I love doughnuts. Sure it’s easy to go to the grocery store, bakery, or your favorite doughnut shop in town (ours is Spudnuts), but why not cure your craving for doughnuts in your own kitchen? They’re easy to make and require ingredients that you quite possibly already have in your pantry.
When I was little, my parents, my two sisters, and I would all get in the kitchen together and make the following recipe for cake doughnuts. It was so much fun! I don’t know how much of a help I was at that age, but I’m pretty sure I was good with the doughnut cookie cutter and eating the finished product! Last year my husband and I made a different recipe for cake doughnuts a couple times, it was fun to carry on the tradition. I take care of mixing and cutting out the doughnuts and Josh does a fantastic job on fry duty. When I was back home in Iowa a couple weeks ago, I made sure to copy the recipe we used as a family from an old Betty Crocker Cookbook. I made them this morning and they brought back some great memories!
Cake Doughnuts Print Recipe
Ingredients
Vegetable Oil
3 1/3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Sugar
3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (I go a little heavier on this because I love the flavor. Grind fresh nutmeg if you have it)
2 Tablespoons Shortening
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Milk
Directions
Heat oil (2-3 inches) in a heavy pan or deep fat fryer to 375 degrees.
Beat 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl on low speed, scraping the bowl constantly, 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 2 minutes. Stir in remaining flour.
Turn dough onto well-floured board. The dough is pretty sticky, so make sure you use enough flour when rolling the dough out (but don’t go overboard). Roll gently about 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured doughnut cutter. If you don’t have a doughnut cutter like me, use a cup and a small lid from another item in your pantry. I used a small glass & a lid from a coffee syrup container.
Slide the doughnuts into hot oil with a wide spatula (I just use my hands-but am VERY careful placing the dough in the oil). Turn doughnuts as they rise to the surface. Fry until golden brown, about one minute on each side. If you fry the doughnut holes, they cook much faster-about 30 seconds on each side. Keep an eye on your temperature, you don’t want to vary much from 350 degrees or they won’t plump up very well. Also keep an eye on the amount of oil. After I made the first dozen, I added more oil and let the temperature come back up to 350 before continuing on with the second half.
Remove from oil with tongs. Drain on paper towels. Enjoy them plain or sugared. An easy way to sugar them is by placing either powdered sugar or cinnamon/sugar in a zip-lock bag. Then shake one completely cooled doughnut at a time in the bag.
Enjoy!