Blueberry Cake Donuts

Cake donuts are a classic and nostalgic homemade treat. These blueberry cake donuts put a modern twist on a tried-and-true favorite.

Have you noticed that donuts are trending? Donut feature walls at weddings, decorate-your-own donut stations at birthday parties, and seasonally-flavored donuts are everywhere!

Have you also noticed that the co-worker or neighbor who shows up with a box of donuts is always the most popular person in the room?

When you stop to think about it, this is really no surprise, because donuts are delicious!

These old fashioned cake donuts offer the comfort and simplicity of a homemade cake with a modern flair.

Just a handful of blueberries really adds something extra to these otherwise plain donuts (not that there’s anything wrong with a plain cake donut!).

About these blueberry cake donuts

When you think about donuts, you probably think about heading to your favorite bakery. Before donut pans were a common household item, most people purchased donuts at a grocery store or while out running errands. But now, donut pans can be purchased almost anywhere you can buy a muffin pan, and they are similarly priced.

Making donuts from scratch is as simple as making any other baked cake. You’re just filling a donut pan instead of cupcake liners or a loaf pan. Try our gingerbread donuts, baked chocolate donuts, lemon pancake mix donuts, apple cider donuts, or pumpkin spice donuts.

This buttermilk donut recipe has blueberries and blueberry preserves mixed right into the batter, and the donuts are topped with a delicious blueberry-lemon glaze. The lemon zest balances the sweetness of the powdered sugar, and while technically the glaze is optional, is it really optional? We love the blueberry lemon combination in our lemon blueberry pancakes, lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes, and blueberry rolls with lemon curd, so why would these donuts be any different?

While donuts may seem like a special occasion treat, they are mainstream enough to serve as a side or for dessert after a meal. They’re great for breakfast with scrambled eggs and bacon, and you can also serve them in place of a muffin or quick bread at brunch or lunch. 

The next time you’re looking to bake a sweet treat that everyone will love, this is the one!

What you need

For the donuts

• Dry ingredients: Just your basics here! You’ll need all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt
• Wet Ingredients: Nothing crazy here, either. Grab some buttermilk (or make your own buttermilk), eggs, and melt some butter.
• Blueberry deliciousness: We’re adding blueberry flavor to these donuts in two ways. Blueberry preserves flavor the batter in whole, and fresh or frozen blueberries add big pops of blueberry flavor.

For the glaze

This is a classic glaze made with powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. However, it has two flavor additions: blueberry preserves and lemon zest. The lemon zest will add a pop of classic flavor, but if you’re feeling like you want to try something different, try orange or lime zest.

How to make them

Get started by preheating your oven to 350°F and greasing a donut pan (12 wells). Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter.

Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, stir until mixed.  Fold in blueberries and blueberry preserve.

Tip! Do NOT overmix the batter, or the donuts will become chewy.  Stop mixing as soon as the flour is mixed in.  Also, make sure to just gently fold the blueberries and preserves in 2-3 times, this will leave some nice ribbons of color in the batter.

Transfer mixture to ziplock bag and clip a corner (or use a piping bag).  Squeeze mixture into donut pan, filling about 3/4th full.

Bake for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, prepare icing: mix blueberry preserves and vanilla into powdered sugar.  Add milk a little at a time.  You want the icing to be thicker so it will stay on the donut.

Let donuts cool before dunking in icing.

How to make these baked donuts your own

• If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make your own buttermilk!
• You can replace the all-purpose flour with a flour of your choice: whole wheat, almond, etc. Some protein powders are also able to be subbed for flour. Keep in mind, each of these changes will slightly affect the texture of your donuts.
• Not sure about the blueberry-lemon icing? You can skip the lemon, and you can also skip the blueberry preserves if you prefer vanilla icing. You could also try a simple lemon glaze or a cream cheese glaze.

Storage Suggestions

• Store leftover donuts in an airtight container for up to four days. 
• If you know you will be saving some donuts for a future date, consider only dunking the donuts you plan to eat that day in icing. Save the remaining icing and un-iced donuts in the refrigerator for up to four days.

More recipes using blueberries

Can’t get enough of these sweet little gems? We can’t either. Try blueberry baked oatmeal (TikTok style), blueberry ricotta waffles, classic blueberry pancakes, and our irresistible (and easy to make!) blueberry sauce.