These baked chocolate cake donuts have a super soft texture and are incredible dipped in a rich chocolate ganache with lots of sprinkles on top!

Chocolate donuts are officially in the HOUSE today! With heavy emphasis on the chocolate.
If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at making donuts at home, this is the recipe for you! There’s no frying involved since we’re making baked cake donuts and I promise they’re better than anything.
I mean, can you even argue with those shiny chocolate ganache tops and all that sprinkle action??

The real selling point to these donuts is the fact that they’re both breakfast AND dessert material. And I’ll just go ahead and say every meal in between, why not.
These Chocolate Donuts feature…
- A soft and moist cake donut
- Rich homemade chocolate ganache for dipping donuts
- Minutes to make and better than any packaged donuts

Making the Chocolate Donuts
(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Vegetable oil
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Greek yogurt
- 2% or skim milk
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking powder
- Kosher salt
- Semisweet chocolate
- Heavy whipping cream
Can I Use a Muffin Pan?
These donuts can easily be converted to muffins instead if you don’t have a donut pan! Line a muffin tin with paper liners, fill liners 3/4 full with batter, and bake muffins at 350F 15-20 minutes until muffins spring back when lightly touched.

Tips for Perfect Donuts
- Measure flour correctly – I use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
- Gently fold batter – use a light hand when folding the dry ingredients into the liquid ingredients to prevent overmixing.
- Pipe batter into donut pan – I find that scooping the batter into a sealable bag, snipping a corner off, and piping it into the donut pan is much less messy than trying to spoon batter into each donut mold.
- Bake donuts until they spring back when touched – these donuts bake up fast and should only take 10-12 minutes.
- Use high-quality chocolate for ganache – I highly recommend getting a few good semisweet chocolate bars for the ganache and chopping it yourself. Chocolate chips will work in this recipe, however, they may not melt as nicely.
- Do not boil heavy cream – heat the heavy cream just until warm and steaming then immediately pour over chocolate to melt it.
- Reheat ganache in double boiler – if your ganache sits on the counter too long and sets up, you can easily return it to liquid state by placing in the top bowl of a double boiler set over gently simmering water. Stir ganache occasionally until it is melted.
Recipe Variations
Try these ideas for a different twist on these donuts.
- Add chocolate chips to batter – for an extra chocolatey kick, add 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips to batter.
- Use a different glaze – feel free to use a powdered sugar glaze in place of the chocolate ganache.
- Add espresso – for an even more intense chocolate flavor, mix 1 teaspoon instant espresso into batter.
- Get creative with toppings – try a drizzle of peanut butter, salted caramel, crushed oreos, or toasted nuts.
Storing and Freezing Donuts
Allow donuts to cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days. Be aware, the chocolate ganache will set up a bit as the donuts cool to room temperature.
To freeze donuts, I recommend freezing them un-glazed. Store donuts in a freezer-safe container and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw donuts completely at room temperature and dip in chocolate ganache and sprinkles per recipe instructions for serving.

No one will be able to resist going back for second one of these gems! The cake portion is so incredibly soft inside and the rich chocolate ganache dip adds just the right amount of decadence.
Don’t forget the extra sprinkles on top! You’ve just gotta.
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

Watch these donuts made step-by-step on Google web stories.
Try these other chocolatey breakfast items next!
- Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Raspberry Chocolate Chip Baked Oats
- Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Baked Chocolate Cake Donuts
This recipe may included paid links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Donuts
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup 2% or skim milk
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Chocolate Ganache
- 2 (4 oz) semisweet chocolate bars finely chopped
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Sprinkles for topping donuts
Instructions
Chocolate Cake Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 3 donut pans and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk oil, sugar, eggs, yogurt, milk, and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Fold flour mixture into liquid mixture until batter is just combined.
- Scrape batter into a sealable bag and seal bag. Snip a corner off of the bag and pipe batter into prepared donut pan, filling each cavity about 3/4 full.
- Bake donuts at 350F 10-12 minutes until donuts spring back when lightly touched. Allow donuts to cool in pan 10 minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
Chocolate Ganache
- Place chopped chocolate in a large bowl. Pour heavy cream into a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until steaming. Pour heavy cream over chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted and evenly incorporated into cream.
- Allow ganache to cool 5 minutes then dip donuts in ganache and top with sprinkles. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This post was updated with new recipe tips and photos on 4/11/24.
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
Your new site looks AMAZING! Hello gorgeous! Love your color scheme, and your new header, and the clean feel! Isn’t Sara just the best? And! Your RSS feed is working now! So you’re now officially on my Feedly feed reader. Now I’ll know right when you post! So fun! And these donuts look delicious!
Sarah says
Thank you so much for the recommendation, Natalie! So far I’m loving the new design. — Sara is uber talented! 🙂
dina says
they look wonderful!
Sarah says
Thank you, Dina. 🙂
Julie says
These look delicious! I like how you used white whole wheat flour which gives the donuts some fibre, but still results in something light and fluffy. I’ve had really good results using it and buttermilk to make cakes. If I made these, dh would devour them for breakfast, which would not be a good thing. Pinning, cause they just look so darn fabulous. Found you at Show Stopper Saturday.
Sarah says
I use white whole wheat flour in nearly all my baking for that exact reason. — It’s so much healthier, but it makes perfectly light and fluffy baked goods. 😀 I hope you like these donuts, Julie! 🙂
marcie says
These donuts look heavenly, and I love that they’re made with wholesome ingredients! Pinning. 🙂
Sarah says
Wholesome baked goodies that taste heavenly are always a plus, right? 😉 Thanks for the pin, Marcie!
Mallory says
Wow! anything that has chocolate and healthy in the same sentence has my attention! these look delicious!
Sarah says
Thank you so much, Mallory! 🙂
Rachel Kathyg @ onlinesisterhood says
Love these. Yum! pinned to try. Stopping by from show stopper sat.–congrats on your feature! Have a great weekend.
Sarah says
Thank you so much, Rachel! 🙂