How many calories are in a cake donut with icing?
A medium cake donut with icing weighs 43 g and carries 194 calories. Per 100 g it runs 452 calories, denser than almost anything else in the bakery case. A large one, three and a half inches across, lands at 303. The icing adds sugar, but the fried crumb does most of the damage.
You'd need to walk about 39 minutes to burn the 194 calories in one medium donut (43 g).
How long does it take to burn off 194 kcal of iced cake donut?
One medium donut (43 g) is 194 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 194 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 39 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 24 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 28 min |
| Jogging | 23 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 43 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (43 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Cake donut with icing quick facts
- US servings from a donette to a large donut
- Old-fashioned donuts and donut holes
- Frosted donettes and chocolate glazed donuts
- Saturated fat is the row to watch
- How does an iced cake donut compare?
- Most popular cake donut with icing brands
- FAQ
Cake donut with icing quick facts
The row behind every number here is SR Legacy 174991, "Doughnuts, cake-type, plain, chocolate-coated or frosted". That is the only USDA cake-donut record with a real coat of icing on top. The other three are unsugared, thinly glazed, or chocolate in the batter rather than on the surface, and all three come in lower per 100 g.
Icing matters more than it looks. A poured glaze is a thin sugar shell that dries hard; icing is thicker, holds crumb topping, and carries fat of its own. That is why the frosted record is the heaviest of the four even though the dough underneath is the same.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 medium donut (43 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 452 | 194 | — |
| Total fat | 25.25 g | 10.9 g | 14% |
| Saturated fat | 13.47 g | 5.8 g | 29% |
| Carbohydrate | 51.33 g | 22.1 g | 8% |
| Dietary fiber | 1.9 g | 0.8 g | 3% |
| Total sugars | 26.65 g | 11.5 g | — |
| Protein | 4.93 g | 2.1 g | 4% |
| Sodium | 326 mg | 140 mg | 6% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows you would see on a bakery label are missing above: added sugars and trans fat. The SR Legacy edition of this record does not measure either one, so listing them would mean inventing numbers. Cholesterol is 19 mg per 100 g, or 8 mg in a medium donut (3% DV), and potassium is 201 mg per 100 g, 86 mg per donut (2% DV).
US servings from a donette to a large donut
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 donette, 2 in across | 18 g | 81 kcal |
| Half a medium donut | 21.5 g | 97 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28.35 g | 128 kcal |
| 1 medium donut, about 3 in across | 43 g | 194 kcal |
| 1 large donut, about 3.5 in across | 67 g | 303 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 452 kcal |
The 43 g and 67 g rows are USDA household measures for this record. The donette, the half donut and the ounce are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings.
Look at the spread before you log "one donut." A 2-inch donette is 81 calories and a large one is 303 — 3.7 times as much for a food with the same name, the same recipe and the same picture in your head. Cake donuts sit in a box, and box sizes drift upward at the counter. The difference between the small end and the large end of that table is a full snack.
That is the case for weighing the thing once. Put a donut on a kitchen scale one time, learn whether your usual bakery runs 43 g or 67 g, and every donut after that is a number you already know.
Old-fashioned donuts and donut holes
Strip the icing off and you get SR Legacy 174990, the plain cake-type donut — the old-fashioned with the cracked ridge around the edge, plus the holes and sticks cut from the same dough. It runs 434 calories per 100 g.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical piece | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain old-fashioned, large, 4 in | 434 kcal | 71 g | 308 kcal |
| Cake donut hole or mini, 1.5 in | 434 kcal | 14 g | 61 kcal |
| Cake doughnut stick | 434 kcal | 52 g | 226 kcal |
Piece weights in this table are our scaling from the USDA 100 g figure rather than USDA household measures. Donut holes are the one that surprises people. At 61 calories apiece they read as free, and a paper bag of a dozen is 732 — more than two iced donuts. Nobody counts to twelve out loud while eating them.
The old-fashioned is only 18 calories per 100 g lighter than the iced version, which is close to nothing at the scale of a single donut: 308 for a large plain one against 303 for a large iced one, because the plain one is simply bigger. Skipping the icing saves sugar, not calories.
Frosted donettes and chocolate glazed donuts
Pull the icing back in and the numbers rearrange again, this time by size and by where the chocolate sits.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical piece | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frosted mini donette, 2 in | 452 kcal | 18 g | 81 kcal |
| Chocolate cake donut, glazed, medium | 417 kcal | 42 g | 175 kcal |
| Sugared or glazed cake donut | 426 kcal | 1 oz, 28.35 g | 121 kcal |
A chocolate cake donut has cocoa in the batter, which dilutes the fat a little: 417 calories per 100 g, the lowest of the four USDA cake-donut records. It is not a light choice, but at the same weight it is a slightly lighter one than the frosted white donut it sits next to in the case.
Frosted donettes are the packaged version of the main record, so they run at the identical 452 calories per 100 g. Three of them is 243 calories, above one medium bakery donut. The bag holds six.
