The BEST Strawberry Cheesecake Donuts (with Graham Cracker Crust)

Make fancy donuts at home with these strawberry cheesecake donuts! Perfect for any special occasion or just a rainy day at home! These donuts are baked in the oven with a toasted Graham cracker crumble for a crunchy texture that makes them taste like they are fried! Then they are dipped in a strawberry glaze and topped with a creamy cheesecake frosting. YUM.

These donuts were inspired by the strawberry cheesecake donuts at Donutique in Las Vegas—with my spin, of course!

Perfect for Valentine's Day, baby showers, bridal showers, brunches, or birthday parties. These donuts look like they came from a fancy donut shop, but instead of paying $5 or more per donut, with this method, you can easily make them at home!

Jump to:

• Why You Should Make These Donuts
• Secrets + Tricks To Making The BEST Baked Donuts
• Equipment
• Ingredients
• How To Make These Strawberry Cheesecake Donuts
• Storage
• Recipe

Why You Should Make These Donuts

• Baked, not fried. I want to say this is a healthy donut, but I can't. Let's just say it's healthier than a fried donut covered in glaze and cream cheese frosting.
• Easy-to-follow recipe. I've broken down each step of this recipe so you can easily follow along and make these at home.
• Learn the secret to baking moist donuts. So often, baked donuts are dry and unappealing. I show you the secret to making delicious, moist donuts you'll be proud to serve.
• Great texture. The Graham cracker crust adds texture to these donuts; they taste fried even though they are baked.
• Impressive. These cheesecake donuts make a stunning presentation on a dessert or brunch table for showers or parties.

Equipment

• Donut pans
• piping bag and tip
• large mixing bowl
• spatula
• whisk
• sheet pan
• cooling rack
• measuring cups and spoons
• Microplane
• Fine mesh strainer, optional

Ingredients

Cheesecake Frosting

These are the ingredients needed for the cheesecake portion of the donut. You will use the piping bag to frost the donut just before serving.

• Cream Cheese
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Vanilla Bean Powder optional but delicious!
• Heavy Cream

Graham Cracker Crust (optional)

Making the Graham cracker crust adds texture, looks pretty, and makes the donut taste more like cheesecake.

• Graham Crackers
• Butter melted
• Sugar

Strawberry Glaze

• Powdered Sugar
• Strawberry Powder for color and flavor. This is optional, but I love to use it for color and added strawberry flavor. You could use a drop of red food coloring to add more red color to the gaze if you don't want to use this strawberry powder.
• Vanilla Bean Powder is optional but adds great vanilla flavor and a delicate crunch to the glaze.
• Lemon Zest adds a bit of fresh citrus to the glaze to balance the sweetness of the powdered sugar.
• Strawberry Jam for strawberry flavor.
• Milk

Toppings

• Freeze-Dried Strawberries. I find them at Trader Joe's, but most stores should carry them.
• Mini Yogurt Chips
• Chopped White Chocolate Chips
• Strawberry Powder
• Graham Cracker Crumble
• Fresh Strawberries

How To Make These Strawberry Cheesecake Donuts

Make the cheesecake frosting and graham cracker crust

• Preheat the oven to 350F
• Make the cream cheese frosting: In a stand mixer equipped with a whisk attachment, blend cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and vanilla bean until fully incorporated. Gradually introduce heavy cream, starting at a low speed and gradually increasing to high. Whisk until the mixture achieves a fluffy consistency, typically around 1 minute.(1)
• Fill the piping bag. Add the tip to the piping bag and position it in a tall glass or mason jar. Load the bag with frosting, utilizing the jar's sides to clean the frosting off of the spatula.(2)
• Refrigerate: With care, maneuver the frosting towards the tip of the bag, ensuring no excess escapes. Seal the bag by twisting and tying it off or securing it with a rubber band.(3) Refrigerate for 1-4 hours or until ready to serve the donuts.
• Make the Graham Cracker Crust: Add the Graham crackers to a large ziplock bag and crush them with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin into small pieces.(4) Add them to a baking sheet with some of the melted butter and sugar, toss together, and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Make the donut dough

• Combine the wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, strawberry jam, vanilla, lemon zest, and melted butter. Whisk until combined.(5) Add the mayonnaise, sour cream, eggs, and milk, and mix well until combined.(6)
• Add the dry ingredients: Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and fold into the wet mixture until combined, being careful not to overmix. (7-8)

Mixing tip: Folding the dry ingredients into the wet mixture is key to not over-mixing your dough. Mixing the dough too much will result in a dry, baked donut, so mix the dry ingredients with a spatula until just combined.

Prep and bake the donuts

• Prep the donut pan: Spray the pans with cooking spray or avocado spray.
• Add dough: Using a spoon, fill each mold ¾ full with the dough.
• Spread dough: Gently wet your fingers and spread the dough so it's even in each mold.
• Add Graham cracker crust: Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of Graham cracker crust on top of the dough and gently press it into the dough.
• Bake: Bake the donuts for 11–13 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool: Cool for 5 minutes in the pan it was baked in, then carefully flip each donut upside down as you transfer the donuts to a baking sheet set up with a cooling rack. This setup will help catch any crumbs that fall from the crust. The top of the donut is now the bottom! Cool for 30 minutes before glazing.

Make the glaze + glaze the donuts

• Make the glaze: Combine powdered sugar, strawberry jam, vanilla bean, lemon zest, and milk until you have a smooth consistency. (13-14)
• Dip the donuts: Dip each donut top, not the crust side, into the glaze up to where the crust begins. (15) As you lift the donut from the glaze, turn the donut away from you to catch any glaze that is dripping. (16) Then place it back on the cooling rack fitted into the baking sheet.

• Add toppings: optional, add your topping of choice to the glaze before it sets so that it sticks.
• Dry the glaze: Allow the glaze to dry for 1 hour or until set. Keep the donuts on the cooling rack while they dry to keep the crust crispy.

Drying Tip: Dry the glazed donuts in front of a fan to speed up drying the glaze.

Frost, add toppings and serve

Frost the donuts: just before serving, remove the frosting from the refrigerator and pipe a little frosting into the center of the donut. Top with more toppings, if desired, and serve!

If you tried these Strawberry Cheesecake Donuts or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

Recipe