Baked Mini Cake Doughnuts with Maple Glaze {Recipe}

On my recent trip to the Wilton headquarters (which included a mini shopping spree at the annual Wilton tent sale) I picked up two mini doughnut pans.  I usually try to steer clear of  "one use" pans, but they were just too cute to pass up!  And I love mini desserts so much I think I'll find plenty of reasons to make good use of my new pans.  In fact, just this week a friend called to see if I could help bring some doughnuts to church on Sunday as a special "Doughnuts for Dads" after church treat (in celebration of Father's Day).  Of course I can bring doughnuts... and I'll make them myself! 

The Wilton pan comes with a recipe right on it, so I thought that would be a good place to start.  I gave it a practice run and I'm quite happy with it.  I will be experimenting with other recipes as time goes on, but this was a nice starting point. 

~ Baked Mini Cake Doughnuts ~

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk plus 1 teaspoon white vinegar, mixed and set aside)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425*F.  Spray mini doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together (or stir with a whisk), flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add buttermilk, egg, and butter and stir until just combined.

Scoop batter into a large ziplock style bag, or large piping bag and snip off the tip to fill doughnut pan. 

Fill each doughnut cup approximately 1/3- 1/2 full.  The batter will rise quite a bit during baking.

Bake 4-6 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. 

 Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. 

Makes 36 mini doughnuts.

Recipe Source- Adjusted slightly from the Wilton mini doughnut pan

~ Maple Glaze ~

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons pure maple extract (as desired) 

*For a vanilla glaze, simple substitute 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract in place of the maple extract

In a small bowl, stir together sugar, milk and extract until sugar is completely dissolved.  Use immediately to glaze doughnuts.  Dip each doughnut in glaze, then set on a plate or baking sheet and top with sprinkles of your choice.   

Go ahead and go get yourself a mini doughnut pan, because I think you'll be seeing a few more of these from me!  There are all sorts of variations I want to try.  In fact, Sprinkle Bakes, Cooking with my Kid and Cookies and Cups have all recently made some delicious looking variations!