These donuts are baked, not fried, and loaded with sweet and spicy vanilla chai flavors! For a more intense flavor, drizzle or dip in a chai glaze!
Have you ever tried homemade donuts? These baked vanilla chai cake donuts are soft, fluffy, full of amazing flavors, and ready in about 30 minutes!
Making homemade donuts has been on my “to-do” list for a while now, and I finally did it a few weeks ago! I went to my trusty resource, King Arthur Flour, and saw a great recipe for some vanilla chai donuts that I tweaked a bit.
If you’ve never baked donuts before, they definitely taste different than the fried yeast donuts, so don’t expect that they’ll taste the same.
They’re cake-y… almost muffin like, but in that fun donut shape! Plus, no waiting for the dough to rise or heating up oil.
One of my favorite thing to drink is Chai tea… specifically a Chai latte. And not just in the morning… I usually have another cup of tea in the afternoon, when I hit that mid-afternoon energy drop. When I don’t have any of my chocolate cherry energy balls that is!
So I love that these are FULL of chai flavors… mixed with that sweet hit of vanilla. Vanilla chai has been a favorite flavor combination of mine for a while now (vanilla chai cheesecake bars anyone?).
Making these vanilla chai donuts is really simple…
The Breakdown:
- Whisk together your dry ingredients
- Beat wet ingredients in a mixing bowl
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until just combined
- Pour batter into donut pan
- Bake
- Toss in sugar
- Drizzle with glaze (optional)
You can also just dip the donuts in the glaze if you’d prefer. I really love the sweet chai flavor of the glaze… it’s literally just two ingredients, powdered sugar and chai tea!
The smell that will come out of your kitchen when you’re making these vanilla chai donuts will be enough to send your entire household running into the kitchen to see what you’re cooking. I hope you all give them a try!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup strong brewed chai tea cooled
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 Tbsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- CINNAMON SUGAR COATING:
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- OPTIONAL CHAI GLAZE:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp to 2 strong brewed chai tea
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray donut pan with non-stick spray (I use Baker's Joy). Set aside.
- Combine 1 cup granulated sugar and 3/4 tsp cinnamon in a shallow baking dish, bowl, or paper bag. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt) and whisk.
- In another large mixing bowl, beat the chai tea, vegetable oil, vanilla bean paste, and egg until combined. I use a hand mixer for this.
- Add dry ingredients, half at a time, mixing until just combined after each addition, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary.
- Pour batter into a pastry bag or large ziploc bag, snip off the tip, and fill donut molds of the pan about 2/3 full.
- Bake donuts 10-12 minutes, or until the spring back when lightly touched.
- Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 2-3 minutes.
- Invert pan over a cooling rack to remove donuts, dip them in melted butter, then toss them in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Return to cooling rack to finish cooling.
- If making the glaze, add powdered sugar to a mixing bowl and add tea, whisking to make a thick, yet pourable glaze.
- Drizzle over donuts, or serve in a small bowl for dipping.
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Chef Tips
2. You can use any homemade or store-bought Chai spice you like, just make sure you use a total of 2 tsp.
3. To make donut holes, spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick spray, fill 2/3 full with batter, and bake as directed.
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Kristen says
Are we able to use chai tea concentrate??
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested using chai concentrate, but I think it would be okay. I would just follow the package instructions for making 1/4 cup plus a Tbsp or two of chai tea.
Suzy DeShazer says
My students love making these for donut challenges. They win every time!
Al says
Hi, when brewing the chai should we brew in water or milk
al
Amanda says
I would brew in water 🙂
Kate Lee says
Hi, I have vanilla chai tea in powder form. Is that ok to use?
Thank you
The Chunky Chef says
In place of the spices? Yes, I think that would work just fine 🙂
JOSANNE BAKSH says
Is it possible for me to make these without a donut pan??
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve only made them with the pan, but I did find this tutorial on how to make a DIY donut pan (using foil and a muffin pan) http://tiphero.com/diy-doughnut-pan-and-recipe/
Julia @ HappyFoods Tube says
These would be perfect with my cup of tea!And I looove the glaze! Yummy!
Dee says
These look incredible! I love chai tea, but it’s been so hot here that I haven’t had any yet. 🙂
Melanie @ Gather for Bread says
Love these flavors!
Cathy @ Noble Pig says
I would eat them all! Yum.
Krista says
Now this is a donut! Yum!!
Stephanie says
Oh, hello morning craving! These look awesome!
Annie Holmes says
All I need is a cup of coffee and my breakfast will be complete!
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
I kind of feel like weeping right now because I don’t have one of these in front of me. They look so good!
Lily G says
I too am full of sorrow.
Amy Stafford says
These are so mighty fine looking donuts! I love the vanilla-chai flavor.