These fluffy baked chocolate sprinkle donuts are such a fun treat! Chocolate donuts are baked in a donut pan and then dipped in an easy chocolate glaze and covered in colorful sprinkles. These chocolate sprinkle donuts only take 5 minutes to prepare and are made in one bowl!
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This simple recipe is based off of my chocolate cake donuts recipe. You don't even need a mixer to make these, which is always a plus for me. These donuts are baked and not fried, which means they're so easy to make. I used rainbow sprinkles from Sweetapolita!
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Why you'll love these chocolate sprinkle donuts!
- These donuts are made with simple ingredients like melted butter, buttermilk and light brown sugar.
- These are perfect for a special breakfast on Saturday mornings or a sweet treat.
- Since these donuts are baked and not fried, you don't have to worry about boiling hot oil or a deep fryer!
- This recipe makes just 9 donuts, but you can double the recipe if you're baking these for a crowd.
- The donuts are made in 1 bowl, love a recipe where you don't have a ton of dishes to do!
- The chocolate glaze is made from melted chocolate and melted butter, it is very similar to a chocolate ganache. So simple to make in the microwave!
Ingredient Notes
Flour: I am using all purpose flour here, also known as plain flour in Europe.
Baking Powder & Baking Soda: this will help the donuts rise in the oven!
Butter: I always use unsalted butter and tend to use European style butter as it is creamier due to a higher butterfat content.
Buttermilk: if you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can either make your own or use yogurt or sour cream. Make sure to use full fat yogurt!
Nutmeg: I love adding a pinch of ground nutmeg to my chocolate donuts, I think it makes them taste like bakery style donuts.
Chocolate: use a dark chocolate for the glaze and try to use a good quality one! It will make a big difference to the final taste.
Sprinkles: use long stranded sprinkles, also known as jimmies, or use nonpareils. Mix up the colors depending on the season or holiday! For extra chocolate flavor, use chocolate sprinkles.
How to make this recipe
Step 1: In a large bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients - flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
Step 2: Fold in your wet ingredients - buttermilk, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Fold until there are no more streaks of flour.
Step 3: Pipe your donut batter into a greased donut pan, each well should be three quarters full. Use a piping bag or a large resealable plastic bag, pour the batter into the ziplock bag, cut off a corner and pipe it into the pan! Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes in the pan, then take them out and let them cool completely on a wire rack. I find using a small rubber spatula to coax out the donuts is the easiest way to get them out!
Step 4: While the donuts are cooling, make your rich chocolate glaze. Place all of your glaze ingredients (except the sprinkles!) in a small separate bowl and microwave in 25 second increments, stirring the mixture each time. Once the glaze is completely smooth, dip each cooled donut into the glaze. Sprinkle over your sprinkles and let the glaze set. I find it easiest to place the donuts back on to the wire rack with a paper towel underneath to catch any drips.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- 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 your donut pan - 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.
- Make sure the donuts are completely cooled before dipping them into the glaze.
- You can add a small amount of corn syrup to make the glaze even shinier.
Frequently Asked Questions
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 baked in the oven.
Keep them in an airtight container for up to 3 days. They do taste better on the first day though!
If you don't have buttermilk you can substitute it with full fat yogurt. You can leave out the sprinkles and add in chopped nuts instead!
If you don't have buttermilk on hand or it isn't available where you leave, you can make your own. This won't be as good as real buttermilk but it works in a pinch! For every cup of milk needed in a recipe, remove 1 tablespoon of milk and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar. Let it sit for 5 minutes and it should curdle.
Try these breakfast 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
Chocolate Sprinkle Donuts
Equipment
- Doughnut Pan
Ingredients
Donuts
- 125 grams (1 cup) all purpose flour
- 25 grams (¼ cup) cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (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 (1) egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) nutmeg
Chocolate Glaze
- 85 grams (½ cup) chocolate chopped
- 42 grams (3 tablespoon) unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons (2 teaspoon) water
- ¼ teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) vanilla extract
- rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Grease a donut pan with butter.
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Combine buttermilk, egg, melted butter and 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.
Glaze
- In a microwave safe bowl, add in all of your glaze ingredients (except for the sprinkles!). Heat in the microwave in 25 second increments until melted, stirring after each 25 seconds. Do this until smooth. Dip the cooled donuts into the glaze and sprinkle over your sprinkles.
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I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
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