A homemade baked chocolate donut recipe that is made with buttermilk. It can also be glazed with a homemade chocolate glaze or frosting. We used a glaze for these and the glaze recipe is included below.

Chocolate donuts are one of our favorite breakfast items and we love snacking on them throughout the day. These baked chocolate donuts are a must-try, especially with the glaze on top! They taste a lot like a baked chocolate cake.

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It is not just chocolate donuts we love, we have a collection of donut recipes that we like to pull out and use. During certain holiday seasons or occasions, we will decorate the donuts or create different flavors to match the occasion. For example, these adorable Halloween donuts are fun to make.

Tip: This Baked Chocolate Donut Recipe also makes a great Christmas breakfast for the kids!

Baked Chocolate Donut Recipe with Chocolate Glaze

Baked Chocolate Donut Recipe - Homemade Chocolate Buttermilk Donuts

Baked Chocolate Cake Donut Recipe

The kitchen tools that we used to make the chocolate cake donuts and chocolate glaze recipe:

Donut pan
Mixing bowl
Mixing spoon
Cooling rack
A cookie sheet
Flour sifter (maybe)

Shopping list for this baked chocolate donut recipe:

1 ½ c all-purpose flour
1 cup of whole buttermilk
½ cup of granulated sugar
¼ cup of cocoa powder
¼ cup of vegetable oil
a ½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 egg

How to Make These Chocolate Cake Donuts:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and lightly spray the donut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift 1 ½ cups of flour into a mixing bowl. If you don’t have a sifter, most flour has been pre-sifted but still has some lumps you will need to throw out.

Add sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa to the flour. Then, stir everything so the dry ingredients are mixed well.

Add the egg, vegetable oil, and buttermilk and mix until lump-free. The donut batter will be thick.

Gently spoon the batter into the donut pan. Fill each donut about halfway full.

Place the donut pan on a cookie sheet. You don’t have to do this but we do to prevent oven spills.

Bake the Baked Chocolate Donut Recipe at 375 degrees for 8 to 9 minutes. Let them cool for about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. This will allow them to completely cool so that you can glaze them.

Baked Chocolate Donut Glaze Recipe:

1 cup of powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons of heavy cream
1 to 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
Sprinkles (optional)

How to make chocolate glaze for the baked chocolate cake donut recipe:

Pour 1 cup of powdered sugar into a mixing bowl.
Add vanilla, cocoa, and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream to the powdered sugar.
Begin mixing until the glaze is smooth.
You can add more heavy cream if needed to achieve the desired consistency.
Dip the donut into the glaze and immediately move to a cooling rack to allow the glaze to dry.

Tip: I like to put wax paper or a cookie sheet under the cooling rack so that it catches the icing that runs off.

Ideas on decorating the baked chocolate donuts:

We often like to dress up the chocolate buttermilk donuts and there are a variety of ways you can do this.

Add sprinkles. You can use any sprinkles you want, even holiday-themed sprinkles. For instance, you can use Halloween sprinkles for Halloween, Christmas sprinkles for the holidays, etc.
Drizzle some white or colored icing on the top.
If you don’t want a chocolate glaze on the donuts, you can leave it off or substitute it for your favorite glaze or icing.

More Breakfast Recipes:

Easy Baked Chocolate Donut Recipe

Pin this Baked Chocolate Donut Recipe so that you can come back to it when you are ready to make it!

Remember, this baked chocolate cake donut recipe will make a delicious breakfast!