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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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Sydney Taylor says
It does not say SALT in the order that it should. Otherwise, my dream doughnut!
Lexa says
Not worth the effort. I thought they were a waste of time. All those fattening ingredients and the end result was no flavor. Folks, keep looking. This isn’t the perfect donut recipe.
Kathleen says
Very nice doughnut-shaped cupcakes. Definitely not doughnut-like.
Kerri says
These are great! In lieu of chocolate chips, I doubled the cocoa powder (used raw cacao), and used avocado oil for the vegetable oil. I didn’t have a donut pan so I put balls of dough on a cookie sheet. They still had the consistency of a good cake donut and the glaze helped it to look and taste more doughnutty. Very yummy, thanks for sharing.
Rebeka says
I tried out this recipe and they were good! To me, they have a texture combo of a doughnut and a muffin (which is perfect because I don’t have a doughnut pan, so I used a muffin pan instead!). Light and fluffy, which I love, and it isn’t too overly sweet. This was the first recipe I used to bake from scratch instead of out of a box, and I do not regret making it (though I do regret forgetting to grease the muffin pan). Thank you for sharing it!
Emily says
8pm pregnancy craving for donuts and so I tried this recipe out. Delicious!! Just an FYI no where in the instructions says salt but it does in the ingredients. I always put my ingredients back away so I don’t miss adding anything. I was left with salt so I added it to my dry anyways.
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for pointing out the missing salt…I’ll get that updated. 🙂
Roxanne Hiscock says
I make these every week! My husband just loves them! Really glad I found the recipe! I actually put the Mic into a baggy and then it goes in the donut pan so even because I was surprised at how much they rise!! One of the best recipes I have ever found! Thank you so much!
Roxanne Hiscock says
I put the Mix sorry about That, posting from my phone and it’s so tiny to read!
Karly says
Glad you enjoy these! Adding the batter to a baggy sounds like a great idea!
Lynn says
MAde the recipe right before the kids got home from school. They were allowed to have a taste, but oddly enough they were all gone before I could ask, so do you like this new recipe? Needless to say, I will have to make more.
Thank you
Lynn
Karly says
Haha! Glad they were a hit! 🙂
Ravonda says
Yes, they are lighter than typical cake donuts, but we thought the flavor and texture was delicious, so absolutely no complaints. Because I read the comments after they were in the oven, but before I glazed, I was concerned about them being chocolate enough and decided to use the glaze Terri posted (minus the corn syrup) and using 3 tsp espresso powder (instead of her 5) and 2 tsps cocoa powder. So very good! They might could be made as buntlettes (these are becoming popular) if some are opposed to calling them donuts. I say, “Yum” and thank you!
Jay says
Unfortunately, it’s more just a cake that’s shaped like a donut. Lacks donut texture.
Christine @ myblissfulmess says
Oh my kids are gonna love me when I make these! They look so delicious!!! If I’m lucky, I’ll get to try a bite. LOL
Karly says
Make them when the kids aren’t home, just to be sure you get a few bites. 😉
Jen says
I made these with the help of my daughters and they came out great! Not too sweet and they loved them!
Amy says
We made these with our homeschool baking group yesterday and OMG they were delicious!!!
Karly says
That’s awesome!!
Nancy says
Just made them and they turned out AMAZING!!! I made them exactly to the recipe no changes. Loved them!
Karly says
So glad to hear that! 🙂
Kenn says
Just because a cake has a whole in the middle does not make it a donut…these do not have a donut texture…and hardly any taste…Luckily I did read some rev iews before making these….I used butter in place of oil I added 1T of espresso powder and My glaze was simply a double shot of freshly brewed espresso added to enough powder sugar to make a glaze to the consistancy you like…plus 1T karo…if I were to make these again I would definitely add a couple more T of cocoa to the mix…if you want a baked donuts that tastes like a donut check out King Arthur Flour online
Karly says
Sorry you didn’t enjoy these.
KB says
Those complaint about donut texture prob want a yeast recipe ?
Karly says
That could be! Baked donuts will never be quite like fried donuts, but they’re tasty nonetheless. 🙂