Baked Chocolate Donuts
These chocolate donuts are moist and fluffy cake donuts covered in rich chocolate fudge icing and four different toppings. They're baked instead of fried, so they're perfect for instant chocolate cravings!
Equipment
Ingredients
Chocolate Crumb Topping
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon light brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
Chocolate Donut Batter
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour *see notes below for measuring*
- 1/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 2 tablespoons sour cream room temperature
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Vanilla Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Glaze
- 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3-4 tablespoons whole milk
- melted peanut butter
- rainbow sprinkles
- chocolate shavings or sprinkles
- chopped peanut butter cups
Instructions
- Spray or lightly butter a donut pan and preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.
- Make the chocolate crumb topping. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, light brown sugar, and melted butter in a small bowl until crumbly. Keep in the freezer until ready to use. This will be enough for 3 of the donuts. If you want to make all 12 with the crumb topping, see the notes below for the larger recipe.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sugar, egg, melted butter, sour cream, oil, and vanilla. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet.
- Fill a piping bag with the batter, then fill the greased donut molds about 2/3 full with batter. If you only have one pan, you will need to bake two rounds in the oven. Once the first pan is done cooling, wash the pan, re-grease it, then fill it with the rest of the batter.
- Break up the crumb topping. Evenly sprinkle it across the tops of three donuts, gently pressing it into the batter. Then bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven; until the tops spring back when touched. Allow the pan to cool on a wire rack for a few minutes, then remove them from the pan and keep them on the cooling rack until glazing.
- Make the vanilla glaze for the crumb donuts. In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. The glaze should be thin. Dunk the tops of the crumb-topped donut into the glaze, then set it back on the rack to set.
- Make the chocolate glaze. In another bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and milk. The glaze should be thick, and fall off your whisk slowly but smoothly. Dunk the rest of the chocolate donuts in the chocolate glaze.
- Decorate the tops with melted peanut butter and peanut butter cups, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate shavings!
Notes
*Measure your dry ingredients properly. This is my #1 baking tip! Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour, as this always leads to using too much flour. Instead, use the spoon-level method. This means fluffing the flour first, then spooning it into your measuring cup/spoon. For the BEST results, use a kitchen scale!*
Here is the recipe for a full batch of chocolate crumb topping (enough for 12 donuts). The instructions are the same as above.
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 42 g
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder, 10 g
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 50 g
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar, 15 g
- 3 tbsp butter, melted, 42 g
