These baked lemon donuts are so zesty and soft and are topped with a simple raspberry glaze. They contain simple ingredients that are likely already in your kitchen!
Quick Tips
- Be sure to grease the pan well so that it’s easy to remove the donuts
- Make your own buttermilk with milk and vinegar to avoid buying an extra ingredient
- Make sure that the donuts and glaze cool completely before assembling
Equipment
- Donut pan (I recommend this one)
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk or hand/stand mixer (these can be mixed by hand, so the mixer is optional)
- Zester or cheese grater
- Spoon and rubber spatula
Ingredients and Substitutions
- All-purpose flour: this should be sifted. You can also substitute cake flour.
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Lemon juice: fresh lemon juice is recommended for added taste
- Lemon zest
- Buttermilk: substitute with milk and vinegar
- Oil: Canola or vegetable oil is recommended
- Fresh or frozen raspberries
- Water
- Powdered sugar
Notes on buttermilk
I rarely have buttermilk on hand, so every time I need it for a recipe I create my own. Rule of thumb is to add one tablespoon of white vinegar to a cup of milk (1 cup minus a tablespoon). For this recipe, simply pour 2 teaspoons of vinegar into a ½ measuring cup and fill the rest with the milk that you have in your fridge. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes, then you have your buttermilk! I included the substitution amounts in the recipe below.
Try these other donut or muffin recipes!
How to make Baked Lemon Raspberry Donuts
These donuts are very easy to make since no frying is required! Baking them can be broken down into three simple steps.
- Make the lemon donuts.
- Make the raspberry glaze.
- Coat the donuts.
How to make the lemon donuts
To make these donuts, you will first want to prepare your oven by preheating it to 375 degrees and greasing your donut pan.
Next, stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl. If you have a sifter, you can simply sift all of the ingredients together. If you don’t have a sifter, spoon and level the flour into your measuring cups, then whisk it together with the other dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, stir buttermilk, eggs, lemon juice and lemon zest. If you don’t have a zester, you can also use a cheese grater to zest the lemons. You will need two tablespoons of zest, which usually is about two lemons.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a mixer or whisk to stir then together.
Spoon the batter into the prepared donut pan, filling each cavity about ¾ full.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges begin to just brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Check your donuts regularly after 10 minutes in the oven to ensure they don’t burn.
Once baked, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes before turning them out of the pan onto a cooling rack.
How to make the raspberry glaze
The raspberry glaze will be made over the stove. Add the raspberries, lemon juice and water to a small saucepan and cook on low-medium heat or until the raspberries have broken down and the mixture begins to thicken. This will take 3-5 minutes.
Remove the mixture from heat and run it through a sifter or sieve to remove the seeds if desired.
Pour the mixture into a medium bowl and allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes. The mixture can be mildly warm to the touch, but should not be hot.
Add the powdered sugar and stir well. Add more powdered sugar as desired. The glaze should be thick but still runny, and will be pink (not red).
How to coat the donuts
Once the donuts have cooled to room temperature, dip them into the raspberry glaze, covering half of the donut. Allow the glaze to drip off, then turn the donut over to allow it to set. Note: I recommend dipping the rounded end of the donut into the glaze.
Store at room temperature and enjoy!
Baked Lemon Raspberry Donuts
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Thoroughly grease your donut pan and set aside.
- Stir flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl. Or measure flour by spooning and leveling in a measuring cup, then whisk together dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, stir buttermilk, eggs, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, whisk together until well combined.
- Spoon the batter into your prepared donut pan, filling each cavity ~¾ full.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the donuts to cool for 5 minutes, then turn them out on to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before adding the glaze.
- Add the raspberries, lemon juice and water to a small saucepan and cook on low-medium heat over the stove until the raspberries have broken down and the mixture begins to thicken (3-5 minutes).
- Remove from heat and run it through a sifter or a sieve to remove the seeds (if desired). Then pour the mixture into a medium bowl. Allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes.
- Add 1½ cups of powdered sugar to the raspberry mixture and mix well. Add additional powdered sugar to taste, or until the glaze is thick and pink.
- Dip the cooled donuts into the raspberry glaze, covering half of the donut. Allow the glaze to drip off, then turn the donut over to allow it to set. Store at room temperature!
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