Baked Chocolate Sprinkle Donuts

Fluffy baked chocolate sprinkle donuts made with gluten-free vegan ingredients and topped with an easy vegan chocolate glaze that hardens quick. Bake a batch for an easy indulgent brunch sweet treat or healthier homemade dessert!

SPONSORED BY SUNBUTTER

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A moist fluffy ring of chocolate cake blanketed in crackly chocolate glaze topped with a rainbow of sugar specks – that is just a simple joy of life that we all deserve. The classic chocolate glazed sprinkle donuts look so enticing behind the glass anytime I’m in line ordering a coffee, but personally I prefer to make my own at home with better ingredients and baked not fried so I can feel good about having one every day until the batch is gone.

How To Make The Best Gluten-Free Baked Chocolate Donuts

A baked cake donut is basically just a cake batter baked in the proper pan. But I would argue it’s easier to achieve a perfect fluffy and moist crumb and beautiful rise without eggs or gluten in donut form than cake or cupcake. The hole in the middle allows for more even heat on all sides of the cake as it bakes (similar to a bundt cake), so they will bake more evenly and faster. So this is really the ultimate easy way to enjoy vegan gluten-free chocolate cake, and it’s a lot more fun too!

10 Simple Donut Ingredients

• Oat flour. It’s not often I choose oat flour for vegan cakes/cupcakes because of it’s tendency to come out dense/gummy, but because of the baking advantages mentioned above it actually works PERFECTLY in this recipe. You could also use all-purpose flour if you are not gluten-free.
• Cocoa powder. There isn’t any melted chocolate or chocolate chips in this recipe, we want a fluffy not fudgy texture, but there is plenty of cocoa to create a really rich chocolate flavor. Opt for dutch processed if you want an even darker richer flavor.
• Instant espresso powder. This is completely optional, they will be delicious without, but it does enhance the chocolatey flavor. So if you have it, add it! You could swap in coffee or iced coffee for some of the milk too to create the same effect.
• Coconut sugar. Brown sugar or cane sugar would work as well, but coconut sugar will make your chocolate sprinkle donuts extra moist.
• Chocolate SunButter. Another BIG factor in the indulgent chocolate flavor of these donuts, and an easy way to keep this batter oil/butter free without missing out on any richness or moisture. (Tip: if you don’t want to bother making the glaze, a smear of Chocolate SunButter as “frosting” on top would be DELICIOUS too!)
• Nondairy milk. I used homemade almond milk, but any variety of milk (dairy or nondairy) is fine. I don’t recommend full-fat coconut milk here, it’s too thick and rich.
• Applesauce or yogurt. Either of these will work for a little extra moisture still without oil, I personally used coconut yogurt.
• Baking powder, vanilla, and salt.

Step-By-Step Instructions

This recipe could be one bowl if our are really opposed to extra dished, but I’ recommend two for a smoother more well-mixed batter. Whisking the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl before adding them to the wet acts kind of like sifting to remove any flour or cocoa chunks. So first whisk the dry, then beat or whisk together the wet (a hand mixer makes this recipe easier, but you can mix it entirely by hand!), then combine and mix to form a beautiful thick chocolate batter.

Next comes filling the donut pan. This can either be really easy or really messy and hard depending on your technique. Trying to spoon it into the pan will be a gloppy mess and take you twice as long, so please use a piping bag or ziplock and you will be done in 2 minutes with perfect evenly filled donuts. You can fill them pretty much to the top, but make sure at least some of that center button is still showing. If not, you over-filled.

Oh! And above all else, make sure you grease your donut pan WELL regardless of if it claims to be “non-stick” or not. I’ve lost many a batch of donuts to a non-greased pan, even silicone. It’s always a sad day.

Then simply pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes, and wait for that chocolate batter to bake up into the most beautiful donuts. I would often say you can make the glaze during this time, but this glaze needs to be made right before using so hold off for now. After the oven goes off, let them cool in the pan for 10-15 then flip onto a cooling rack. If you rush it they may break during the flip, so be patient.

The Ultimate Chocolate Donut Glaze (That Hardens FAST!)

Every donut deserves a glaze, and that glaze better harden. Why?

• stands up to stacking or packing in a box
• much less messy to eat
• holds on to sprinkles better
• CRACKLES when you bite in in the most delicious way!

This glaze hardens so fast you will have barely any glaze cleanup beneath the wire rack you place them on to set. The flip side – you need to work fast to dip while the glaze is warm (or reheat it as necessary) and work fast with the sprinkles too or they won’t stick.

Two key ingredients make this glaze such a perfect chocolate donut glaze: coconut oil and hot water. Coconut oil hardens as it cools, so adding a little bit of coconut oil to the glaze helps it set and keeps it shiny. Hot water thins out the glaze to make it dip-able when warm, but as soon as it cools down it thickens the glaze fast and keeps it from being drippy or runny. The cocoa powder and powdered sugar are essential too for flavor and sweetness.

Tips For Optimal Donut Storage

How you store these donuts, especially after glazing, is very important. Bottom line: glazing right before serving is the best option. If you seal them up already glazed, the glaze will become wet again and the donuts will become more fudgy and less fluffy as they absorb that glaze moisture.

So best case scenario, you store the donuts themselves sealed up well at room temperature and then glaze them just before serving or eating allowing 10 minutes or so for the glaze to set. They can also be left out for a couple hours after glazing and will still maintain that shiny un-sticky glaze crackle.

If you are storing them for longer, the donuts can be refrigerated but again they will become a bit more fudgy and brownie-like. And if you don’t care about perfect presentation, glaze them all and pop them in the fridge and just be ready for a more fudgy sticky-fingered experience.

More Healthier Donut Recipes You’ll Love

• Strawberry Rhubarb Donuts
• Golden Milk Donuts
• Baked Maple Pecan Donuts
• Baked Blueberry Donuts
• Vegan Mini Powdered Donuts

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