Light, fluffy and incredibly moist, these Orange Olive Oil Baked Donuts are a real taste sensation. The pungent, fruity oil balances perfectly with the orange & the sticky glaze finishes them off perfectly!
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Spring personified. That's what these Orange Olive Oil Baked Donuts are. There isn't actually all that long left of spring and I've been sitting on this recipe for a while now. I had actually forgotten all about it, then while scrolling Instagram last night, noticed that it is National Donut Day today. That reminded me, and I spent a frantic 30 minutes searching my hard drive for the photos which I took months ago.
I do a bit of free-lance work here and there and actually created this recipe for another website, then decided at the last minute that I couldn't part with it. It was meant for here and here only. These baked donuts are that good!
Any day that celebrates donuts has got to be a good one. I am pretty fond of them to say the least and I think that on National Donut Day it is perfectly ok to eat donuts for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I say we start the day with my Pumpkin Orange Donuts, have my Vegan Raspberry Donuts for lunch, then finish the day with these new Orange Olive Oil Baked Donuts.
You have probably noticed that I try to bake oil-free whenever I can, but I am not opposed to using a little bit of oil in my cooking occasionally and these donuts are so worth the indulgence. You might think orange, olive oil and donuts are a strange combination but it works.
It works so well!
I love to use good extra virgin olive oil in these baked donuts, but I understand you might be wary about the flavour combo at first and it's perfectly ok to use standard olive oil instead the first time if you want to play it safe. Standard olive oil has a much milder flavour and you probably won't taste it at all against the orange. If however you love extra virgin olive oil then be sure to use it the first time round. You are in for a treat!
The orange flavour totally shines through, even against the strong extra-virgin olive oil. I absolutely the love the fruity pungency with the zesty orange. There is something almost sophisticated about it....
Sophisticated donuts? ????
Humour me....It's as close to sophisticated as I'll ever get...????
As well as giving great flavour, the oil adds incredible moistness. The baked donuts are perfectly light, airy and moist. They also smell fantastic! When I was shooting the photos it was intoxicating!
The donuts are pretty awesome on their own, but in my world they only know one language: glazed. Dunk or drizzle. The choice is yours but whatever way you do it prepare to get messy!
I would love to know what you think of these Orange Olive Oil Baked Donuts. Be a ☆ and leave a comment below and snap a photo for Instagram too and hashtag it #AVIRTUALVEGAN. I’d love to see your donuts!
Recipe
Sticky Orange Olive Oil Baked Doughnuts
Author:Ingredients
For the doughnuts
- 135g | 1 cup all-purpose flour , sifted
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 45g | ¼ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons | ¼ cup olive oil , (use a light olive oil if you don’t want to taste it, or extra virgin if you do. I use extra-virgin. The flavor compliments the orange beautifully)
- 120mls | ½ cup plant-based milk
- 60mls | ¼ cup orange juice
- 1 ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 orange , zest of , use the 1 orange to squeeze the juice and for it's zest
- A few drops of olive oil to grease the donut pan
For the frosting
- 100g | 1 cup natural powdered sugar
- 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons orange juice
For decoration (optional)
- 2 slices of orange , each cut small wedge shape pieces
- 1 tablespoon sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
For the doughnuts
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Grease a 6-hole doughnut pan with a little olive oil
- Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar into a bowl.
- In a jug or another small bowl combine the olive oil, plant-based milk, orange juice, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract and orange zest.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined and you can no longer see any dry flour. Do not over mix.
- Spoon carefully into the doughnut pan. Fill to the top and gently clear the middle area of batter.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
- Leave in the pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
For the orange decoration
- Line a small baking tray with parchment paper. Lay the orange pieces on the tray and sprinkle with the sugar. Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes or until the sugar has melted completely and is bubbling. Remove and allow to cool completely. They will still be slightly moist, but chewy.
For the frosting
- Gradually add the orange juice to the powdered sugar stirring well in between each addition. Stop when it reaches a very thick white frosting.
- Top each doughnut with a drizzle of frosting and a small wedge of the baked orange.
NOTES
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NUTRITION
Monica says
I used gluten free flour and an added some sugar free powder to the actual sugar icing, made 9 total in muffin tins. Mouthwateringly delectable and delicious. New fav.
