How the Donut Calculator works
This calculator scales a standard glazed yeast-donut recipe up or down to whatever batch size you need, and estimates calories for the whole batch and per donut. Enter how many donuts you want to make, the yield of your base recipe (12 is standard for most home donut recipes), and the approximate weight of a single donut, and the tool multiplies every ingredient by the same scale factor.
The formula
The core math is simple linear scaling: scale factor = donuts wanted ÷ base recipe yield. Every ingredient amount in the base recipe (flour, sugar, milk, butter, eggs, yeast) is multiplied by that same factor, so the ratios between ingredients — and therefore the texture of the dough — stay identical no matter the batch size. Calories are calculated separately using the USDA reference value for a glazed, yeast-leavened doughnut: 403 kcal per 100g. Calories per donut = 403 ÷ 100 × (weight per donut in grams); total batch calories = 403 ÷ 100 × (number of donuts × weight per donut).
The base recipe (yields 12 standard glazed donuts, ~60g each)
- Flour: 420g (about 3.5 cups all-purpose)
- Sugar: 50g (about 1/4 cup)
- Milk: 180ml (about 3/4 cup, warmed for the yeast)
- Butter: 57g (about 1/4 cup, melted)
- Eggs: 2 large eggs
- Yeast: 7g (one standard packet of active dry or instant yeast)
This ratio (roughly 8:1 flour-to-sugar by weight, and about 60% hydration from milk plus eggs) is typical of American-style raised glazed donuts — different recipes (cake donuts, brioche-style donuts, or baked donuts) use different ratios, so treat this as a solid general-purpose starting point rather than the only correct recipe.
Why scale by weight, not by "eyeballing" more flour
Donut dough is sensitive to hydration: adding extra flour without proportionally adjusting the liquid, fat, and yeast changes the dough's texture and rise time, which is why simply guessing a bigger handful of flour for a bigger batch produces inconsistent donuts. Scaling every ingredient by the identical factor keeps the dough's hydration ratio and yeast-to-flour ratio constant, so a doubled batch behaves like two batches of the original recipe rather than one denser, slower-rising batch.
Calorie reference points
For comparison, a small glazed yeast donut (about 45g) is roughly 180 kcal, a standard glazed yeast donut (about 60g, the default in this calculator) is roughly 240 kcal, and a large bakery-style glazed donut (about 85g) is roughly 340 kcal. A plain cake donut runs slightly higher in fat per gram (USDA lists cake-type donuts at about 452 kcal per 100g), so swap the reference value if you are calculating a cake donut recipe instead of a yeast-raised one.