Baked Chocolate Donuts + 10 topping ideas

When I enter a donuts shop, my eye always goes to the dark side of the bakery display case—the chocolate section, that is! But there’s no need for fried, store-bought donuts when you can get the same chocolaty flavor from homemade, baked chocolate ones. Top them as you wish and enjoy your chocolate-on-chocolate creations. Get creative and try some of my topping ideas! 

Ingredients

For donuts

21⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk (you can take soy, almond, or rice milk instead)

4 tbsp unsalted melted butter

2 eggs

1⁄4 cup white or apple-cider vinegar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For chocolate glaze

4 tbsp semisweet chocolate chips

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two donut pans.

Step 2

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and melted butter, set aside. In a separate bowl, sift the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk together quickly until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be sticky.

Step 3

Using a pastry bag or plastic bag with the tip cut, pipe the batter into the prepared donut pans.

Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until fully cooked through. Remove the pans from the oven and let sit 5 minutes before unmolding.

For the chocolate glaze

Method 1. Place the unsalted butter, milk, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips in a sauce pan and let it melt.

Stir in the powdered sugar and remove from the heat.

Method 2. In a double boiler or microwave, melt chocolate chips and milk together. Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, so that the glaze thickens and any powdered sugar clumps dissolve.

Dip each donut into the glaze, coating the top. Twist the donut as you remove it from the glaze to give it a nice finish and prevent dripping. Immediately sprinkle the topping onto the glaze and let set.

Creative topping ideas

Here are 10 ideas of homemade donut toppings to get you inspired!

1. Ice Cream Sundae – a glazed donut topped with a scoop of ice cream (I use vanilla), hot fudge, rainbow sprinkles and a cherry on top.

2. Marshmallow Glaze. You’ll need 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbs milk, 2 tbs marshmallow fluff, softened. Mix together powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Add in softened fluff and stir until completely mixed. Adjust ingredients as needed, more fluff for more marshmallow flavor, more powdered sugar to thicken the glaze, or a little more milk to thin the glaze.

3. Caramel. Just top with salted caramel, toasted coconut and drizzle with hot fudge. Awesome!

4. Oreos. Top your donuts with cream cheese, whipped cream and crushed oreos!

5. Citrus. Simply whisk 2 cups of brown sugar with 5 tbs of lemon, lime or orange juice. Add a teaspoon of the zest.

6. Maple. All you need is 2 cups of sugar, 3 tbs milk, 2 tbs maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring. Whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl and glaze away!

7. Coffee top. Prepare the coffee by combining 6 tablespoons cold milk with 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Then, in a large bowl, beat 3/4 cup softened butter with 6 cups confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Gradually add the milk mixture and beat until smooth.

8. Strawberry. Whisk together 2 cups of sugar with 1/4 cup mashed fresh strawberries and 1 tablespoon milk. Crumble up some dried strawberries and sprinkle them on top of the glaze to double down on strawberry flavor.

9. Matcha. Combine 2 cups confectioners’ sugar with 2 tablespoons water and 3/4 teaspoon matcha powder and enjoy the bright-green (and healthy!) glaze.

10. Lavender (Wow-glaze!). Start by steeping 2 tablespoons culinary lavender in 1/4 cup hot milk. After 5 to 10 minutes, strain out the flowers and whisk the milk with 2 cups sugar. To give the glaze a purplish sheen, add a few drops of blue and red food coloring until you reach the desired color. Decorate with tiny lavender flower if you have such.

Do you cook donuts at home? What would your favorite donut topping be? Any new suggestions I should try out? Let me know down in comments! Have a wonderful week ahead!