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You know how it goes, you want to make something special for Easter Sunday, but you need a little reassurance that you can pull it off. Fear not, these Lemon Pound Cake Mini Doughnuts are totally within the realm of everyone’s culinary skills.
Easter is upon us and (to me at least) that means a big family brunch with lots of scrumptious treats — especially for the kids! Pound Cake was always a favorite of mine as a child and I’ve been thinking of ways to put a new twist on it for Easter. When I was recently gifted Kitchen Aid Mini Doughnut pans at a kids cooking event, I couldn’t wait to get home and put them to good use for my pound cake experiment.
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Baked (not fried!) these Lemon Pound Cake Mini Doughnuts are moist, delicate and lightly sweet. They may be small in size, but each one offers a burst of tart lemon flavor and is topped with a thin coat of icing (the icing part is totally up to you as these doughnuts are fall-off-the-chair good on their own).
It’s really as simple as whipping together all of the ingredients for this lemon pound cake and then filling the tins. The best part about the recipe is that it totally works in both mini and regular sized muffin or donut pan.
I’ve made two batches of these donuts in the past week. One I froze without the icing (to prevent sticking) so I could have a few on hand for whenever we’re in the mood for a little treat. The other batch I set aside to pack for school lunch or serve as an after dinner dessert. I made the those with two different types of icings. Adding tart lemon juice to sweet powdered sugar makes for a flavorful clear glaze, while adding milk or cream to powdered sugar (hello decadence) makes for a white and creamy topping. Either way, these donuts are beauteous and a really tasty treat for Easter or any time of year!
Lemon Pound Cake Mini Doughnuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened (1/2 cup)
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice, milk OR cream (to make the icing white)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Using a standing mixer or electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, making sure to incorporate each one.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and set aside.
- Whisk the vanilla, sour cream, lemon juice and lemon zest in a separate bowl.
- Add the flour and sour cream alternately to the egg mixture 1/2 at a time, until combined.
- Spoon the batter into greased mini doughnut pans and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Mix together the glaze ingredients until smooth.
- Allow the doughnuts to cool completely before glazing.
Diana, I like to use Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. 🙂
Looks Delish! What could you use in place of sour cream?
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If you only have 3 small eggs when the recipe calls for large, do you add an extra half an egg or use the 3 you have?
So Delicious makes a very rich . thick. and delicious Greek coconut milk yogurt that may substitute well. We are gluten free/dairy free so I will try this as a substitute.,. I have only found it at whole foods. Or you could make your own in a vitamix..
I haven’t tested that, but it should work just fine!
What would you suggest as a non-dairy sub for the sour cream? Would non-dairy (soy, coconut) yogurt work?
I use yellow lemons when I bake! I get the green lemons sometimes, too, but those are special because they’re rare here so those are saved so other purposes! 😉
They look so cute and delicious !!
The lemon juice is from yellow lemons? or green? 🙂
My question is because Im from México and we have green lemons here … and I know you use the yellow ones …. so just to know which one do you use … thanks a lot!
My family and I are big fans of your recipes and both of your books … 🙂
Yes! Add a few minutes to the baking time since they’ll be larger portions!
Could these be baked in a standard doughnut pan? I’m just not ready to buy yet another specialized pan!
Yes! Bake time is the same!
Could you make them in mini-muffin pans instead?
So pretty for spring- love them!
Thanks for the recipe! I have mini donut pans and haven’t done much with them yet.
So cute and they look delicious too!