Maegan! I visit so many food blogs and have rarely seen such kindness and patience in the way you answer questions. I am so excited to make these! I can’t pick so darn, I might have to try all of them! Yay for “food tester” friends 🙂
Hi Lily! You’ll love these donuts! It is much easier to fill the donut pan with the batter in a plastic bag but you can certainly spoon it in. For clarification, you’ll just put the batter in a large plastic storage bag, seal it shut, and snip a small corner off of one of the ends so you can pipe it into the donut pan. This way the batter is evenly distributed around each donut and bakes up evenly. There are a few pictures within this post showing what the batter will look like in the pan before baked as well as what the plastic bag with the batter in it looks like. Hope this helps. Happy Baking & Enjoy!
Hi I just read your post & I wanted to say I have 3 cookbooks just for cake mixs (1) The cake mix Doctor (2) chocolate from the cake mix Doctor, (3) cupcakes from the cake mix Doctor. I’m sure there are so many books out there. I have had good luck with the 3 books I have. I seen these books on QVC so before I purchased them I went to the library & took them out. Then I bought them on Amazon you can buy them new or used. Good luck ????
That’s awesome! I bet you sure enjoy cooking from them. Thanks for sharing!
These are a huge hit in my house. So far I have made the pumpkin devils food and strawberry banana. I have the stuff to make pumpkin carrot, pumpkin spice and applesauce cherry chip. I doubt my kids will ever ask to go buy donuts ever again, heh.
Yay! So great to hear, Franci! Love all your flavor combos. Continue to enjoy! 🙂
Hi! Did the applesauce change the cherry chip flavor? I am ready to try the cherry chip cake with applesauce because I cannot think of anything different, but I want them to taste like actual cherry doughnuts. I tried a different recipe that just used the box cake, eggs, butter and milk, but it make them light and fluffy and I didn’t like that. Cake doughnuts are supposed to be dense. So I am hoping the second attempt with this 2-ingredients recipe will get what I was expecting with the first one. Just hoping they will be more cherry and less apple.
I just made the two ingredient baked cake donuts. They turned out wonderful. I used cinnamon applesauce. The only change I made was leaving them in the oven for 10 minutes. I will definitely make these again
I made these donuts with applesauce and they literally fell apart. Please tell me what went wrong.
Thanks
Carol
Hi Carol! I wonder if your donuts needed to bake longer? Were they too moist or too dry? Did you use just the dry cake mix (no water, oil or eggs)? Did you use a traditional cake mix? I make them with applesauce all the time and have never had issues with the donuts falling apart. Hopefully, we can figure out what went wrong with yours.