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These made from scratch Red Velvet Donuts are scrumptious warm bites of delight and are covered in cream cheese. These homemade doughnuts are quite addictive and are perfect not only for breakfast but for brunch, lunch, and also as a quick snack.
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Another one of my favorite red velvet desserts is my Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese frosting.
🥘Ingredients
- All-purpose flour - make sure to use the spoon and level with a knife method. Do not scoop and then measure.
- Kosher salt - do not use table salt when making this recipe. Table salt or ionized salt is for seasoning at the table.
- Unsalted butter - always use unsalted butter when baking so you can control the salt content. If you do not have unsalted butter, use salted but omit the salt from the recipe.
- Distilled white vinegar - make sure to use distilled WHITE vinegar. Do not use apple cider vinegar.
- Red food coloring - you can use either gel or regular. You can also use beet powder if you prefer.
- Red Velvet Emulsion - you can add in some emulsion flavoring to give the batter an extra boost of flavor.
To get the full ingredient list, head down to our recipe card.
🔪Instructions
You will find complete instructions in the recipe card.
🧾Substitutions
You can also make these in a mini donut pan.
📖Variations
- Add in some nuts for a crunchy surprise.
- Add some mini chocolate chips into the batter for a decadent treat.
🍽 Equipment
- Donut pan
- Piping bags
- Hand mixer/Stand mixer
🥫Storage
They can sit in an air-tight container on your countertop for up to 3 days. However, if you used milk in the glaze/frosting, then they need to be refrigerated in an air-tight container and will last up to 4 days.
💭Top tip
Make sure to only fill each donut mold about ½ way full.
⭐FAQ
Considering that any desserts called red velvet use cocoa powder as an ingredient, it's easy to think that it's just a chocolate dessert. However, a true devil's food cake uses chocolate, and a red velvet cake uses cocoa powder. That's the difference.
No, you don't need to because the batter will naturally turn pink due to the combination of the vinegar and the buttermilk. However, if you want the color of the donuts to really pop, consider adding a few drops of food coloring. Keep in mind though that if you are using regular food coloring that you may not get the red you want. I have found that gel food coloring is what really helps your colors pop instead of the traditional kind.
The easiest way to fill a donut pan is to fill a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the batter. Place the bag inside of a tall glass and fold the sides of the bag over. Fill the bag full of the batter. Then snip a corner of the bag off and then squeeze the bag a little and fill each donut mold.
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📖 Recipe
Homemade Red Velvet Donuts
Equipment
- Donut pan
- Piping bags
- Hand mixer/Stand mixer
Ingredients
Donuts
- 1 cup all-purpose flour scooped with a spoon and leveled with a knife
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup white granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 ½ tablespoons unsalted sweet cream butter melted & cooled to room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoons sour cream
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoons red food coloring
- ½ teaspoons distilled vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Red Velvet Emulsion optional
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 tablespoon unsalted sweet cream butter softened
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- sprinkles
Instructions
Make the Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray the donut pan with a non-stick spray and set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and white sugar in a large bowl and set aside.
- Either using a stand mixer or in a large bowl and using a hand mixer, combine the melted butter, the egg, vanilla, sour cream, and buttermilk. Combine throughly until the batter is nice and smooth. Then mix in the food coloring and distilled vinegar. If you want to add in the Red Velvet emulsion, now would be the time to add that in as well. Next, combine the wet ingredients into the dry and mix slowly with a spatula just until the ingredients are combined.
- Take a tall glass and put a piping bag into it and bend the sides of the piping bag over the sides of the glass. Spoon some of the batter into the bag. Then snip off the bottom tip of the bag. Then pipe the batter into the donut pan.
- Place the pans in the oven and bake for approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Allow them to cool for a few minutes in the pan. Then remove carefully from the pan and allow them to cool for a few minutes.
Make the Frosting
- Using either a stand mixer or hand mixer, combine the cream cheese and the butter until they are thoroughly combined.
- Next add in one cup of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Then mix together thoroughly.
- Slowly add in more powdered sugar and milk if desired to reach to correct consistency you are looking for.
- When the donuts have cooled, dip them into the frosting, place them on the wire rack, top with sprinkles, and let them sit for a bit.
- Enjoy!
Looks delicious!
the frosting looks very good