These Baked Chocolate Frosted Cake Donuts are a classic baked cake donut with chocolate ganache frosting.
Homemade donuts really are easy and simple to make and you don’t have to fry them. This baked cake donut recipe is easy to do and the donuts come out delicious every time.
I love donuts. If I see a local donut shop anywhere, I will stop. I don’t care if we are in the middle of nowhere. Donuts are so good. While I love my little fried donuts, I prefer to avoid the frying and make baked donuts instead. They can be just as good.
My kids love donuts as well. While I would like to take credit for that little obsession, it all comes from my dad. Ever since my kids were very little, anytime they went over to their house for a gathering, Papa & Nana play-date, or for babysitting, my dad would run to the store and grab some “papa donuts”.
“Papa donuts” are just mini Hostess chocolate donuts. He would always buy the powdered sugar ones as well and those eventually became known as
“Nana donuts”. I will have to admit though, that I simply love a chocolate cake donut from my local Kroger store (King Soopers). My sisters and I just love those.
But making homemade baked cake donuts is really fun and this is my favorite recipe. They’re perfect at any time – breakfast, brunch, dessert or as a snack.
Baked Donuts Ingredients
- Softened butter
- Vegetable oil
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Large eggs
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Milk
How do you make Baked Cake Donuts?
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease 2 donut pans.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl or mixer beat together the butter, vegetable oil, granulated, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until well combined.
Mix in baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla, until batter comes together.
Mix in the flour and milk, adding the flour and alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix batter until smooth and well combined.
Gently spoon the batter evenly into the lightly greased doughnut pans, filling until just shy of the rim.
Place pans in the oven and bake for 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven, allow donuts to cool for 5 minutes before you remove from the pans. Prepare frosting during this time.
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
In a double boiler over medium heat combine butter, chocolate chips, and corn syrup. Stir until completely melted and well incorporated.
Once glaze is done and donuts are cool, dip the tops of the donuts into the glaze and turn over, back onto the cooling rack. Glaze side up.
Allow glaze to harden, if you wish for 10-15 minutes or like our family, serve right away… yum!
Now I am just sitting here drooling over these donuts and thinking about which donut recipe I will make next. I am leaning towards Copycat Starbucks Devil’s Food Cake Donuts.
Have a great day, friends. Cheers to baked, glazed, and “papa donuts”.
XOXO San
More Recipes to Try
Love this recipe? Be sure to check out these other cake donuts that will have you eating more than one for breakfast.
- Baked Blueberry Cake Donuts, A Dash of Sanity
- Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Donuts, from A Dash of Sanity
- Powdered Sugar Donut Holes, from Shugary Sweets
- Baked Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Donuts, from A Dash of Sanity
- 10 Minute Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes, from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board.
Baked Chocolate Frosted Cake Donuts
Ingredients
Donut
- 1/4 cup butter room temperature
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 2/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup milk
Frosting
- 3 tablespoons butter cut into ½ inch squares.
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips dark chocolate is my preference
- 1 tablespoon honey agave nectar or corn syrup would also be fine.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease 2 donut pans.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl or mixer beat together the butter, vegetable oil, granulated, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until well combined.
- Mix in baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla, until batter comes together.
- Mix in the flour and milk, adding the flour and alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix batter until smooth and well combined.
- Gently spoon the batter evenly into the lightly greased doughnut pans, filling until just shy of the rim.
- Place pans in the oven and bake for 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven, allow donuts to cool for 5 minutes before you remove from the pans. Prepare frosting during this time.
Frosting
- In a double boiler over medium heat combine butter, chocolate chips and corn syrup. Stir until completely melted and well incorporated.
- Once glaze is done and donuts are cool, dip the tops of the donuts into the glaze and turn over, back onto the cooling rack. Glaze side up. Allow glaze to harden, if you wish for 10-15 minutes or like our family, serve right away… yum!
Notes
Nutrition
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Your “papa” donuts look so yummy! I love baking donuts so I’ll be pinning these for future reference.
Same as I
These are very good and versatile to use for other recipes, I was wondering if you could use less flour to make them less dense?
Try using cake flour 🙂
What if we dont have a double boiler?
You can use a heat-safe bowl and a pot of simmering water to mimic a double boiler! Just make sure the water does not reach the bowl when set on top of the pot. There are lots of tutorials online if you simply search “double boiler”. Hope this helps!
These donuts are insanely delicious. they are cakey, thick, moist, nutmegy and popping with chocolate flavor with the icing. Followed recipe to the letter except batter made 14 really thick donuts. This will be my go-to recipe for a basic cake donut. They are literally addicting. I will get them out of the house tomorrow and five them to my neighbor.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!! Your neighbor is definitely in for a treat! 🙂
I always forget I have a donut pan! Thanks for the reminder. Definitely making these this weekend. Probably need to make a double batch just to be safe, haha!
Hope you enjoy them!
Yummy! These are so good! My family loves these!
Thank you! So glad to hear that.
I am drooling over these donuts! I should make them this weekend!
I hope you enjoy them!
YUM!! These cake donuts look incredible! I bet they taste amazing!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy!
These baked chocolate cake donuts are the perfect breakfast treat! I will be trying these very soon!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them.
My kids won’t be able to stop eating these!!
I hope they enjoy!
This was the perfect way to start my day! Paired perfectly with my morning cup of coffee! Delish!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
These are delicious and I LOVE that they’re baked!
Thank you!
Really yummy and look great. Heavy batter and dense doughnut but it a cake doughnut. Will definitely make again. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
My heart swooned a bit when I saw I had everything in my kitchen already to make these. Just the little afternoon pick me up I needed and bonus, breakfast for tomorrow will be done too. Yay!
So easy and so good – I also like cream cheese frosting on these with a little almond extract
These are my favorite donuts1!
These Baked Chocolate Frosted Cake Donuts are look so fun and tasty!
My kids would love these!! YUMMY!!
We’re totally obsessed with these!
These look so delicious and yummy! My kids are going to really enjoy this recipe! So excited!
I love donuts and I am excited to try this! This looks so delicious. Thank you for sharing this!
They look yummy! Have you ever used buttermilk in place of the milk? Would you need to change any of the other ingredients?
I honestly love using buttermilk in place of milk but I have never tried that in this recipe.
San
Can you use anything else, if you don’t have a donut pan?
I have used a mini cupcake pan before, but never large cupcakes 🙂
Very dense, I followed the choc. that came out also very thick.
Next time add a little butter or coconut oil to thin it out, also a little cream would work too.
Could I somehow make this recipe into a cake? My son wants a donut-chocolate-glazed themed cake and yours sounds like the best one!!
How much nutmeg? Just says “1/2 ground nutmeg”. I assumed tsp and did that. Hope it was right?
Yes, 1/2 teaspoon is correct! It has been updated in the post, thank you so much for bringing it to our attention.