These light and fluffy chocolate cake doughnuts are dipped in a vanilla glaze. These super moist doughnuts are so easy to make and are made without yeast. Plus, they only take 5 minutes to prepare and you don't need a mixer to make them!
Save This Recipe! 💌
I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
As much as I love fried doughnuts (like these brioche doughnuts with a chocolate filling) there is nothing better than a baked doughnut! Baked doughnuts are so much easier to make and are the perfect homemade treat.
Jump to:
Tell me about this recipe:
- These chocolate cake doughnuts are based off of my maple doughnuts. They're made with melted butter, buttermilk and light brown sugar.
- This recipe makes just 9 doughnuts, which I think is the perfect amount! You could double the ingredients if you want to make more for a crowd.
- Each doughnut is dipped in a homemade vanilla glaze.
Ingredients Needed
The printable recipe card with the full list of ingredients and instructions can be found at the bottom of this post.
- Flour: I'm using all purpose flour for these baked doughnuts.
- Nutmeg: Adding a little bit of ground nutmeg will give you that bakery style doughnut taste
- Buttermilk: I love using buttermilk to make my donuts extra moist, but you can replace it with sour cream if you don't have buttermilk on hand
How to make this recipe
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium jug or bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
Step 2: In a small jug, whisk together your buttermilk, vanilla extract, egg and melted butter.
Step 3: Pour your wet ingredients into your dry and fold, making sure there are no flour pockets and the batter is smooth. Just note that this batter is quite thick!
Step 4: Grease your donut pan with butter or baking spray. I found the easiest way to fill the donut pan was to use a piping bag. I use a large circular tip and piped the batter into each cavity, filling it three quarters of the way. Use a small spoon or offset spatula to smooth the top and make it even. Bake for 11-13 minutes. They should be springy to the touch. Let them cool for 5 minutes before taking out each doughnut and letting it cool on a cooling rack. Regrease three of the cavities and pipe in the remaining batter, baking again.
Step 5: While your doughnuts are cooling, whisk together all of your glaze ingredients. If your glaze is too thick, you can add more milk. If your glaze is too thin, add more sifted confectioners' sugar.
Step 6: Dip each doughnut top into the vanilla glaze and place on a cooling rack set over a paper towel to dry.
Recipe Tips:
- I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way. It makes a huge difference to your baking and is the most accurate way to bake!
- I make sure that all of my ingredients are at room temperature before I start the recipe, so pull out all of the ingredients an hour or two before you start baking.
- Use a pastry brush to properly grease every donut cavity - this way no donut bits get stuck to them when baking! I use softened butter but you could also use a baking spray.
- I use a piping bag or ziplock bag with one corner cut off to pipe the donuts into the pan. You could also use a spoon to spoon out the batter but that might be a bit messier.
Frequently Asked Questions:
I use a Wilton 6-donut pan for this recipe. Because it makes more than 6 donuts you will have to let them cool slightly before removing them from the pan and baking the next batch.
A regular doughnut is made with a yeasted dough while a cake doughnut is made with a leavener (like baking soda or baking powder), similar to how a cake is made. Regular doughnuts are fried in oil while cake doughnuts are usually baked in the oven.
While cake doughnuts aren't fired in oil, making them slightly healthier! But don't forget that these cake doughnuts are made with butter and sugar, so they definitely aren't the healthiest treat.
Keep the doughnuts in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can freeze these doughnuts, just place in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Allow it to defrost overnight in the fridge.
Try these doughnut recipes next!
Have you made this recipe? Make sure to tag me on Instagram @alpineella and leave a review below if you have! If you want more baking ideas, you can follow me on Pinterest.
Recipe
Baked Chocolate Cake Doughnuts
Equipment
- Doughnut Pan
Ingredients
Donuts
- 125 grams (1 cup) all purpose flour
- 25 grams (¼ cup) cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 56 grams (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter melted
- 106 grams (½ cup) light brown sugar
- 113 ml (½ cup) buttermilk room temperature
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg optional
Vanilla Glaze
- 125 grams (1 cup) confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Grease a donut pan with butter or baking spray.
- Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Combine buttermilk, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract.125 grams (1 cup) all purpose flour, 25 grams (¼ cup) cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 56 grams (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, 106 grams (½ cup) light brown sugar, 113 ml (½ cup) buttermilk, 1 egg, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pour buttermilk mixture into dry mixture and fold in until all incorporated. Make sure there are no flour pockets.
- Pipe the batter into the cavities, filling each ¾ of the way. Bake for 11-13 minutes, until golden brown and springy to the touch. After 5 minutes take out each donut and let cool on a wire rack, before pouring the next batch in. I like the re-grease the pan before I refill it.
Vanilla Glaze
- Combine all ingredients together in a medium bowl until completely smooth. Dip each cooled doughnut in and let dry on a cooling rack above a paper towel.125 grams (1 cup) confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoon milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch salt
Save This Recipe! 💌
I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Aunt J says
I have grown to prefer baking using weight rather than volume, so I was especially happy to find this recipe that I did not have to convert. Everybody was very pleased with these donuts. Because this fam loves cinnamon chocolate sheet cake, I omitted nutmeg in favor of cinnamon. That was a huge hit - very popular. I like a great recipe that calls for common pantry staples and LOVE a recipe I can prepare without making a giant mess of the kitchen. This one checked off all the boxes.
Here's a prep hack for early morning donuts: Scale, whisk, sift ingredients the night before; dry in one bowl, wet in another. In the morning as the oven preheats, finish preparing the batter and filling the cavities. The aroma gets everybody up!