Oh hello donuts! How I missed thee. I baked these lovely orange cherry donuts couple weeks ago and because it’s been way too long since I baked any donuts, you can imagine my excitement.

Life here has been a bit of mumbo jumbo lately and I am falling short of words on how to describe my current disposition so instead let’s talk about the awesomeness that these donuts are. Summer (or any season for that matter) makes me crave citrus desserts and if you know me you know I prefer lemony desserts over chocolate almost every single time. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love chocolate and there are times when nothing else will do. But on most days, I crave lemon and orange comes close second.

The combination of orange and fresh cherries is just sublime. A delicate cake bursting with orange zest and citrusy notes, soft and pillowy, with a piece of cherry in each bite to make you swoon. The ingredient list is short with no funky stuff and the method no fuss. The recipe doesn’t even call for any oil or butter, isn’t that awesome? Yogurt and orange juice lends soft and fluffy interiors to these donuts. You can have them ready under 30 minutes flat, totally foolproof! You could totally make the recipe vegan by using vegan yogurt. Win-win for all!

So don’t wait until weekend to bake these. Get on them now! ?

Print Recipe

Orange Cherry Baked Donuts ~ Eggfree, Low-fat

The combination of orange and fresh cherries is just sublime. A delicate cake bursting with orange zest and citrusy notes, soft and pillowy, with a piece of cherry in each bite to make you swoon.

Course

Desserts, Donuts

Cuisine

American

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

15 minutes

Servings

donuts

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 orange, zest of
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/3 cup yogurt,
• 1/3 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 27 fresh cherries pitted

Course Desserts, Donuts Cuisine American Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 15 minutes Servings donuts Ingredients 1 cup all purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 orange, zest of 1/4 cup granulated white sugar 1/3 cup yogurt, 1/3 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 27 fresh cherries pitted

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven at 180ºC / 350ºF. Grease 12-count donut pan with oil. Set aside.
2. In one bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, add orange zest and sugar and rub together with finger to release oils from the zest. Whisk in yogurt, orange juice and vanilla extract until the mixture formed is completely smooth.
4. Slowly fold in dry ingredients into wet ingredients using rubber spatula until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Arrange 3 pitted, fresh cherries in each mould of the donut pan. Do this for 9 moulds. Divide the batter among 9 donut moulds (let 3 moulds empty). Be careful not to overfill the moulds, 3/4th would be just fine.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a center comes out clean. Let cool in the baking pan over a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Then carefully turn out doughnuts onto the rack to cool completely. Tastes best the next day, chilled in the refrigerator. Keeps well 3-5 days stored in an airtight container in refrigerator.

Recipe Notes

Don't own a cherry pitter? No problem, a chopstick will do the job! ?

Shop the recipe:

Here are some items I used to make today’s recipe.

Some of the links above are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for my referral at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting Cook By Book.