Lemon Curd Cake Donuts with Cream Cheese Glaze

Let’s squeeze one more citrus-y summer recipe in before I go all pumpkin on ya. These lemon curd cake donuts with cream cheese glaze are to die for. The tangy lemon curd cuts right through the sweetness of the cake donut and the glaze and it’s just. so. good.

I know that a donut pan is just one more specialty pan to find room for in your kitchen, but I feel that it’s worth it. Actually, not just worth it – it’s necessary. Being able to whip up homemade donuts without a vat full of hot oil is really great. I love making cake donuts. It’s a great activity in the kitchen for kids to get involved – especially when we’re talking about dunking donuts in glaze and then topping them with sprinkles.

How to Make Lemon Curd Donuts

Start by making the lemon curd. I use Martha Stewart’s recipe – because umm how could I even top it anyway? It’s pretty simple and only requires a few ingredients. Whisk together the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and egg yolks in a medium saucepan.

Place the saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the butter. Whisk constantly until the butter has melted and the mixture thickens. It should coat the back of a wooden spoon. This will take about 5 minutes – do not let it boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the curd through a fine-mesh sieve and into a glass dish (I like to store mine in a mason jar.) Refrigerate until completely cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a donut pan with some nonstick spray.

Now, let’s make the cake batter. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar for three minutes. The mixture should be fluffy and lightened in color. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Next, add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Once you’ve added all the eggs, use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure no egg whites have settled to the bottom without getting incorporated.

Next, add in the flour and salt and mix to combine. When there is a few streaks of flour remaining, turn off the mixer and fold it all together with a rubber spatula. This helps to ensure that you don’t over mix the cake batter.

Baking the Donuts

Put the donut batter into a piping bag with a large round tip. (If you don’t have piping bags – a ziplock will do the trick. You can also spoon the batter into the pan, but that could get a little messy!) Pipe each donut half way full, then add a layer of lemon curd. Try not to let the curd touch the sides of the pan, as it could burn while baking. Pipe more cake batter on top.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. This recipe makes 12 donuts so I did this in two batches. Cool the donuts completely on a wire rack while you make the cream cheese glaze.

How to Make Cream Cheese Glaze

Add the cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat the cream cheese on medium speed until it’s completely soft with no clumps – about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla bean paste and a pinch of salt. Mix to combine. Add the powdered sugar and mix for 3 minutes. Slowly pour in heavy cream 1 TBSP at a time until you reach your desired consistency. I like mine kind of thick for this recipe – so I only used 2 TBSP of cream.

Pour the glaze into a shallow dish (pie pan works great!) and dunk each donut into the glaze. Top with sprinkles – totally optional, but strongly encouraged! Enjoy!

Also be sure to check out my Almond Cake Donuts! They’re rolled in cinnamon sugar and dunked in chocolate ganache sooo you really can’t go wrong there.

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