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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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fadia says
oops! donuts! i actually dont have donut tins so ended up making them as muffins
so this recipe worked out well for me as muffins even though they are supposed to donuts 😉
fadia says
thanks for the recipe. it was yummy!
followed the recipe as written but did add a bit of coffee granules
it turned out between a cake and a muffin just as you had written
will save this recipe for future chocolate muffins 🙂
Suzanne says
My glaze didn’t set up either, but I didn’t have whole milk. I used 2% instead since that’s what I had. Could that be the reason?
Karly says
I’m honestly not sure why some people are having problems with the glaze. It could have been the milk.
Max says
The milk does not matter… if you simply warm the milk first to just below boiling and then whisk in the powdered sugar and remaining ingredients, it will set. If you wanted it to set up really tight, you can cook the entire recipe over a double boiler…the higher you take the temp the harder the sugar will set (just like when cooking sugar to different stages, except its not necessary to cook that high. Actually if you allowed the donuts to sit out at room temp long enough they would dry on their own without heating, but the heating is instant.
Emily says
Awesome tip! Can’t wait to try this!
Sadie says
I read through the reviews before making these and a few noted that the flavor was underwhelming so I added 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tbsp instant espresso, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cardamom, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/8 tsp ginger for a “chai” version. The donuts themselves are delicious but I had trouble with the glaze not setting so they’re really sticky to handle, which is disappointing. I’ve made hard chocolate glazes for donuts before and have never had a problem. The glaze was very foamy….is it supposed to be?
LindaC says
My glaze turned out great. All I had was almond milk, but it worked.
Gina says
These looked great and I was excited about the recipe, but they just didn’t taste like a doughnut to me. Even though it’s a baked cake doughnut, it had the light, spongy texture of a cake, not the firm density of a chocolate doughnut. The only substitutions I made because I didn’t have the ingredients were plain yogurt for sour cream and corn oil for regular vegetable oil. I don’t think these were significant enough to mes with the taste. These were just lacking in flavor. They came out looking nice though. Thanks for the opportunity to try it. These just weren’t for me.
John S says
Gina, my thoughts exactly. These aren’t dense, cakey, gut-quenching doughnuts; they’re light, airy muffins that are attending a costume party. They definitely look the part, but that’s as far as the comparison goes. These will not realistically satisfy anyone’s doughnut craving… Sadly.
JTK_Forever says
We thought the exact same thing! Too much like cake and definitely not enough flavor, especially for a donut. Have you found/tried any better recipes since making these? If so, please share! 🙂
LindaC says
I can’t believe the negative comments. I thought they were the bomb!!!!! And so did my friends that also ate them.
Anne says
I used this recipe in my first batch of donuts baked in Babycakes treatmaker. Each batch was done in 5 Min and tasted EXACTLY like a fresh chocolate donut! AMAZING!
Anne says
PLUS I used GF flour and almond milk to make them gluten and dairy free!
Sydney Sun says
These look SO good! Just like the chocolate glazed doughnuts from Tim Hortons 🙂
Check out my blog if you get a chance, I recently made baked double chocolate donuts too 🙂
Sydney
www.forloveofbaking.com
Kelley says
My three year old son has celiac and has been begging for donuts. Funny thing is he probably only had them once or twice prior to diagnosis. So I ordered donut pans online because I don’t want to fry and we have been anxiously awaiting their arrival. They came in tonight and I came across this recipe on Pinterest and I have all the ingredients on hand. I have a new gluten free flour blend that you are supposed to be able to sub one for one. I hope it works!!!
Karly says
I hope this worked out for you and your little guy! 🙂
Erin says
can I make this recipe into an actual cake?
Karly says
You could sure try. I don’t know how long you’ll need to bake it for though. Just keep a close eye on it.
Diane says
i just made these this morning and we loved them!! It made 6 donuts for me but that was perfect! And I ended up with lots more glaze than we needed so I will make less next time. We absolutely loved these! So much better than store boughten!!
Karly says
Glad you enjoyed the donuts, Diane!
Angela says
I folllowed the recipe for the glaze with the only change being I used 2% milk, because it is what I had.
My glaze is still not set the next morning. Any ideas?
Karly says
2% milk is thinner than whole. Next time try using less of the 2% and the glaze should be a bit thicker and will hopefully set better.
rafiah says
hi, wht is sour cream . how can i make it at home
Karly says
I’m not sure how you would make it at home, but Greek yogurt is a good substitute.
Carla Noll says
I make these using an all purpose gluten free flour blend and they are excellent. We have made them at least 5 times so far. We have used sour cream and greek yogurt…both were wonderful. I have also used both regular milk and almond milk and both were great. Since I make some GF fluffy white icing for the top, I only used half the sugar and don’t use the glaze. They are still EXCELLENT. Thank you for sharing. My GF 11 year old makes them all by herself and is in heaven 🙂
Karly says
Glad to hear you enjoy them!
Serene says
Hi there, I am hoping to make these tomorrow I’ve only ever made one kind of chocolate cake doughnuts, and they were kind of bland, but these sound way better! Unfortuanately my dad doesn’t eat sour cream, are there any possible substitues? Or would it not alter the taste that much if I don’t add them?
Karly says
You won’t taste the sour cream at all. That said, you could sub in Greek yogurt if you prefer.
Megan P says
I christened my new donut pan with these glazed chocolate donuts tonight. I am happy to learn that baked donuts are just as delicious as fried, and crazy easy. This could get dangerous! Thanks for the recipe – they are my favorite now, too.
Karly says
Yay! Glad you liked them!
Peggy says
Just made these, and the first time I ever made donuts. The recipe is spot on for texture and the glaze with two cups of powdered sugar worked well. I used slightly less than the requested milk in the glaze and it was thicker and stayed on better than others reported .
I wasn’t a fan of the flavor of the donuts. They came out with what I consider a dark chocolate bitter taste, which may be exactly what they are supposed to taste like, I’m just not a real fan of dark chocolate flavor. They did hold together well, were moist and looked great. If you like that dark chocolate flavor, these are for you.