Low-Carb Blueberry Cake Donuts (Gluten/Dairy/Sugar-Free)

These Blueberry Cake Donuts are bursting with blueberry flavor and dipped in the most gorgeous purple glaze. With just a few simple ingredients these healthy donuts make a pretty and delicious breakfast treat! (Paleo, Vegan, Low-Carb & Keto options!)

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The Prettiest Purple Donuts

These pretty purple donuts make me smile. I mean, just LOOK at that color. (No artificial coloring!)

And, oh the delicious cake donut taste!

Dense berrylicious cake topped with a CRISP 'sugar' glaze that cracks when you bite it. I LOVE IT.

I didn't think it was possible to pack so much blueberry flavor into a baked good, but it happened (sort of by accident, haha! One of my unexpected but delicious kitchen experiments)

Now you can have your cake donuts and eat them too. They're packed full of nutrition instead of empty calories. Can I get an amen?!

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Donut Ingredient Basics

1. Almond Flour
2. Wild Blueberries
3. Flaxseed
4. Oil
5. Monkfruit

There's nothing UNUSUAL in these donuts, but they are incredibly SPECIAL. Keep reading to see how EASY, pretty and unique they are!! (Full recipe below!)

The Secret to Finding PERFECTLY Sweet Blueberries

Have you ever bought a pint of blueberries at the store only to get home and they're way too TART to be enjoyed?

(This is especially problematic when you're using grocery delivery and can't taste one before purchasing, ha)

Never again. This is my new favorite blueberry hack!

Now you never have to wonder if your blueberries are sweet again! It's the magic of WILD frozen blueberries!

I came upon this realization whilst baking dozens and dozens of my infamous Blueberry Donut Holes over at Pretty Pies Sweet Shop.

And needed to have STELLAR, sweet, fresh-tasting berries on demand (and my grocery store berries were NOT cutting it). I opted to try frozen-thawed, and OMG. I'm never going back to regular!!

Why WILD Blueberries are WAY BETTER than Conventional

WILD blueberries are - in my humble opinion - FAR superior to "regular" blueberries. Why?

• They're always perfectly SWEET always ripe! Picked at the peak of flavor and fresh frozen to retain nutritional value.
• The FLAVOR is stronger, purer, and more vibrant.
• The COLOR is intensely PURPLE/blue and creates the most gorgeous naturally colored baked goods and glazes!
• They also have up to 2x the antioxidants as regular blueberries!
• More CONVENIENT - having a huge bag of frozen blueberries in your freezer makes it handy to whip up a recipe whenever the mood strikes - year-round - not just when blueberries are in season where you live!

And NO, this post is not sponsored by wild blueberries, haha. I just LOVE them! Although if they want to sponsor me, I would not be opposed.  😉

Where to Find Wild Blueberries

I found frozen wild blueberries at Amazon (Whole Foods), Target, and Costco (which has the best price I've found).

Just check to make sure the bag says "wild" otherwise they won't have all these amazing qualities I'm raving about lol.

"What if I can't find WILD Blueberries?"

I highly highly recommend using wild blueberries in this recipe, but if you can't find them, you can use fresh.

BUT you will likely need to add more sweetener since regular blueberries aren't as sweet. *Always taste your dough before putting it in the pan*

Also, the color and flavor won't be as vibrant. But I think they will still taste good as long as you add enough sweetener. (Important note though, make the batter a little less sweet if you're adding the glaze - and you definitely should add the glaze - it makes the donuts!)

Finally, if using fresh blueberries, you won't have any blueberry juice to make the purple glaze. Never fear, you can use water or almond milk to make a white glaze. It still tastes GOOD 😉

How to Make Healthy Donuts

This method is QUICK and EASY and made at the press of a button!

You'll need a food processor for this recipe because the blueberries are blended up right into the dough! Blend up the ingredients, which takes all of 2 minutes, and bake to perfection!

SIDE NOTE: don't be alarmed when the dough turns a vibrant BLUE color lol. It's supposed to be blue! (Your kids will love this part!)

Unfortunately after baking, the blue exterior subsides, BUT after you take a bite you'll see the beautiful blue on the inside!

"Do you have to have a donut pan?"

Yes and no 😉

Yes, if you want to have that classic shape, you'll need a donut pan. I recommend this one on Amazon.

A lot of people recommend silicone donut pans, but honestly, silicone bakeware doesn't add these same crisp exterior finish to baked goods as aluminum or metal does. And sometimes it has a plastic-y taste. However, it does make removing your donuts 1000% easier lol. So it's a tradeoff.

If you don't have a donut pan, 'donut' worry 🙂 You can use a large scoop to make balls of dough, and cut a hole in the center with a water bottle cap, or just dig out some dough in the center with a small spoon.

TIP: you'll want to smooth out the dough with a spatula. Whatever shape/texture goes into the oven, that's what will come out!

How to Make These Donuts KETO

Depending on how you do keto, these may or may not fit into your macros as-written as a standard size donut. (Roughly 6 net carbs a pop)

However, it's easy to lower the carbs by simply making smaller sizes, such as using a smaller donut pan or mini donut pan (or even a mini muffin pan!).

