Cinnamon spiced pink party donuts are a fun and festive anytime treat baked in a heart donut pan. Topped with pink glaze and rainbow sprinkles, it’s love at first bite! See my recipe note to bake in a muffin pan.
These adorable heart donuts make any day special. You’re guaranteed happiness after just one bite! While totally festive for Valentine’s Day, these are a wonderful addition to any special occasion like birthdays, Mother’s Day, or to make a Saturday morning extra fun.
Here’s Why You Will LOVE These Donuts:
- Adorably heart shaped (like these super cute Valentine’s Day cookies!)
- No electric mixer required
- Baked, not fried
- Flavored with vanilla and cinnamon
- Dunked in a pink-tinted vanilla glaze
- Overloaded with sprinkles
- Can easily be doubled for a crowd
- Makes any day fun!
Two Parts to This Recipe
- Donuts: We’re using my standard baked donut recipe as the base. It’s what I use for my baked maple donuts, cinnamon sugar donuts, crumb cake donuts (doubled for that recipe), banana donuts, and lemon poppy seed donuts. It’s a very thick batter that produces tight-crumbed, cakey donuts. There’s a small handful of basic ingredients required like flour, egg, leaveners, milk, and brown sugar. Add cinnamon and a little nutmeg for that quintessential donut shop flavor!
- Vanilla Glaze: This pink-tinted vanilla glaze sets on top of the baked donuts after a few hours. It’s made with melted butter for extra flavor and richness. You can tint the glaze any color you like, so these would be fun for themed bridal or baby showers, too. Or you can use the topping from my strawberry frosted donuts instead!
This recipe only makes 9 or so heart-shaped donuts, so I suggest making 2 batches for a larger crowd. And make 2 batches of glaze, too!
Quick Overview: How to Make Pink Party Donuts
If you don’t have a heart donut pan, you can easily make these into regular shape donuts using a classic donut pan. The heart shaped pan is just like a regular donut pan, but the cavities are somewhat smaller. Don’t fill the heart cavities up very high or you won’t have a hole in the center of the donut.
- Make the donut batter. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Whisk to combine both. It’s that easy.
- Fill the donut cavities. Transferring donut batter into the donut pan can be tricky, so I always suggest using a zipped-top bag to pipe the batter. (You can see me doing this in my pumpkin donuts post.) Just spoon the batter into a large zipped-top bag, trim off a bottom corner, and squeeze the batter into the pan. The donut batter is thicker than you’d expect, so it pipes pretty neatly.
- Bake. They bake up VERY quickly!
- Make the glaze. I usually do this as the donuts bake. Whisk the glaze ingredients together until completely smooth. Add more cream for a thinner glaze or more confectioners’ sugar for a thicker glaze.
- Dip into glaze. Dip the warm donuts into the icing, then top with sprinkles! Place on a cooling rack so the excess icing drips down.
More Donut Recipes
- Baked Sprinkle Donuts
- Berry Fritters (fried)
- Maple Bacon Doughnuts (fried)
- Chai Spice Donuts
- Chocolate Frosted Donuts
Pink Party Donuts
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 donuts
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
An easy recipe for baked pink party donuts covered in pink tinted vanilla frosting and an overload of rainbow sprinkles. It’s love at first bite!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (65g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk, at room temperature*
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Glaze
- 2 cups (240g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 3–4 Tablespoons (45-60ml) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 1–2 drops red food coloring
- for garnish: rainbow sprinkles*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray the donut pan (heart-shaped donut pan or regular donut pan) with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Make the donuts: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Whisk the egg, brown sugar, and buttermilk together until smooth. Add the melted butter and vanilla, whisking until fully combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be very thick.
- Spoon the batter into the donut cavities—I highly recommend using a large zipped-top bag for ease. Cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cup, filling only 1/2 to 2/3 full. If baking hearts, do not fill up too much or the donuts won’t have a hole in the center (they’ll puff up too much).
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool in the pan for about two minutes then place each on a wire rack set on top of a baking sheet or parchment paper (to catch any sprinkles or glaze in step 5). Bake the remaining donut batter (there is usually enough batter for 2-3 more donuts) and once baked, transfer to the wire rack. Allow donuts to cool down until you can handle them.
- Make the glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk the glaze ingredients together until completely smooth. Add more cream to thin or more confectioners’ sugar to thicken, if desired. I always add a little salt to offset the sweetness. Dip each donut into the glaze, then place back on the rack. Top with sprinkles. Donuts are best served immediately. Leftovers keep well covered tightly in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If glazed lightly, the glaze will somewhat set after a few hours.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the glazed or plain donuts for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up to your liking in the microwave. I usually just zap ’em for a couple seconds—even with the glaze on. Very tasty.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Heart-Shaped Donut Pan or Regular Donut Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Large Zipped-Top Bag | Cooling Rack
- Double Batch: Instead of doubling the recipe, make two batches. I find it’s easy to overmix when working with a double batch in 1 bowl. Overmixing may lead to too-dense donuts.
- Muffins: You can make this recipe into 8-10 muffins using a muffin pan. Bake at the same temperature for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk creates a moist and rich tasting baked donut. I highly recommend it. You can use low fat or full fat. If needed, you can use 1/4 cup any milk and 1/4 cup any yogurt (or sour cream) to replace the 1/2 cup buttermilk.
- Sprinkles: I mixed a bunch of sprinkles for these donuts—I got rainbow sprinkles from Target and mixed them with Sweetapolita sprinkles.