Cake Mix Donuts

You only need 4 ingredients to bake these easy chocolate cake mix donuts in the oven. It is one of our best cake mix hacks your kids will love to help you bake and decorate with glaze and sprinkles.

Chocolate Cake Mix Donuts

You can use any flavor you love but I will tell you that Devil’s Food is our favorite over the years. During the summer if you want a fruiter one I would recommend lemon or strawberry too. I will say they’re a great birthday party activity to make too!

We make cupcakes often, have made cookies too, and have even shared how to make brownies from cake mix but thought there had to be a way to make easy cake mix donuts so we gave it a go this afternoon. These are fun because not only are they super simple to mix together but there are tons of flavors to choose from.

My daughters and I made these together and they were really tasty + the consistency of cake donuts you would buy at the donut store! When we made peanut butter cookie brownies using cake mix and then thought using cake mix to make something else might be fun!

Can you use any cake mix?

Any flavor will work! Your batter base if Cake mix of your choosing or make homemade yellow cake mix. You will NOT follow the instructions on the back to make the batter. You need it thicker than that so you ONLY add the 3 things listed below.

Eggs will make them thick and rich. I like organic free range and whisked before adding into your mixture.

Buttermilk makes them more tender than milk so it is highly recommended. Below in the recipe card is a link on how to make this with lemon juice and milk if need be

Butter makes it rich, I suggest Kerrygold salted for the tastiest results.

Mini Donuts with Cake Mix

The sizing is up to you. There is a link below to a traditional round size but there is a mini version you can grab as well as one that is round for just donut holes. Mini donut pan will make them smaller, regular size is for the bake time in the recipe card below.

You’re going to want a pint size freezer baggies are needed to squeeze into the pan, hard to do any other way. Wilton melts (for chocolate “icing”) or melting chocolate chips in microwave can be done with a little coconut oil (helps it to melt smooth)

It is fun to have a variety of toppings (smashed Andes mints are amazing) to add to the top. It is handy to have a cooling rack so they can cool completely before frosting them. And a plastic bag (freezer style) if you want to squeeze frosting on with a design, and to squeeze in your batter.

What can I use if I don’t have a donut pan?

Well, instead of round you can make a batch of Instant Pot donut holes. You’ll use a version of this recipe, and they are still so good + fun to make! This uses a silicone egg mold instead. You could make a round piece of foil set on a baking sheet to pour the batter in the middle for sort of homemade donut holes.

How to Make Cake Mix Donut Holes

As far as the shape and size these will turn out to be that really is determined by the pan you choose to use, this is for holes. There are tons of different ones out there online and at cake decorating stores. Holes are fun because you can make 4x what this will create whole. Of course they will all taste the same, the bake time is just different the larger you go.

Tips for Success

I suggest that you squeeze batter into your Donut pan using pint size freezer bags. Just cut the tip off and use it like a pastry bag of sorts. Then they will all have an equal amount of batter in each one. Of course you can splurge and buy pastry bags with a wide dip if you like but literally these do the same thing for a fraction of the price.

Make sure you spray your donut pan so they will just slide out when they are done too or you may have a bunch of unhappy kiddos at the end. I just use Pam non stick spray in the pan lightly since it is already nonstick itself.

Can you fry cake mix donuts?

If you didn’t want to bake them you could easily fry as well. It is harder to do since the shape isn’t going to hold well though. You are better off squeezing in a circle and letting it fry that way in a sort of donut hole shape. Just mix same ingredients and pipe out of a freezer bag when oil is hot so it immediately sizzles and fries.

Glaze Ideas

For a REALLY easy vanilla extract glaze (like we do for our Strawberry cake in a mug, just whisk together water and powdered sugar until it is thick and the right consistency. That is it! You do want that one quite thick or it just slides all over the place and right off of the top. Making sure your baked goods are completely cooled will help with preventing that from occurring too though.

If you do want to add sprinkles or candies do so right after that so it sticks. Give it a good 10 minutes in a cool place to settle down and harden up a bit before picking them up unless you want to use a bunch of paper towels and wipes to clean up all the mess.

These come out just as rich as our Brownies from Devils food cake and will change the way you make dessert. We added gummy bears, Nerds, M&Ms, and some crushed Andes mints to ours because that is what we had in the cupboard. These really are a fun and easy baking project to do with kids because they bake quick and easy. 

Toppings

The best part is how to decorate them though right?? Just like cute cupcakes everyone can make their own creations.

For the toppings you can melt chocolate chips, use frosting out of a tub, or the melt the Wiltons melts to dip the tops in once the donuts are cooled. This can be done in the microwave in 30 second intervals stirring in between so they don’t burn. Directions are on the back of the bags though. You can also beat together some room temp. cream cheese with marshmallow creme and frost.

Then add candies when chocolate/frosting is still wet and warm so they stick well. You can go all out during the holidays with gumdrops, crushed candy bars, even candy canes smashed work well with the peppermint chocolate combo theme.

Other cake mix dessert recipes you’ll love

We do this with our Crinkle cookies recipe too with multiple colors.

If you do want to frost them you must allow them to cool, or at least a bit for 5-10 minutes so they are safer to hold in your hands. Melted chocolate is going to harden and stick the toppings on better but if you were hangry you could just dunk into a tub of frosting if you wanted too. Try our Cherry pineapple dump cake recipe next!!

Our fried peanut butter and jelly donuts are super yummy, as well as a few air fryer apple fritters for breakfast.