Rainbow Donuts (with just 5 ingredients)

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These Easy Rainbow Donuts may just be one of the best breakfast treats ever! Made with lots of fun colors, kids and grownups alike will love these baked mini donuts. And the best part is that they’re cake mix donuts, meaning they’re super simple to make too!

I’m all about the colors of rainbow foods, whether it’s mini Unicorn cheesecakes or rainbow pancakes. Even my white chocolate bark is filled with color. I couldn’t just leave it white…that would be way too boring!

Rainbow Donuts

That’s why these rainbow colored doughnuts are so much fun. Not only are they a kid friendly breakfast, but they make a fun Easter and springtime sweet treat. However you eat them, they’re super delish and you’ve got to try them. You’ll totally thank me!

Not only are these really fun to make but you can customize these donuts however you like. For example, if you’re having a Harry Potter party, you can make them yellow, and red. Green and yellow would be super cute for a St. Patrick’s Day dessert.

As is, these donuts are perfect for Easter or even a unicorn party theme. (You can even add these unicorn decorations).

I’m a little obsessed with baked donuts from cake mix because I’m all about the easy recipes. Why make things harder if you don’t have to, right? These rainbow donuts turned out so cute that they’re almost to pretty to eat…I said almost!

💖Why We Love This Recipe

Less messy to make than regular donuts that are deep-fried, but they are just as tasty
Simple recipe using a cake mix and store-bought frosting
Everyone loves the beautiful rainbow colors of these delicious donuts

What’s Needed for this Rainbow Donut Recipe

White cake mix: we used Pilsbury 15.oz
Eggs: large
Vegetable oil: we used canola oil
White frosting: you can use store-bought or homemade
Food coloring: we used pink, teal, purple, blue and purple pastel colors
Water:

How to Make Rainbow Donuts

For the Donuts

Step 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray mini donut pan with nonstick cooking spray

Step 2. Just follow the directions on the box to get started. Use a hand or stand mixer to mix the eggs, water, vegetable oil and cake mix.

Step 3. Divide the batter into five bowls and add food coloring to each. If you don’t have green food coloring, just combine yellow and blue until you have a shade you like.

Step 4. Spoon colored batter into the pan, a little color at a time.

Pink donut batter being spooned into doughnut pan

Each one should be about 3/4 of the way full. Don’t do too much at once or you won’t get the pretty rainbow effect.

Different colored donut batter in donut tin

Step 5. Bake the mini rainbow donuts at 350 for 8-10 minutes, or until donuts feel firm and bounce back to the touch.

Step 6. Remove donuts from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack.

For the Donut Icing

Step 1. Open the frosting and toss the aluminum film. Warm frosting in the microwave to thin it slightly, about 30 seconds.

Step 2. Stir and divide icing into a separate bowl for each one of the rainbow colors. We left out green when doing the icing, but you can add if you’d like. Dip donuts one at a time in the different colors.

Step 3. Place donuts a wire rack with a baking sheet underneath to catch any extra icing.

Step 4. Once all donuts are topped with icing, drizzle with the remaining icing, one color at a time. Let icing set for a bit, then serve and enjoy!

Are these the most adorable donuts you’ve ever seen or what? Can we just make all foods rainbow colored from now on?

How Do You Store Cake Mix Donuts?

If you have extra donuts leftover, you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also store them in the refrigerator to extend shelf life but I’m pretty sure they won’t last that long!

Rainbow donuts with blue and gray chevron style towel

Variations and Add-ins for Rainbow Homemade Donuts

Toppings: If you want to take your donut decorating one step further, you can sprinkle additional topping to the still wet icing. Rainbow sprinkles, fruity pebbles, or even finely chopped pecans are great choices.
Cake Mix: We used white cake so that colors would show up bright. But if you prefer yellow cake mix, it will work great as well.
Flavors: White cake mix has a specific flavor that is between vanilla and butter flavored. But if you want to change that up, you could add maple flavoring, caramel extract, almond flavoring or any of your favorite extracts you like when making a cake. You can also add vanilla extract or other extracts to the icing.

Can You Make Donut Holes with Cake Mix?

You can, but you must use a specific donut hole mold.

Can I Use Traditional Powdered Sugar Frosting to Glaze Donuts?

Yes! If you don’t want to use store bought frosting, powdered sugar glaze works just as well.

Looking for More Breakfast Ideas?

Rainbow Donuts

Yield: 32

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Rainbow donuts may just be one of the best breakfast treats ever! Made with boxed cake mix, donut recipes don't get much easier than this one.

Ingredients

1 box white cake mix (we used Pillsbury 15.25 oz)
3 eggs
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 container of white frosting
Food coloring: pink, teal, purple, blue, yellow

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 and spray mini donut pan with cooking spray.
Combine cake mix, eggs, oild and water in a bowl and mix with stand or hand mixer.
Divide batter into 5 bowls and add food coloring to each until you get the colors you like.
Spoon the batter into the donut pan, a little at a time. Don't use too much of one color or you won't get that pretty rainbow effect. Fill each slot about 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. You'll know the donuts are done when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
Remove aluminum lid from icing and microwave for approximately 30-45 seconds.
Divide icing into four bowls, adding food coloring to each (we used purple, pink, yellow and teal).
Dip the cooled donuts into icing, one at a time. Place on a wire cooling rack with a baking sheet underneath.
Once all donuts have been iced, take the remaining icing and drizzle over the top.