Saturated fat is the row to watch
Sodium is the row people expect to be the problem, and on a donut it is not. A medium iced donut has 140 mg, 6% of the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg. Stranger still, the plain old-fashioned is saltier per 100 g than the iced one — 477 mg against 326 mg — because the icing displaces dough rather than adding salt.
Saturated fat is the row that moves. One medium iced donut carries 5.8 g, which is 29% of the 20 g Daily Value. A large one is 9.0 g, close to half a day. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans put the ceiling at less than 10% of calories from saturated fat, about 22 g on a 2,000-calorie day, and one donut spends a quarter of it before breakfast is really underway.
The icing is what tips it. Going from the plain record to the frosted one moves saturated fat from 11.11 g to 13.47 g per 100 g while calories move only from 434 to 452. If you are watching saturated fat rather than calories, the sugared or glazed record beats both at 5.93 g per 100 g.
Fiber and protein are both thin here — 0.8 g and 2.1 g in a medium donut, 3% and 4% of a day. MyPlate files donuts under refined grains for exactly that reason: the calories arrive without much else attached. A donut eaten next to a couple of eggs behaves very differently in the next two hours than a donut eaten alone.
How does an iced cake donut compare?
| Donut | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cake donut with icing | 452 kcal | one medium, 43 g | 194 kcal |
| Plain cake donut, unsugared or old-fashioned | 434 kcal | one donut, 40 g | 174 kcal |
| Cake donut, sugared or glazed | 426 kcal | one medium, 45 g | 192 kcal |
| Chocolate cake donut, sugared or glazed | 417 kcal | one donut, 3.75 in, 60 g | 250 kcal |
Our take: the four records span only 35 calories per 100 g, so the topping is close to a rounding error and the size of the donut decides everything. The chocolate glazed one is the lightest per gram at 417 and the heaviest per piece at 250, purely because it is a 60 g donut. For a smaller number, take the plain old-fashioned at 174 and eat it whole; for the least saturated fat per serving, take the sugared or glazed. If a medium iced donut is what you actually want, budget 194 and move on — the version that gets logged honestly beats the version that gets swapped and then doubled.
Most popular cake donut with icing brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Little Debbie Mini Glazed Donuts | 417 cal |
| Hostess Donettes Frosted Mini Donuts | 447 cal |
| Entenmann's Rich Frosted Donuts | 492 cal |
| Hostess Chocolate Iced Cake Donuts | 520 cal |
| Entenmann's Glazed Buttermilk Donuts | 404 cal |
| Tastykake Frosted Mini Donuts | 476 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Cake donut FAQs
How many calories are in a cake donut with icing?
A medium iced cake donut of 43 g has 194 calories, at 452 calories per 100 g. A large one, about three and a half inches across and 67 g, comes to 303. Half a medium donut is 97. The USDA record covers cake-type donuts that are chocolate-coated or frosted.
How many calories in a frosted cake donut vs a glazed one?
They land within two calories of each other in practice: 194 for a 43 g frosted donut and 192 for a 45 g glazed one. Per 100 g the frosted record is 452 and the glazed 426, so the frosted one is denser, but the glazed donuts in the case tend to be slightly bigger.
How much sugar is in an iced cake donut?
A medium 43 g donut has 11.5 g of total sugars, from 26.65 g per 100 g. That is roughly three teaspoons. Total sugars have no Daily Value on the label, and the USDA record does not break out added sugars separately, so this figure includes any sugar from the dough as well as the icing.
How many calories in half a cake donut?
Half a medium donut is 21.5 g and 97 calories, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure of 452. Half a large one is 33.5 g and 152 calories. Halving works cleanly here because a cake donut is uniform all the way through, icing aside.
How many calories in a donut hole?
One plain cake donut hole of about 14 g is 61 calories, scaled from the USDA plain cake-donut record at 434 per 100 g. Six is 366 and a dozen is 732, more than two iced donuts. Holes are the easiest donut to undercount because nobody keeps a running total.
How much saturated fat is in a frosted donut?
A medium 43 g iced donut has 5.8 g of saturated fat, 29% of the 20 g FDA Daily Value. A large one has 9.0 g. Total fat is 10.9 g in the medium, 14% of a day. Saturated fat, not sodium, is the row that stands out on this food.
How many calories in a chocolate frosted cake donut?
194 calories for a medium 43 g donut, because the USDA record covers chocolate-coated and frosted cake donuts together at 452 per 100 g. A chocolate cake donut with cocoa in the batter and a thin glaze is a different record: 417 per 100 g, or 175 for a 42 g medium piece.
Does a cake donut have protein?
Only 2.1 g in a medium 43 g donut, 4% of the Daily Value, from 4.93 g per 100 g. Fiber is thinner still at 0.8 g. That combination is why a donut alone tends not to hold anyone until lunch, and why one eaten alongside eggs or yogurt sits differently.
Similar foods
- Chocolate glazed donut — 303 cal per donut
- Cake donut — 308 cal per large donut
- Donut — 320 cal per doughnut
- Honey Bun — 358 cal per 3 oz bun
- Beignet — 188 cal per beignet
- Crescent roll — 114 cal per crescent roll
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the plate and BodyPal counts the donut for you, icing and all.