You can reduce the carbs by a third by using a 2" medium scoop instead of a 2.5" large scoop and forming your own donuts by hand (it's not as hard as you think.) A large ice cream scoop helps form the round shape, then flatten it with a spatula and use a dowel or utensil end to make a hole.

A smaller scoop will reduce the carbs to about 3-4, depending on how big you make them. Not bad, IMO.

Dye-Free Purple! Nature's Food Coloring

This color! I can't get over it. PRETTY! So many heart eyes. (For more pretty purple food, check out my Berry Blender Cheesecakes!! and my many other PURPLE treats!)

And for the little sister of these donuts, check out my super popular Blueberry DONUT HOLES recipe! << use wild blueberries in those, too! AMAZING flavor.

How to Make Sugar-Free Blueberry Glaze

Can you believe this COLOR is from a little bit of fruit juice? NO food coloring or anything artificial. It's SO gorgeous and makes these donuts really spectacular. The glaze is a showstopper for SURE.

The glaze is SUPER simple to make, too. It takes literally 5 seconds.

NO, you don't have to get out your blender and strainer to blend up fruit or anything labor-intensive.

Simply use the leftover juice from your thawed blueberries! From 1 cup of frozen blueberries, you'll get just over 1 tablespoon of juice.

(Careful, this stuff is super pigmented and will stain your clothes or porous countertops/dishes.) I try to only use glass (and an apron, ha)

1. You'll need 1 ½ TBS liquid -- if you don't have enough (or any!) wild blueberry juice, use water or milk or whatever. 🙂
2. Stir in enough powdered monkfruit to make a dippable glaze. Not too runny, not too gloppy. I found that ⅓ cup of my *homemade* powdered monkfruit was just right. You can always add a tiny slash of water, or a spoonful of monkfruit if you need to adjust the consistency.
3. Add in a splash of vanilla if you like. Vanilla makes everything nice.
4. Then get to dipping 😉

TIP: Use a bowl that's just a little wider at the bottom than the circumference of your donut. This will make dipping easier! Do not use a giant flat bowl.

Alternatively, if you're not into dippin', just drizzle it on. It looks pretty, too. However, trying to spread the glaze on with a spoon does *not* make it so nice and pretty. Trust me, I tried lol. It doesn't look smooth and even like a dip does.

Important Note: The color will change and darken over time. It's sort of an amazing transformation. It starts out a BRIGHT fun magenta, then burgundy, then deep sparkly violet, and finally after a couple of days, it changes to more of an icy dark purple. But the taste is still just as delicious! 

How to Store Homemade Donuts

These homemade grain-free baked donuts will stay fresh on the counter, loosely wrapped, for about 2 days. Any longer than that and I recommend refrigerating them. They stay fresh about a week (if you don't eat them all before then! They go fast at my house 🙂 I like to eat them straight out of the fridge because the glaze is even more crisp (my fav!), but you can totally warm them up a little if you like.

I like to store mine on a plate lined with a paper towel because some moisture will release over time.

These donuts freeze well, too. Just wrap them tightly in an airtight container so they don't get stale. Thaw gently in the microwave or on the counter.

Click the pin below to save this recipe on Pinterest!

Emily

Low-Carb Blueberry Cake Donuts with Blueberry Glaze

5 from 2 votes

These baked Blueberry Cake Donuts are bursting with blueberry flavor and dipped in the most gorgeous purple glaze. Paleo, Vegan, Low-Carb with a Keto option!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Servings: 6 donuts

Calories: 347

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 2 ¼ cups fine almond flour
• 1 cup frozen wild blueberries thawed and drained (reserve juice)
• ¼ cup coconut oil melted, or avocado oil, or neutral oil of choice
• 2 Tbs ground flaxseed
• 3 Tbs monkfruit granules or granulated sweetener of choice
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch of pink salt

Wild Blueberry Glaze

• 1 ½ Tbs wild blueberry juice drained from frozen blueberries, see notes
• ⅓ cup homemade powdered monkfruit see notes
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla optional

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease a donut pan with oil. (See post for a no-pan method)
3. Place dry ingredients in a food processor and blend for a few seconds. Add thawed, drained blueberries, oil and vanilla and blend into a dough. Taste and adjust for sweetness (make a little under-sweet if adding glaze, or add extra sweetener if not adding glaze)
4. Use a large (2.5") scoop to portion dough into 6 donut wells. Press dough gently with a spatula to fill each well and smooth any rough edges.
5. Bake for about 24-26 minutes until tops spring back when pressed.
6. Let donuts cool before removing from pan.
7. Carefully trace around the perimeter with a knife and use a spoon to help them release. Handle with care to prevent breaking.

To make the glaze:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the wild blueberry juice leftover from frozen blueberries (plus additional water if needed to equal 1.5 Tbs), homemade powdered monkfruit and vanilla.
2. Carefully dip each donut and place back on a baking sheet to dry. Enjoy!

Notes

To Store: Stays fresh at room temp for 2 days. Refrigerate for up to 7 days on a plate lined with a paper towel. 

To make homemade powdered monkfruit, simply blend ⅓ cup granulated (classic) monkfruit in a personal size blender for about 10 seconds until finely powdered.

Recommended Products

Food Procesor

Donut Pan

Large Batter Scoop

Wild Frozen Blueberries