Fried Chocolate Cake Donuts
A deeper, darker, and slightly more indulgent variation of my sour cream donuts, these old-fashioned chocolate donuts are an indulgent breakfast treat. They are cake donuts (meaning no yeast needed!) and are perfectly chocolatey with a sleek vanilla coating. While yeast donuts have a place in my heart, this version is straightforward to make with no complicated techniques or ingredients. Even if you’ve never fried anything before, my recipe is easy enough that you can be successful. And with a warm, tender chocolate donut as the reward, a little bit of effort really isn’t so bad 😉
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
There’s no rising or kneading required, since they’re made without yeast. Moist, tender texture thanks to intentionally selected ingredients like egg yolks and sour cream. Rich chocolate flavor (thanks to Dutch cocoa!) that pairs just right with the vanilla glaze. Old-fashioned taste and appearance that pairs perfectly with a cup of coffee or glass of milk.
Ingredients
Mostly basics you’ll be familiar with:
Cocoa powder. Dutch cocoa works best; it’s smoother and richer than natural cocoa powder, which is more acidic and bitter, and the donuts end up more rich and chocolatey for it. I talk more about the differences between the two in my natural vs. dutch process cocoa powder post. Eggs. We use the yolks only for richer, more tender chocolate donuts. You can save the whites for meringue cookies, if you’d like. Sour cream. The sour cream does a great job of adding a depth of flavor (though the donuts won’t taste like sour cream). I think you could substitute plain, full-fat Greek yogurt, though I haven’t tried this myself to be sure. Butter. I use unsalted butter in the donuts themselves and salted butter in the glaze. If you don’t have salted butter on hand, you can simply add ⅛ teaspoon of salt to the glaze. Neutral oil. Any neutral oil (like canola or vegetable oil) will work; I personally use avocado. Since avocado oil is so expensive, I use a smaller pot (so I don’t have to use as much) and fry just one donut at a time. Frying one at a time also helps you maintain your oil temperature easier and allows you to make adjustments if your first donut is too dry or greasy.
SAM’S TIP: As with most recipes, this recipe works best if all of your ingredients are the same temperature. Let your sour cream, butter, and eggs sit out ahead of time so they can warm up. This will make for the easiest mixing and a more uniform dough. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Chocolate Donuts
If you love old-fashioned recipes try my hot milk cake or chocolate fudge next! Enjoy! Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
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