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Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts

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The tasty flavours of a hot cross bun in doughnut form. My Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts are a light and fluffy way to enjoy the flavours we all know and love. 

What are Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts?

These Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts have the flavours of a traditional hot cross bun but in doughnut form.

Hot cross buns are something so many of us associate with Easter. I love eating them, but they aren’t the quickest bakes to make. I much prefer making my Apple & Sultana Teacakes!

Instead of making hot cross buns, I decided to make a doughnut version.

I decided to leave out the dried fruit typically found in hot cross buns because I wanted to keep these doughnuts light and fluffy. This also keeps people who aren’t fans of raisins and peel happy – my Mum will be pleased!

What are baked doughnuts?

Baked doughnuts are quite different from fried doughnuts. Baked doughnuts are more of a light and fluffy cake batter. This differs from fried doughnuts that are more of a bread dough.

I absolutely love fried donuts, but I have never been brave enough to try them at home because I am not keen on deep frying.

Baked doughnuts are far more simple to make at home because there is no hot fat involved! I like to think this also makes them slightly healthier.

Which tins are needed?

You do need to buy specific doughnut tins to make these baked doughnuts. These tins are quite readily available these days and aren’t too expensive.

Try and buy a doughnut tin that is quite deep. There are some you can buy that are quite shallow so you will get a thinner doughnut.

Make sure you grease the tins well and the doughnuts should pop out very easily. I like to use spray oil for this.

If you really didn’t want to buy the doughnut tins, you could use a muffin tin. Obviously they wouldn’t be doughnut shaped but they would still be tasty. 

Again you would need to make sure you thoroughly greased the tin before adding the doughnut batter. 

Don’t overfill the tins!

These Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts are easy enough to make…once you get past one hurdle. The only critical step in this recipe, is making sure you don’t put too much batter into each doughnut hole.

Now you may think this sounds simple enough, but take it from someone who knows; you need less batter than you may think!

For example when making cupcakes, you are usually recommended to fill the cases three quarters of the way. With these baked doughnuts, just under half full is plenty.

Don’t get me wrong, if you over fill them it is by no means the end of the world. The only difference will be that instead of having the hole in the middle that a doughnut should have, this will fill in and they will come out of the oven looking more like a muffin.

How to decorate the doughnuts

These doughnuts have two separate icings. The first, cinnamon flavoured icing coats half of the doughnut. I find it is easier to dunk the doughnuts into the icing and twist them so they get coated in the icing.

You are looking to try and coat the top half of the doughnut in the icing, so don’t dunk too far! The icing will be quite thick so you might have to twist a few times to make sure the doughnuts are completely coated.

The second icing is just to make the cross on top of the doughnuts. This is optional and you can leave it off if you prefer.

If you don’t have a piping bag, spoon the icing into a sandwich bag and squeeze to one corner. Cut small hole in the corner and use this to pipe the cross on top of each doughnut.

Do not worry if the icing isn’t perfect. Mine are definitely not perfect but they look quite cute and they are delicious.

How long will these doughnuts keep for?

As with most doughnuts these are best eaten the day you bake them or the next day. They will still be ok for a couple of days longer but not as fluffy.

Although I haven’t tried, I think these doughnuts would freeze well. Let them cool completely and freeze them un-iced.

Freeze for up to one month and let defrost completely at room temperature before icing.

These doughnuts aren’t just for Easter!

Don’t be mistaken, these doughnuts aren’t just for Easter!

Yes, they are called Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts, but they can definitely be made at any time of year. The subtle spices are those associated with hot cross buns but are delicious year round. 

If you aren’t making these at Easter, you can definitely leave the cross off. Then they become a tasty mildly spiced baked doughnut. 

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5 from 10 votes
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Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts

The tasty flavours of a hot cross bun in doughnut form. My Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts are a light and fluffy way to enjoy the flavours we all know and love. 

