Baked Vegan Chocolate Donuts | Plant-Based Recipes by Ashley Madden (2024)

A baked vegan chocolate donut made without oil, flour, or processed sugar? And smothered in a pumpkin nut frosting?

Yeassssss please! See the VIDEO below on how-to make these delicious babies!

Truth – cooking oil-free and vegan sometimes leaves me envious as a food photographer. I shoot all my own photos and sometimes I know I’m missing out on some pleasing visual cues like the crispy edges from pan searing or the textures from deep frying.

I never miss these from the actual food, never! But I do go to great lengths with food styling so that my whole food recipes are equally appetizing.

This is where donuts come in.

I rarely scroll the Gram; I’m almost allergic. It’s not good for my mojo. But when I do, I am drawn to the stacks of colourful donuts and intricate baked goods that make my mouth water and eyes widen.

AND I WANTED IN!

So I decided I was going to find a health-supportive way to play with donuts.

How? See Equipment below for the (not so secret) secret how-to.

And the donut playing paid off because not only did I come up with this baked vegan chocolate donut recipe, but it also gave birth to one of my favourite recipes inThe Plant-Based Cookbook – Mini Buckwheat Bagels.

These bagels take about 5 minutes to whip up and get in the oven and they are DELICIOUS, healthy, and cute to boot!

Back to vegan chocolate donuts! These are easy to make. Here are the ingredients you need:

Cocoa powder – Unsweetened cocoa powder (you can also use cacao) gives these chocolate donuts the chocolate part.

Psyllium husk– One of the coolest pantry ingredients I can think of! Psyllium husk is a soluble fibre that acts as a binder in these donuts.Here is a brand I use often.

Oat flour – Easy to find or make on your own. I add whole, rolled oats to my Vitamix and blend until a flour-like texture is reached. You can also do this in a food processor.

Almond flour – I use blanched almond flour that I get in big bags from Costco.

Coconut palm sugar – This is a lower-glycemic index, caramel-ish sweetener that I turn to often in baked goods. Now widely available (searching for this eco-friendly sugar used to be frustrating as hell) in grocery stores, health food stores, and online.

We can break this vegan donut recipe down to 3 steps!

1. First, mix the water with the psyllium husk and let it thicken – this will act as the binder.
2. Second, add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix. Then add all the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix into a batter (this is like step 2½).
3. Third, distribute the batter into the donut muffin moulds in your silicon donut pan and bake. See video for how-to. A little messy but super easy.

Donuts: Which brings me to the donut pans!Silicone donut pans like theseare easy to find and super easy to use.

They’re non-stick and allow you to make all kinds of donut-inspired concoctions without greasing the pan or adding oil to your recipe. You’re probably wondering “but are the safe?”

From my perspective yes, especially if you keep them at low temperatures.

Pumpkin Nut Frosting: To make the pumpkin nut frosting it’s helpful to have a blender but you can also mix together by hand.

I usually take a moment here to praise an ingredient for its health benefits. But this time I want to just reiterate what this donut is made WITHOUT !

It’s a baked vegan chocolate donut made without refined flour, refined white sugars, or oil. Celebration worthy, right?

This is mind blowing to me!

The pumpkin nut frosting is made with your nut-butter of choice and beta-carotene rich pumpkin puree!

YUM, YUM, YUM!

• No matter the donut pan you use, keep the batter flush and even with the pan to guarantee a nice shape and rise.
• If you’re using a traditional donut pan, you will have to grease the donut moulds to prevent sticking.
• Let the donuts cool completely before you add any Pumpkin Nut Frosting. If you’re looking for some chocolate-on-chocolate action,check out the sweet potato chocolate icing or the black bean chocolate icing in The Plant-Based Cookbook.

Recipe Variations:

Skip the icing altogether and serve these plain or give them a smear of raspberry chia jaminstead.

What you can do with leftovers? Keep these donuts in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze (icing and all) for up to three months.

Use leftover pumpkin nut frosting on cakes, brownies, in oatmeal, or eat it like pudding!