Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Nut-Free Soy-Free Donut Holes

In honor of Dr Seuss’ birthday my son’s school had a little coffee and donut hole party. Guess what we can’t find easily. Gluten-free donut holes.

Now I am not a huge donut hole person, but I was also unwilling to just bring in something else. I hate doing that, it feels too much like giving up. The donut holes were such a hit that his godmother did them again with him the next day. So we tried this two different ways with different flavors from different food companies.

The trick to the recipe is using cake pop molds. If you use the machine, you get true cake pops that do not have that “fried” outer coating because the machine has a non-stick coating which the shortening does not adhere to.

So without further ado, here is the recipe

Ingredients
1 box allergen free cake mix (do not use a kosher for passover mix here)
Flavorings and other ingredients needed to make cupcakes per the mix (or you can use your own recipe).
Solid shortening or palm oil

Equipment
Electric mixer
Measuring cups and spoons
Silicone Cake pop molds (avoid a cake pop machine)
A cookie sheet or 9 x 13 pan
Spoon for measuring batter
Spatula

Instructions
Prepare and flavor cake mix batter according to instructions I added lemon zest and lemon extract to this batch.
Preheat oven to 350
Use the solid shortening to heavily grease each segment of a cake pop mold so that the entire interior of each sphere has an even thick coating of oil. This is what creates the donut hole effect.
Put the bottom part of the cake pop mold into the 9 x 13 tray
Fill the bottom half of each cake pop mold with batter. Fill to slightly mounded if possible.
Put the top on and then bake for about 18 minutes (follow mix instructions for cupcake baking times. They will cook quickly.
Remove mold from oven and cool until relatively easy to handle (about five minutes)
Open molds, trip donut hole sides down to a sphere
Repeat process until all batter is used
Dip donut holes into icing if necessary.

If you need to use an egg substitute, the Betty Crocker brand of cake mix responds well to the substitute, but I also add extra baking powder and if possible I use a chocolate mix because somehow it tolerates the lack of eggs better. The amount of extra baking powder will vary from mix to mix, and will change based on the type of egg replacer used.

Donut holes can be frozen and thawed
Keep in the freezer (or fridge for up to 48 hours) until ready to serve.
Makes at least 30 donut holes using a single layer cake mix as a base.