baked strawberry cake doughnuts with strawberry glaze

we really enjoyed the homemade baked mocha cake doughnuts that we made a few weeks ago.  since we bought a doughnut pan for that recipe, we decided that we better put it to good use and make another batch of homemade baked doughnuts.  i mean, you can't just let a perfectly good doughnut pan go to waste.

this time we decided to make strawberry doughnuts.

just like our mocha cake doughnuts, these strawberry cake doughnuts are baked, not fried, which means that they are not greasy like fried doughnuts.  instead, they are light and fluffy like little cakes.

these doughnuts have strawberries inside and out.

there are sliced strawberries inside of them (which reminds me of strawberry pancakes from my childhood) and there are strawberries in the glaze on top of them.

it's the perfect marriage of doughnuts and fruit.  that means we can feel a little bit better about them because they have fruit in and on them, right?

also, they're pink!  what's not to love about that?

these doughnuts are so simple and so easy to make.  it may be dangerous just how quickly a batch of these guys can be whipped up!

hello, beautiful . . .

baked strawberry cake doughnuts with strawberry glaze
prep time: 10-15 minutes
baking time: 11-12 minutes
yields: 6 doughnuts
adapted from cooking classy

doughnut ingredients:
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup fresh strawberries, finely chopped

glaze ingredients:
1/4 cup freeze dried strawberries
1/4 cup fresh strawberries, finely chopped
1 cup powdered sugar, divided

directions:
to make the doughnuts, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  in a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, egg and sugar.  sift the flour and the baking soda into the batter and stir well to combine.  gently fold the strawberries into the batter.  spoon the batter into a greased and floured doughnut pan.  bake for 11-12 minutes, or until the doughnuts spring back when pressed lightly.  once baked, allow the doughnuts to cool in the pan for 2 minutes, then carefully remove them from the pan and allow them to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

to make the glaze, place the freeze dried strawberries in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin until they are the consistency of a fine powder.  in a small bowl, combine the fresh strawberries and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar.  stir until the mixture becomes moistened, then allow the mixture to rest for 1 minute.  add the remaining powdered sugar and the freeze dried strawberries.  stir well until combine.  the glaze will be thick.  spoon the glaze onto the cooled doughnuts.  place the doughnuts on a wire rack with either aluminum foil or waxed paper under the rack in order to catch the dripping glaze.  transfer the doughnuts to the freezer for a few minutes to allow the glaze to set.  (note: spoon the glaze onto the doughnuts immediately before serving.  if the glaze sits on the doughnuts too long it will be absorbed into the doughnuts and the doughnuts will become soggy.)

enjoy!

love, laurie