Circus Animal Cookie Donuts: Cake mix donuts with frosted circus animal cookies inside, it doesn’t get more fun than this! With just 5 simple ingredients you can have these tasty cake donuts ready to go for breakfast or a birthday party in under 20 minutes!
Move over bunny in the hole cake donuts, I think this circus animal cookie dessert takes the cake (hehe, get it?) for the best dessert this Easter. These bright colors just scream springtime!
Why you’ll love this recipe
Have you had circus animal cookies before; you know, the pink and white frosted cookies in the shape of circus animals?
If you have, then I bet your mouth is watering right now just thinking about them. If you’ve never had them, you’ll just have to trust me that they are SO good!
These homemade baked donuts are so easy to make, and the crushed circus animal cookies inside add a super fun and flavorful twist!
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Ingredients needed for these baked donuts
5 ingredients- that’s it, that’s all you need to make this fun baked donut recipe!
- 1 box yellow cake mix, dry
- 2 cups mashed ripe bananas*
- 1 cup crushed frosted animal crackers
- 1- 16 oz container vanilla or cream cheese frosting
- Colored sprinkles
You’ll also need cooking spray and a ziplock bag or pastry bag.
Instructions for this easy baked donut recipe
- Preheat your oven to 425° F and grease a donut baking pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork or potato masher.
- Stir in the dry yellow cake mix until just combined. Gently fold in the crushed circus animal crackers.
Add cake mix. Fold in crushed animal cookies.
- Pour the mixture into a large ziploc bag. Cut the tip off of one corner of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cavity until it’s about ⅔ full.
Put batter in a ziplock bag. Fill each donut cup 2/3 full.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes, or until the donuts are cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the donut comes out clean.
- Allow the donuts to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
Bake 7-8 mins. Cool 5 mins in pan, transfer to cooling rack.
- Add the frosting to a microwave safe bowl and warm in the microwave for 10-20 seconds until it’s a runny consistency (this makes dipping easier).
- Dip each donut upside down into the frosting and return to the cooling rack right-side up. Immediately add colored sprinkles on top of the donuts before the frosting sets.
- Allow to fully cool before serving, enjoy!
Melt icing. Dip donut in icing then add sprinkles.
Substitutions
If you are out of bananas, you may try substituting 2 cups of applesauce for the bananas.
For those of you who eat a gluten-free diet, try using Pillsbury’s Gluten Free Funfetti Mix instead of the yellow cake mix and folding in crushed gluten-free animal cracker-like Kinnikritters.
We haven’t tried this yet, so if you do please let us know how it goes in the comments below!
Variations
I realize that the pink and white circus animal cookies are not available in all countries.
If you don’t have these cookies where you live, you could experiment with other kinds of cookies! I think a birthday cake Oreo cookie would be a fun substitute for the circus animal cookies, especially since we’re fans of these Oreo cinnamon rolls!
You could also experiment with the icing for the top of the donuts. Chocolate, lemon, cherry…the frosting options are endless!
Equipment
You’ll need to have a donut pan or two in order to make these baked cake donuts. You can order a donut pan online, but you should also be able to find it at your local Walmart or other similar stores.
Storage
Store these oven-baked donuts in an airtight container for up to 1-2 day at room temperature, or 5-7 days in the refrigerator.
Expert tips and FAQs
If you don’t have these cookies where you live, you could experiment with other kinds of cookies!
I think a birthday cake Oreo cookie would be a fun substitute for the circus animal cookies, but you can always walk down the cookie aisle at your local grocery store and find something fun to test out!
You can order a donut pan online (as mentioned above), but you should also be able to find it at your local Walmart or other similar stores.
Absolutely! If you would prefer, you can make 16 ounces of your favorite frosting and use that to ice your donuts. You will still need to warm it up in the microwave a bit so it is dippable consistency.
One note here- any buttercream frosting recipe should work for this, but a meringue or marshmallow frosting would most likely not be a good choice.
Related Recipes
If you enjoyed these circus animal cookie donuts, you’ll love our other donut recipes like our donut burger recipe and our donut bread pudding!
Circus Animal Cookie Donuts
Equipment
- donut baking pan like this one
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix dry
- 2 cups ripe bananas* mashed
- 1 cup frosted animal crackers
- 1- 16 ounce can vanilla or cream cheese frosting
- coloured sprinkles
- cooking spray
- ziplock bag or piping bag
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425° F and grease a donut baking pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork or potato masher.
- Stir in the dry yellow cake mix until just combined. Gently fold in the crushed circus animal crackers.
- Pour the mixture into a large ziploc bag. Cut the tip off of one corner of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cavity until it's about ⅔ full.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes, or until the donuts are cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the donut comes out clean.
- Allow the donuts to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
- Add the frosting to a microwave safe bowl and warm in the microwave for 10-20 seconds until it's a runny consistency (this makes dipping easier).
- Dip each donut upside down into the frosting and return to the cooling rack right-side up. Immediately add colored sprinkles on top of the donuts before the frosting sets.
- Allow to fully cool before serving, enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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