Chocolate Cake Doughnuts with Buttermilk Glaze
Sometimes it only takes a morning trip to the grocery store, past the fruits and veggies and a bee-line straight to the bakery, right when they are placing the trays of doughnuts in the case for me to be instantly teleported back to 1980-something. Ahhh the smell of doughnuts.
I vividly remember waking up as a kid, running down the stairs just hoping to see my Dad sipping on his steamy cup of Folgers with a familiar pink and orange box of a dozen or so doughnuts. With fingers crossed hoping that there was a chocolate cake doughnut left for me in there. I have never stopped loving chocolate cake doughnuts. But they have to be glazed… not with chocolate frosting or rolled powdered sugar… Heck-naw… it has to be the white, sugary-sticky glaze.
And today… I made them in my very own kitchen, sat down and poured myself a steamy cup of Folgers.
A little cocoa, a little coffee and a little buttermilk glaze. Ohhh lawdy! These doughnuts or is it donuts… anyway, the recipe stems from my Black Forest Cake recipe. {click at your own risk} I just added a little pinch oh nutmeg and cinnamon which gives it a little zip. Now let’s go make some dognuts 
Combine all the dry ingredients; you know… the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Whisk it up and set it aside.
Crack an egg into a bowl.
Then add the buttermilk, grapeseed oil and vanilla. If you don’t have grapeseed oil you can easily substitute with unsweetened applesauce.
Pour in the cooled coffee. The coffee truly brings out the chocolate flavor. Promise. It’s not the least bit coffee-y.
Stir and sit and watch the bubbles.
Butter and flour your doughnut pan(s). Don’t skip the flouring… it will make the removal of the doughnuts a cinch. I forgot that step and well it was challenging.
Pour in the batter, filling them up about three quarters of the way.
Stiiiiilll bubbling. Slide the pan into your oven to bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until when you insert a tester it comes back clean.
Let them cool a tad before removing.
You might need a spatula to aid in getting them out if they stick a little… but using the flour should help out tremendously.
While those are cooling, get going on the buttermilk glaze. Whisk together the buttermilk, powdered sugar and vanilla until you get a slightly thick yet slightly runny consistency, ya dig?
I borrowed my 10 year-olds impeccably clean hands to dunk all of the doughnuts.
Her compensation? To lick her fingers after they were all done. BONUS!
Let the glaze cool and harden… which means you have to wait a while. Or not. Really there’s no need for rules.
I. love. chocolate.doughnuts.
The end.
Chocolate Cake Doughnuts with Buttermilk Glaze
Yield: makes a dozen
Ingredients:
1 cup Flour
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
A pinch of Fresh Grated Nutmeg
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Coffee, cooled
1/4 cup Grapeseed Oil or Unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1 egg
FOR THE GLAZE
1 cup Powdered Sugar
3-4 tablespoons Buttermilk {or whole milk}
1/8 teaspoon Real Vanilla Extract
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour your doughnut pan(s).
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Set aside
In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
Fill the prepared doughnut pan three quarters of the way full and bake until they bounce back when touched and when a tester is inserted it comes out clean. Let cool a tad before removing and finish cooling on a baking rack.
For the buttermilk glaze, combine the powdered sugar, buttermilk and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Dunk cooled doughnuts (on both sides) into glaze and let cool on a wired rack for the glaze to harden.
Over the past few years I’ve been on a mission to find and create recipes that I can make from scratch. I hope you enjoy the recipes on this blog as they are tried and true from my kitchen to yours! (
Lovely dessert,yes and will make this weekend … Not sure about breakfast though?
bezonline~ They just go well with coffee anytime of the day
Girl, you are killing me with these! YUM!
This looks great! I am drooling right now at my desk at work. Don't tell anyone
Talk about mind-melding here. I am counting down the days until I see a Girl Scout with Thin mints – because I am morphing those babies into Thin Mint Doughnuts. Chocolate and mint glaze – oh baby. oh baby.
You're my chocolate cake doughnut-loving hero. 'Nuff said.
wow..laurie, they are so good…plus they are baked so we can enjoy without any guilty feelings..
chocolate cake doughnuts were my favorite growing up! i've never made my own before! these look absolutely incredible and your photos are beautiful, as always Laurie!
buttermilk doughnuts can't be beat…these sound scrumptious!
what a perfect cake and can't get enough by looking at the pics you have shared.
One of my favorite memories is my dad coming home from his third shift job and bringing home donuts from Meijer. He would usually forget which ones I liked (the maple glazed cake donut with sprinkles) but when he did remember, I was in heavvvvvennnn.
I have been fighting myself for a while about one of these pans. I really think though it is time for one. Great recipe. These look divine!
what a wonderful like would be to wake up to these chocolate goodness.
wow………..looks really awesome.u made it perfectly……
mmmmm! pinned
These will be in my belly soon! xoxo- K
I am not a donut girl, but these are my wife's favorite donut kind. She'd love these, and they look perfect!
I'm not much of a sweet tooth…however the smell of fresh donuts drives me wild! Great recipe, I really like how you set out your recipes with step by step pictures.
uhmmm che delizia questi biscottini…!
mi sono unita ai tuoi followers e se ti va passa da me!
abbracci
Your chocolate doughnuts look so moist! I am just imagining what it is like to take a bite out of one – I bet the buttermilk glaze just seals the deal. So I have never seen one of those trays you used to make the doughnuts and oh by golly, I want one! They look like little mini bundt molds. Thanks for another great recipe!
I need to get my hands on a donut pan! These look incredible!
Hi Laurie,
I made them yesterday for dessert? Didnt have a donut pan, but used my mini muffin try and they were a hit with all. Thank you.
Yum!
Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The smell of doughnuts is right! Especially chocolate doughnuts!!!
I'd been holding out for a long time…. but I bought a doughnut pan because of you today – so when I am huuuuge and diabetic, I am blaming you… and these…. because they look awesome. Just know that that will be on your shoulders.
You had me at buttermilk glaze!
Thanks for the tip on flouring the donut wells. Since it's nonstick, I guess I never thought to flour them. Duh. Instead, I just wait and wait and wait for the donuts to cool and say a prayer while I slllooooowly remove them. Flouring is a much better solution!
These look amazingly yummy. I bought a doghnut pan today to make them…I was just wondering if I could use something other than coffee? I don't drink coffee or even have any coffee in my house. Thanks
Anonymous… If you wanted to substitute milk or water even, I'm sure that would work… I just can't say for sure. Let me know how everything turns out!
Laurie, just letting you know the print link actually takes you to the page to pin it to pinterest!
Thanks Erika! That's what I get for late night blogging
Well it's a good thing I'm so behind on my blog reading, because I noticed a pint of buttermilk that needs to be used tomorrow and I was thinking doughnuts. Chocolate doughnuts it is!
I have been looking for a DD-style baked chocolate cake donut recipe FOREVER! I am so absolutely going to make these soon.
I am making these right now with my daughter. It took a minute to find where we add the cooled coffee. I finally found it in the pictorial, but it is missing from the written directions. Just an FYI. Can't wait to try them. They will be the first donut we've ever made. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
These were FANTASTIC. I did sour lactose free milk for this recipe, I did not add the cinnamon or nutmeg and I used my Grandma’s Vanilla Glaze for this doughnut. My family LOVED them. These were so easy and turned out beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.