These Vegan Chocolate Baked Donuts are moist and fluffy, perfectly sweet and covered in a shiny chocolate glaze. They're baked not fried, come together in one bowl and are gluten-free and refined sugar free too. Great for a snack, dessert or party food!
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Use a measuring jug to measure out the plant-based milk.
- Transfer the batter into a donut tin.
Tip: Grease the tin first to make the donuts easier to remove afterwards.
- Bake in oven for around 10 minutes, until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Transfer onto a cooling rack to cool slightly before applying the glaze.
How to make the glaze
- Melt the coconut oil in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water or a microwave.
- Mix in the maple syrup and cocoa powder.
- Dip the donuts into the glaze one by one and place back on the cooling rack to dry.
How to decorate
If you wish to decorate the donuts, you can decorate them with:
- Freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries.
- Rose petals.
- Desiccated coconut.
- Cacao nibs.
- Crushed pistachios.
Tip: Make sure to scatter these ingredients over the donuts while the glaze is still wet, otherwise they won't stick!
How long do these keep for?
These donuts taste best when fresh but keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the vinegar with lemon juice.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds.
- You can use plain flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free.
Tips for making these
- The amount of batter specified in the recipe is the right amount to fill the whole of the donut tin I used, but if you have some leftover batter you can put them into cupcake cases and use it to make cupcakes - just remember to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
- I used a mini donut tin, but if you have a large donut tin, that will work too - just remember to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
- If you don't have a donut tin, this batter can be used to make cupcakes - just remember to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
If you liked these donuts, check out my Matcha Baked Donuts!
More vegan chocolate treats
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Vegan Chocolate Baked Donuts (Gluten-Free)
These Vegan Chocolate Baked Donuts are moist and fluffy and covered in a shiny chocolate glaze.
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Servings: 30 mini donuts
Calories: 55kcal
Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 30 g (⅛ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 125 ml (½ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other kind of plant-based milk)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 75 g (⅔ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 75 g (⅔ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 25 g (¼ cup) cocoa powder
For the glaze**:
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
To decorate (optional):
- Freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries, rose petals, desiccated coconut, cacao nibs, crushed pistachios
Instructions
For the donuts:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other type of oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer mixture to the greased donut tin.
- Bake in oven for around 10 minutes, until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Transfer the donuts onto a cooling rack to cool slightly before applying the glaze.
For the glaze:
- Melt the coconut oil in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water or a microwave.
- Mix in the maple syrup and cocoa powder.
- Dip the donuts into the glaze one by one and place back on the wire rack to dry.
- If you wish to decorate them, scatter over freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries, rose petals, desiccated coconut, cacao nibs or crushed pistachios while the glaze is still wet (otherwise they won't stick).
- They taste best when fresh but keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Notes
*You can alternatively use almond flour.
**You can alternatively use a mixture of coconut oil and dark chocolate.
- The amount of batter specified in the recipe is the right amount to fill the whole of the donut tin I used, but if you have some leftover batter you can put them into cupcake cases and use it to make cupcakes - just remember to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
- I used a mini donut tin, but if you have a large donut tin, that will work too - just remember to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
- If you don't have a donut tin, this batter can be used to make cupcakes - just remember to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
Nutrition Facts
Vegan Chocolate Baked Donuts (Gluten-Free)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 55
Calories from Fat 27
% Daily Value*
Fat 3g5%
Saturated Fat 1g5%
Sodium 16mg1%
Potassium 32mg1%
Carbohydrates 7g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 4g4%
Protein 1g2%
Calcium 23mg2%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!
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Dora
Hi Rhian, I tried my second batch without the cocoa powder but they donuts sank in the middle, I'm not sure why? My first batch with the cocoa powder was fine though.
Rhian Williams
Hi Dora, thank you for your feedback! I'm glad it worked with the cocoa. I'm not sure why the second batch sank but if making again I would recommend maybe using a few tablespoons less of plant-based milk if making without the cocoa powder. Though it shouldn't really have made too much of a difference. Did you use the same amount of baking powder both times? So sorry about that and thank you for the feedback!
Dora
Hi Rhian, yes I used the same amount of baking powder both times. But maybe because I did it in a rush the second time and somehow it affected the results. Ok, thanks for your tip. I'll try it with less milk next time and see how it goes.
Rhian Williams
Ok, thank you for letting me know. Please let me know how you get on next time, thank you!
Dora
Hi Rhian, it me again. I was wondering if I could make a strawberry version of these donuts using strawberry puree instead of milk? Will it work? Have you tried it before?
Rhian Williams
Hi! Yes that would work! You can use my strawberry cake recipe for reference: https://www.rhiansrecipes.com/gluten-free-vegan-strawberry-cake/ it's a very similar recipe using strawberry puree instead of milk!
Grace
Loved these so much! I split the mixture, and added cocoa to only half of it, as well as some mint essence. The other half I added half a mashed banana and it was absolutely delicious! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked them! And thank you for sharing your substitutions, that's really helpful to know!
Namrata
You are amazing rhian!
Rhian Williams
Aw thank you so much!