Course Snack, Doughnut
Cuisine American, British
Keyword Hot Cross Bun, doughnuts
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 12
Calories 227 kcal
Author Curly

Ingredients

For the doughnuts

  • 190 g plain flour
  • ¾ tsp baking powder
  • ¹⁄8 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • pinch of ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 orange zested
  • 30 g butter melted
  • 95 g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 60 ml oil sunflower or vegetable
  • 125 ml milk
  • Spray oil

For the glaze

  • 200 g icing sugar
  • 45 g butter melted & cooled slightly
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • Pinch of cinnamon

For the cross

  • 30 g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp milk

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (fan assisted, 220ºC non fan) spray the doughnut trays with oil

  2. Mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and orange zest

  3. In a separate large bowl, mix together the melted butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Once this is combined, mix the egg and the milk

  4. Slowly add the wet mixture to the dry, mixing until only just combined before adding more liquid

  5. Once all combined, spoon the doughnut batter into a piping bag and pipe into the prepared tin. Fill the tins half way

  6. Bake in the oven for 8 – 10 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack

  7. When the doughnuts are cool, make the glaze by mixing the icing sugar in a bowl with the melted butter and milk. Add in a pinch of cinnamon 

  8. Dunk each doughnut into the glaze and turn it around making sure the top of each doughnut is completely covered

  9. Leave the glaze to set for 10 minutes or so before making the cross. Mix the icing sugar and milk together and spoon it into a piping bag. Cut a very small hole in the end and pipe a cross on each cupcake

  10. Leave to set for a few minutes before tucking in

Recipe Notes

These are best eaten on the day you bake them.

Nutritional information is given as a guide only and may vary.

Nutrition Facts
Hot Cross Bun Baked Doughnuts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 227 Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Fat 6g9%
Saturated Fat 3g19%
Cholesterol 28mg9%
Sodium 105mg5%
Potassium 92mg3%
Carbohydrates 41g14%
Sugar 28g31%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 225IU5%
Vitamin C 5.8mg7%
Calcium 39mg4%
Iron 0.8mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Comments

  1. Helen says

    These look really cute, and I bet the flavours are amazing! i do love a hot cross bun & combining those flavours into a doughnut is genius!

    Reply

  4. Jenny Paulin says

    these are great Cat – what a fab idea for those that do to like hot cross buns, but like the flavours. its also great if you are fans of both thank you for linking to #Bakeoftheweek x

    Reply

    • Cat says

      I hadn’t made baked doughnuts in a while so I did have a couple of attempts but that just meant I could give better advice in my recipe – and the taste testers didn’t mind at all!

      Reply

  6. Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says

    I’ve been meaning to try baked donuts for ages and these look just the ticket plus the fact that they do not contain any dried fruit will make my boys really happy lol. They look absolutely delicious Cat and I do second Kat looks like you absolutely nailed it with these guys! These are definitely going on my list to bake! x

    Reply

  9. Holidaybakerman says

    I’m in the midst of making these now for Good Friday, In The instructions for the wet ingredients it says to add in the oil… sadly oil isn’t on the ingredients list 🙁

    Reply

      • Holidaybakerman says

        Sadly it was a bit late. My mistake could still be eaten. I obsessed over this for a couple of days. I finally figured out the problem, while the post lists oil, the printout did not. So a smidge dry but still good.

        Reply

        • Curly says

          I’m really sorry about that. I’m going through all my old recipes and swapping them to the recipe card and I obviously didn’t check this one properly. I hope you still managed to enjoy them.

          Reply

  10. Lesley says

    5 stars
    I love a doughnut at the best of times, but the addition of spices and orange zest in these doughnuts take them to a different level. Yes please!

    Reply

  12. Choclette says

    5 stars
    Snap. I’ve just made posted baked doughnuts too. Yours look super cute with the icing and those hot cross bun flavours sound delicious. Pinned.

    Reply

  13. Jo Keohane says

    5 stars
    These look amazing. I keep seeing them advertised and have wanted to try to make a homemade version so thanks for posting the recipe! Will definitely give these a go!

    Reply
5 from 10 votes (1 rating without comment)

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