These high altitude baked Funfetti donuts are so soft and fluffy with a hint of almond extract, sweet vanilla glaze and confetti rainbow sprinkles. If you love a cake doughnut, then you’ll love how quick and easy this high altitude Funfetti donut recipe is. With all the colorful sprinkles, these doughnuts make a perfect birthday breakfast!
Looking for more recipes like this? You might also love these Funfetti cupcakes with rainbow swirl buttercream, soft white chocolate chip sprinkle cookies, and rainbow birthday cake.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Quick and Easy. The Funfetti doughnut batter, as well as the vanilla glaze, is quick to mix up with just a bowl and spoon, and the doughnuts bake in about 12 minutes. So you can enjoy soft, fresh doughnuts in less than an hour. And since they’re baked instead of fried, there’s no need to mess around with a pot of boiling hot oil.
Stays Soft for Days. Unlike yeasted doughnuts which go stale quickly, baked cake doughnuts will stay soft and fresh for several days.
Perfect for Birthdays. If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll be ecstatic when you offer them a plate of these fun and colorful doughnuts for their birthday breakfast.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Doughnuts
- Flour. For a lighter texture, try using cake flour, but all-purpose flour can also be used. The flour is what gives the doughnuts structure and strength.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar adds sweetness and moisture.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, to help the doughnuts rise.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Sprinkles. For all my Funfetti recipes, I like to use confetti sprinkles (quins). They hold up much better in the batter, with bright spots of color that don’t bleed into the batter like nonpareils do.
- Egg. Strengthens the dough and adds richness and moisture.
- Sour Cream + Milk. For the best flavor, use full-fat sour cream and whole milk. These add moisture and richness, while the acidity in the sour cream tenderizes the cake.
- Butter. The butter is key to a rich flavor, and moist dense texture.
- Vanilla + Almond Extracts. Flavors of a classic Funfetti donut.
Glaze
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Whole Milk. Thins the icing to a drizzly but opaque consistency.
- Sprinkles. You can use any kind of sprinkles you like to sprinkle on top of the glaze.
Instructions
Doughnuts
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and grease your doughnut pans with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sprinkles until evenly distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the egg and sour cream until smooth, then whisk in the milk, melted butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and use a spatula to fold everything together just until combined. The batter will be thick.
- Scrape the batter into a piping bag and cut off an inch from the pointed end. Pipe the batter into the doughnut pans, filling them no more than 1/2 – 2/3 full.
- Bake the doughnuts on the center oven rack for about 12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the doughnuts for 5 minutes in the pan, then gently remove the doughnuts and let them cool completely on a cooling rack before adding the glaze.
TIP: If your doughnuts spill over the edge of the holes as they bake, just trim the excess from around the edges and middles before icing them.
Glaze
- In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and milk until smooth. Don’t add more milk, or the glaze will be too thin, and will just drip off the doughnuts instead of covering them with an opaque layer. If you use low fat milk instead of whole milk, you may need to use a little less milk.
- Use a spoon to spoon the icing on top of the doughnuts (the glaze is too thick and the doughnuts too soft and delicate to dip them). Before the glaze crusts over, scatter the glaze with sprinkles.
- Let the glaze fully dry and set before storing the leftover doughnuts in an airtight container.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make baked doughnuts without a doughnut pan?
No, you need a doughnut pan to make these baked Funfetti donuts. The pan helps keep the batter in a round doughnut shape. If you just piped the batter onto a baking sheet, it would spread out and wouldn’t look like a doughnut. I own two of these 6-cavity doughnut pans, but you can also get a larger pan with 12 cavities. For today’s recipe, you need to use standard-sized doughnut pans that make 3-inch doughnuts. You could use a mini doughnut pan, too, and make twice as many doughnuts (they will need a shorter bake time). I also love the design of these doughnut molds.
Would this donut recipe also work for Funfetti cupcakes?
While these Funfetti doughnuts are very soft and cakey, I haven’t tested them as cupcakes. I suggest you use my high altitude Funfetti cupcake recipe instead.
Can I use yogurt or buttermilk instead of the sour cream?
You can use full-fat unsweetened Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream, although I prefer the flavor of sour cream over yogurt for baking. You can also use buttermilk, but you won’t need as much of it since buttermilk is thinner than sour cream. Try using about 2/3 as much buttermilk as you would sour cream.
How long do these doughnuts stay fresh?
Store the leftover doughnuts in an airtight container at room temperature. They’re best eaten within 2-3 days.
Where do you get your sprinkles?
I found both these pastel confetti (quins) sprinkles and the rainbow shimmer nonpareils on Amazon.
Can I add food coloring to the icing?
Yes, you can color the icing any color you like with gel food coloring.
You Might Also Like
Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!
Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Baked Funfetti Donuts
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- 2 Doughnut Pans (6 doughnuts each)
Ingredients
Doughnuts
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp cake flour or all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ cup rainbow confetti sprinkles (quins)
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup full-fat sour cream
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp sprinkles, any kind you like
Instructions
Doughnuts
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and grease your doughnut pans with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sprinkles until evenly distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the egg and sour cream until smooth, then whisk in the milk, melted butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and use a spatula to fold everything together just until combined. The batter will be thick.
- Scrape the batter into a piping bag and cut off an inch from the pointed end. Pipe the batter into the doughnut pans, filling them no more than 1/2 – 2/3 full.
- Bake the doughnuts on the center oven rack for about 12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the doughnuts for 5 minutes in the pan, then gently remove the doughnuts and let them cool completely on a cooling rack before adding the glaze.TIP: If your doughnuts spill over the edge of the holes, just trim the excess from around the edges and the middles before icing them.
Glaze
- In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and milk until smooth.Don't add more milk, or the glaze will be too thin, and will just drip off the doughnuts instead of covering them with an opaque layer. If you use low fat milk instead of whole milk, you may need to use a little less milk.
- Use a spoon to spoon the icing on top of the doughnuts (the glaze is too thick and the doughnuts too soft and delicate to dip them). Before the glaze crusts over, scatter the glaze with sprinkles.
- Let the glaze fully dry and set before storing the leftover doughnuts in an airtight container.
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