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These glazed chocolate donuts are soft and moist and dipped in a sweet glaze!
I’ve been on a quest to create the perfect chocolate cake donut. I mean, first of all, goals like this are fun to achieve. Even the not-so-perfect chocolate donuts are still chocolate donuts.
Second, how fabulous would it be to have a perfect chocolate donut recipe? Pretty darn fabulous, you guys. Being known as the lady with the perfect chocolate donut recipe is kind of a big deal.
So, I set my mind to it and I measured and mixed and baked and tasted and then did it again and again quite a few times. Finally, I came up with this recipe. The perfect chocolate donut. It’s moist. It’s fluffy. It’s like a chocolate cake, but it’s shaped like a donut which means that it’s breakfast. Then I dunked the donuts in my favorite donut glaze. It gets all crisp and crackly and is pretty much just as perfect as the donut shop glaze.
These are definitely my favorite baked donuts! If you prefer fried donuts, be sure to check out my favorite recipe for those here!
If you’re looking for an easy recipe for your donut pan, this is the one. No mixer needed and it takes less than 20 minutes to get your donuts on the table. These make a great after school snack, too.
Glazed Chocolate Donuts
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup natural cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips optional
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 6 tablespoons sour cream
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
For the glaze
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
To make the donuts
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, baking soda, and salt.
- In a small bowl, beat together the vanilla, egg, sour cream, milk, and oil.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.
- Spoon in a greased donut pan.
- Bake for 8 minutes or until the tops spring back when you touch them.
- Let the donuts cool in the pan before glazing.
To make the glaze
- Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth.
- Dunk the donuts in the glaze to fully coat and place on a wire rack to set, about 5 minutes.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
(I’ve changed this glaze recipe up a bit after receiving a few comments that it wasn’t setting properly. It works beautifully now!)
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Amy says
If i don’t have a donut pan can I bake them in a muffin pan?
Karly Campbell says
Sure! If you have a mini muffin pan they’ll be more like donut holes. 🙂
Sheila says
I don’t have a donut pan what can I replace it with.
Karly Campbell says
You could just turn them into muffins. Bake time will vary a bit.
Marie Abhiram says
Delicioso
Mary says
Does this frosting/icing dry down? I’m looking for a frosting dip that dries and doesn’t stay wet ?
Karly Campbell says
If you up the powdered sugar to around 2 cups, it will set more dry and firm.
Kristina L Throssell says
This was a easy & great recipe! After searching for a donut pan & I finally got my hands on one I whipped these up in no time. Had lots of great reviews!
Karly Campbell says
Love to hear that! Thanks, Kristina!
Sheri says
do you have to add the sour cream? or can I leave it out?
Karly Campbell says
You need the sour cream.
Chari says
These were phenomenal! Just as described—super moist and chocolatey. I’m dairy-free, so I used a coconut vanilla yogurt in place of the sour cream. Turned out great.
Rea Rae says
I love the idea of the mini chocolate chips. I have a 24 hole donut hole pan I’ve never used.. I wonder how full to fill the cavities, how many it will make, and how long to bake them. If no response, I’ll experiment and get back to this post.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Rea! I’m not sure how long it will take to bake these in a mini donut pan. You’ll just want to keep an eye on them and see how it goes. I’d fill them just about to the top. Not sure how many donuts you’ll end up with.
Jackie says
Hi Karly, I’ve been a cake decorator for over 40 years and have discovered a way to get a really pretty baked donut. Fill a large pastry bag with batter then cut the bag so that you have a 1 to 1-1/2” opening. Gently squeeze a ring directly into each pan. Disposable bags work well.
Looking forward to trying this recipe very soon.
Karly Campbell says
Thanks for the tip, Jackie!
Wendi L says
Hi. I’m looking for donut recipes for the first time. Will a GF flour work in this recipe? Your recipe looks so fun & yummy to try. Thank you.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Wendi! I really don’t have any experience with gluten free flours, but as long as you’re using a 1:1 flour I think it would work.
Lon says
I love this recipe. It is the only donut recipe I have tried that gives me two to three days of fresh donuts. Every other one by day one they are changing into the not so fresh donuts. Thank you.
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoy these! Thanks Lon!
Jordan says
Hello Karly, I was just wondering: would it be possible to substitute sour cream with buttermilk? I don’t have any sour cream on hand but I do have buttermilk I need to use. Thanks.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Jordan! I haven’t tried this recipe with buttermilk. I think it could work, but you’ll likely not need quite as much buttermilk. I’d probably test it at 1/2 cup buttermilk and no regular milk and see how they were, but no guarantees!
Rachelle lazar says
Hi! What cocoa powder do you suggest for this recipe?
Karly says
Hi Rachelle! You’ll want to use natural cocoa powder here. I just updated the recipe. 🙂
Tamara says
These donuts are amazingly moist and delicious. I made 6 large donuts and 16 mini donuts. Thank you for the recipe!
Karly says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for the review, Tamara!
Shane says
Could this recipe be altered to make muffins? I don’t have a donut pan but I figured it wouldn’t be too hard. Suggestions?
Karly says
You could easily bake these in a mini muffin tin to make donut holes. I’m not sure on timing though – just test them with a toothpick. 🙂
Lance Harris says
Taking me FOREVER to convert decimal readings to fractions! AND, what, pray-tell, is 0.8 of a large egg!?
Your recipe might be delish if the measurements were in the normal U.S. recipe format. What is 0.8 of a teaspoon?
I’ll leave a review once I’ve converted everything to metric or whatever. — Give me 2 weeks on your “18-min” recipe!
Karly says
Hi Lance!
No need to get snarky.
I’m not sure what you’re looking at, but the recipe calls for 1 large egg and all of the teaspoon measurements are standard fractions (1/4, 1/2). Did you try to adjust the servings? That will sometimes convert it down to weird decimals if you choose an odd number of servings.
Rea Rae says
A large egg weighs ~50 grams. Divide your recipe conversion amount into 50 for grams of beaten egg you’ll need.