Name: Chocolate Cake Donuts
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 cup (5oz/142g) all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup (1.5oz/45g) unsweetened cocoa powder; 1/2 teaspoons baking soda; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/3 cup (2oz/60g) brown sugar; 2 tablespoons sugar; pinch salt; 4 tablespoons (2oz/60g) butter, melted; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 3/4 cup (6oz/180g) sour cream (buttermilk or yogurt)Chocolate Glaze; 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder; 1½ cups powdered sugar; 3-4 tablespoons milk; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ((optional)); pinch of salt

Delicious Chocolate Cake Donuts made in a DIY Donut pan

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Hi Bold Bakers!

We are no strangers to Baked Donuts here on Bigger Bolder Baking, however this recipe is different. This time we are making Chocolate Cake Donuts AND I’m going to show you how to make donuts without a donut tin.

Chocolate Cake Donuts are different than traditional Donuts but equally as delicious. There’s no yeast needed for these bad boys since it’s more of a cake batter which means no waiting for a dough to rise.

How to Make a DIY Donut Tin

All you need to make a donut tin is a cupcake tin and large squares of tin foil. Mold one square of foil around your finger to create the center and then shape it to fit the shape of the cupcake tin. It is incredibly fast to do and the proof is in the pictures.

Another option is to create a cupcake tin and place metal piping nozzles in the center of the tin and pipe the Donut batter around that. This method also works really well.

If you do already own a donut tin then obviously use that. I don’t and that’s why I chose this method. Necessity is the mother of invention.

This Chocolate Cake Donuts recipe contains sour cream. This makes the Chocolate Donuts really soft because the acid in the sour cream tenderizes the gluten in the flour.

You can also use Buttermilk or Yogurt. Use store bought or check out my recipes for Homemade Buttermilk, Homemade Yogurt and even Homemade Sour Cream. Failing that, you can use regular milk. If you want to make that homemade then get a cow.

If you are Vegan, Vegetarian or eat dairy free you can easily substitute the dairy for dairy-free milk and butter. To substitute the eggs check out my Egg Substitutes Chart. Apple sauce is a good substitute for this recipe.

If you like desserts that are baked instead of fried then check out my No-Knead Baked Donuts, Baked Fall Egg Rolls and Baked Churros .

Watch The Recipe Video!

Chocolate Cake Donuts

4.64 from 309 votes

Print Recipe

Learn how to make Chocolate Cake Donuts without yeast and with no Donut Tin needed. I'll show you how in my baking video & recipe!

Author: adapted from www.sprinklesomesugar.com

Servings: donuts

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Learn how to make Chocolate Cake Donuts without yeast and with no Donut Tin needed. I'll show you how in my baking video & recipe!

Author: adapted from www.sprinklesomesugar.com

Servings: donuts

Ingredients

1 cup (5oz/142g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1.5oz/45g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup (2oz/60g) brown sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
4 tablespoons (2oz/60g) butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (6oz/180g) sour cream (buttermilk or yogurt)
Chocolate Glaze
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
pinch of salt

Instructions

To make the Donuts: Preheat oven to 350oF(180oC). Make your DIY Donut tin and grease it with butter. Watchman video to see how you can create your own Donut tin with a cupcake tin and tinfoil.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, both sugars and salt.
In a separate jug mix together egg, sour cream, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix to a smooth batter.
Add batter to a piping bag or ziploc bag. Cut a corner off to pipe into donut pan wells. Fill them no higher than 2/3 of the way up so they don't bake over.
Bake donuts for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm and spring back when you touch them. Pop them out of the donut pan and onto a cooling rack to cool until warm to the touch.
To make the Glaze: Sift together the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Whisk in the milk, vanilla and whisk until the glaze is smooth. You may need to add additional powdered sugar or milk depending on the consistency you like. Dip the top of each donut in the glaze. Serve it warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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Siham Hassan

4 years ago

Love your recipes❤️ You’re one of the reasons i love baking etc???? thank you for inspiring people like me????

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Shandra

3 years ago

Great recipe for chocolate cake—-it’s light and fluffy and not too sweet. However donuts should have a more dense crumb, not just be cake in a ring shape. So while they tasted good and my family will enjoy them, I’ll keep looking for an actual chocolate donut recipe.

Sue

Delicious! I love cake style donuts so much that I did go out and buy a donut tin. So worth the money if you make donuts more than just once in a blue moon. 🙂 My only addition to this recipe is 1 teaspoon espresso powder. You cannot taste coffee since the amount is so little, but coffee even in small amounts adds richness and depth to the taste of chocolate which I just love. Thanks Gemma for another great recipe!

Jennifer Kurth

2 years ago

I made these tonight , I’m not sure what people are talking about when they say the batter is to thick. I used sour cream but thinned it out with some water. They came out very tender. I got 13 out of this recipe and baked mine for 12 minutes.
I used some ghardelli melting chips and then used sweetened coconut, sprinkles and toffee bits for the topping.
The donuts that broke while I was unmolding then I used as a test taster and they are really good! They are definitely cake like donuts !

Megan Kuskie

1 year ago

So looking forward to this recipe. If I wanted to just do a vanilla donut and not chocolate, would I just replace the cocoa powder for the same amount of flour? Or is this another recipe in itself? Thanks!

Jburatti

Found this after a King Author Flour recipe completely failed. This one was great. I had to add a little milk to get a pipeable consistency but that was a minor change. Will definitely make again.

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Rjj

We loved this simple kid friendly recipe! Made them with my four-year-old Quickly and easily on a Saturday morning when he wanted chocolate donuts and he even piped the donuts. Liked the nice soft cake texture.

Niveditha

I tried it today, and it had 100% perfect taste and texture…. My family loved it a lot. Thank you for sharing the recipe. The same recipe can be made in a microwave oven using a glass cup, just make the batter a bit more thin and microwave it for 30sec. It was very soft and fluffy. Thank you for the wonderful recipe……

Last edited 1 year ago by Niveditha

miriam favretto greco

well Gemma cant believe it but i made them today in memory of my dear dad whom passed yrs ago i had to get busy so theyre fantastic just that my dough i had to work it out to go around evenly on my doughnut tins, which my lovele daughtergave me for xmas, so dont know how to put a photo on here so thanks Gemma so great recipe easy and woila”” hurray