Sandy P says
these are amazing! I don't like the flavour of olive oil so I subbed avocado oil and they turned out perfectly. Omnis in the house loved them as well so that is a HUGE bonus. Thank you for this recipe!
Lauren says
Can I make this in a loaf bread pan as like a pound cake?
Thank you so much
Melanie McDonald says
Technically yes it will work as a cake but you will need to increase the amount for it to fit the pan well.
Mary says
I have to say, I am not a vegan. Super far from it actually. But I needed a vegan option for my husband’s coffee shop. And geez, these are amazing!! I loved, loved, loved them!
A Virtual Vegan says
That's great Mary! I'm really pleased you enjoyed them. Thank you for stopping by to leave a review. It's much appreciated!
Tiffany says
I made these yesterday and they came out so good!!!! But I made them as cupcakes cause I didn’t have a donut pan, and they cake out very small? Very small mini cupcakes? I used a large standard muffin pan they were so tiny but so good, are the cupcake version meant to be tiny? Lol
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm glad you enjoyed them! They'll come out at a size related to how much batter you used in each cupcake/muffin hole. Donut pans don't hold as much batter as muffin pans so if you made 6 muffins then they would be small. When you make muffins you need to fill the wells up to about 3/4 full and this recipe only makes 6 donuts. At a guess I'd think you'd get 3 (maybe 4) full size muffins from a batch of this batter. If you divided it between 6 holes then that explains why they are small. You could double the recipe if you make them again so you can make each one large and get a bigger batch.
Jordan Vaine says
I made these as cupcakes and they were amazing. Light, fluffy and super easy to make.
Shannon Landwehr says
I haven’t made these donuts but did make the muffin version from your cookbook and all I can say is ‘WOW’. It took sheer willpower to not eat the entire batch in one sitting. They were amazing. I ran out of orange juice for the frosting so combined what I had left with lemon juice and it was a beautifully delightful flavor. These are a must and so, so easy.
A Virtual Vegan says
Ah yes, the muffins in my cookbook were inspired by these. I'm really pleased you enjoyed them! Thank you for stopping by to leave a review!
camille says
I made these yesterday and they are amazing. Wow.
I used oat milk kefir for the milk and so left out the vinegar because I wasn't sure if that would work. I also used only 3tbsp of (coconut) sugar, because I'm trying to use less sugar and so always try to see what I can get away with. Both modifications worked beautifully.
I made the icing, but as others have said, I found it too sweet. But more than that, it overpowered the subtlety of olive oil, which is what makes these delicious. Really, really so good. Thank you!!
Camille says
...forgot to give a rating.
Willy says
Hi there!
I've tried this recipe yesterday, I never made donuts in the oven and I really wanted to. The taste is amazing. The texture is so soft, but I think maybe you can out in less orange juice in order to make them a little bit "dryer"? I followed the recipe exactly and I had that "problem" and also, the frosting is too much liquid. Other than that, thank you very much!
Jay says
I love your pictures. They are very appetizing. I was wonding if you use mar·ma·lade instead of a piece of orange. It might be too sweet, but can be great. What do you think?
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you. The orange slice sticks to the frosting. Using marmalade would make them messy to eat and would probably slide off. If you didn't eat them right away it might make them soggy too.
nateoz says
I just made these, and wow, so yummy! Perfect in terms of sweetness and taste. Thanks for the share!
John Davies says
Great recipe otherwise.. Only change would be to do a less sweet frosting. Maybe cashews blended with lemon/orange juice + rinds + some sweetener. Definitely not so much sugar!
Jasmin / VeeatCookBake says
They are looking so yummy... Can't wait for the orange season... Maybe I would substitute the all purpose flour..
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you! I haven't tried them with any other flour. I try to use wholegrain flours when I can but went for all purpose with these as I wanted the orange and olive oil flavours to really shine. I think with wholewheat or spelt their flavour might interfere a bit. Let me know if you try something else. I'd be interested to hear how it goes!
Letty / Letty's Kitchen says
These look delicious! I need to get one of those donut baking molds.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Letty. You can bake them in a muffin tin in the meantime!
Letty / Letty's Kitchen says
Thank you! Hadn't thought of that!