This is the donut recipe for those of you who like oranges and booze! These baked orange donuts with Grand Marnier sauce are easy and very versatile. And since the alcohol is only in the sauce, the recipe can also be adapted for those who don’t drink. I like to think they are the perfect dessert for a child’s birthday party. Serve the orange donuts with a chocolate glaze to the children, and with Grand Marnier sauce to the parents. Everyone will be equally happy!
In addition, the batter recipe is very simple and quick to make. You only need the standard ingredients for baking donuts, plus the zest from one orange. These are ingredients everyone has at home:
- eggs
- flour
- sugar
- butter
- vanilla extract
- baking powder
Since the donuts only take 10 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to bake, I recommend baking them the day of the party to prevent them from drying. But if you are in a time crunch, you can make the batter the day before and keep it in the fridge overnight.
When it comes to the glaze you need:
- orange juice
- orange sections
- orange zest
- sugar
- Grand Marnier (orange liquor)
To assemble the sauce is quite simple. Simply reduce the orange juice, zest, and sugar. Then you add the orange sections and orange liquor. Set aside until you’re ready to assemble to donuts. That’s it!
By not cooking the alcohol, you really get a bite of booze when you’re eating the donuts.
Moreover, if you wish to serve part of these donuts to children/ people who don’t consume alcohol, you can make a chocolate ganache or glaze (or both). You can use the chocolate ganache from this recipe, or the chocolate glaze from this recipe.
Furthermore, I used a standard 6-cavity donut pan and it yielded 6 medium-sized donuts.
See more donut recipes here.
And finally, here is the recipe for the baked orange donuts with Grand Marnier sauce:
Baked Orange Donuts with Grand Marnier Sauce
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (150 g/ 5 ¼ oz.) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g/ 3 ½ oz.) granulated sugar
- 1 stick (115 g/ 4 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
- zest from one medium orange
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature for greasing the pan
For the glaze:
- 1 ½ cup (350 ml/ 12 ½ oz.) freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 oranges, peeled and sectioned
- 2 tbsp. (30g/ 1 oz.) granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. orange zest
- 2 tbsp. Grand Marnier (orange liquor)
Instructions
For the batter:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
- In a bowl sift the flour, then add the baking powder. Mix them with a whisk and set aside.
- Gently melt the butter over low temperature. Make sure the butter does not bubble. Once melted, set it aside and allow it to cool a little.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl, add the sugar and beat at high speed with an electric mixer. The mixture is ready when almost triple in volume and light in color. Then add the vanilla extract, salt and the orange zest, whisk until incorporated.
- Using a spatula add the flour mix to the bowl with the eggs in three-four steps, mixing after each addition. Make sure the flour is well incorporated, but do not over mix. Add the melted, cooled butter in two steps and mix gently until incorporated. Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes.
- Grease the doughnut pan with butter. Pipe the batter into the pan filling ¾ of each cavity and bake for 10 minutes, or until donuts spring back when gently pressed.
- Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and allow the donuts to cool in the donut pan 2-3 minutes at room temperature. Transfer them to a rack and let them sit until completely cooled.
For the glaze:
- In a large skillet over high heat, bring the orange juice to a boil. Add the sugar and orange zest. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until the sugar has melted, and the mixture is slightly reduced (approx. 5 minutes). Remove from heat, add the orange liquor and orange sections. Set aside and let it cool. Pour over donuts right before serving.
