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.
Can sugar free cake mix be used?
Hi Patti! Yes, it should work great. Enjoy!
Hi, I need to make MINI sized donuts. How long would I let them bake and should I still preheat the oven to 425 or lower? Thank you!
Hi Pam! The donuts will bake for about 5-6 minutes in a mini donut pan. Just a few minutes less than the regular-sized donuts. And yes, at the same temperature of 425°F. Enjoy!
Mine were way too moist. They fell apart and tasted like they were under cooked. I tried to cook them more, but they still seemed un done.
Oh no, Rebecca! Which combination of cake mix and stir-in did you use?
Hello Maegan
This is wonderful recipe to try! I’m wondering between apple sauce and banana is there any taste or texture differences??
I’m considering either yellow cake or strawberry cake mix here!! Thank you!
Hi Kate! The texture using banana is a little denser than with apple sauce. The flavor doesn’t differ too much between the two. Either would work great with either yellow cake or strawberry cake. They’re sure to be delicious either way! Enjoy!
What would the oven temp and cook time be for a mini cake donut pan?
Hi Tina! The oven temperature would remain the same, but the baking time would reduce to 4-5 minutes if using a miniature donut pan. Enjoy!
I would love to try a lemon poppyseed donut. I have a lemon cake mix, what would the best add-in be that wouldn’t interfere with the flavor?
Hi Susan! Yummm, that sounds like a great combo for these donuts. I would suggest plain (or lemon) whole milk yogurt or applesauce. Let me know how they turn out!
I made these tonight and they were still raw. I used a spice cake mix and a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree, baked for almost 20 minutes and they were still raw. What happened?
Hi Sarah! You just used the cake mix and puree? No water, oil or egg, right? I make this variation all the time and never have an issue with them not baking all the way through, especially after 20 minutes. I’m bummed they didn’t turn out for you.
What about coconut? I have coconut cream & flakes to use! Yellow cake mix? I’m making a few different flavors for my daughter’s 13th birthday party sleepover. Thank you!
Hi Mandi! I’m not sure how the coconut cream will hold up when the batter is baked, but it’s certainly worth a try. Would love to hear how they turn out if you try them. Happy birthday to your daughter! Have fun celebrating!
I found this recipe the other day after failing to make donuts NOT taste like flour and I was ecstatic to try. I remembered I needed cake mix and banana so I went and made the donuts without going back to the recipe to refresh myself. They turned out amazing, I used butter pecan cake mix and 2 bananas. BUT I forgot I didn’t need to add the eggs and oil and water so I’m mad at myself because the donuts would surely be firmer. They are pretty soft and fluffy so we’ll see how they hold up with frosting but the taste is amazing!
Just found this post and so happy I did- these were awesome! I did chocolate cake mix with applesauce and came out great. I was looking to make them just slightly more crispy on the outside similar to a fried cake doughnut- so after they cooled out of the pan, I put them in our Cuisinart Air Fryer for about 2-3 minutes and the outsides got perfectly crispy– my husband typically does not like baked donuts as he likes the texture of the fried- and he really liked these! Can’t wait to try these as cupcakes and other doughnut flavors. Thank you!