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I’ve been making donuts for many years, but I can say without a doubt that for me, this is the best chocolate cake donut recipe I’ve ever come up with. These donuts are dense, rich, and downright decadent! They are as tasty as they are pretty, and that’s saying something. An added bonus is the way your kitchen smells as these are baking, almost enough to satisfy your sweet tooth by itself! We’ve topped these donuts with chocolate glazes and icings in the past, but our favorite way to eat them now is to dust powdered confectioners’ sugar on top of them. Like snowy peaks on dark mountains, they are quite lovely to look at all on their own. Add the richness of the donut itself and they are ambrosia. We’ve added semisweet chocolate chips into the batter on occasion in the past as well, and you can’t go wrong trying it yourself, but in the end, this simple yet elegant recipe needs no other additions or improvements.
Ingredients
Dry
1 cup flour, unbleached all-purpose
1⁄3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
Wet
3⁄4 cup half-and-half (whole milk, 2%, or even 1% can be substituted)
1 egg, beaten
2⁄3 cup brown sugar (dark for more flavor, light for less)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1⁄2 vanilla bean seeds, scraped
Topping
Powdered confectioners’ sugar, as needed for dusting the finished donuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together until blended.
In another bowl, mix the half-and-half, egg, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean seeds together.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring until they are incorporated.
Bake 8–12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, then remove to a cooling rack and dust immediately with powdered confectioners’ sugar.
Yields 10–12 donuts