Chocolate. Coffee. Donuts!!! Three words that are absolute perfection when placed next to each other and brought to life. I love a good chocolate donut, but I don't always want one that's deep-fried and probably won't make me feel the best, so these chocolate donuts are a little bit lighter: they're baked, light and fluffy, loaded with chocolate flavor, and covered with a ridiculously delicious chocolate coffee glaze. I added some crunch to the top with cacao nibs and espresso beans - need any more convincing?
These baked chocolate donuts were inspired by one of my favorite chocolate brands, Raaka Chocolate, and their collaboration with Olympia Coffee. They made amazingly delicious coffee chocolate bars, which of course made me want to make all things with chocolate and coffee. The two make such a good pairing because coffee always helps bring out the flavor of chocolate and enhance it even more.
Raaka is one of my favorite chocolate brands, because their cacao is single-origin, organic, and they have transparent sourcing, which is so important in the chocolate industry. You know the farmers and workers who are picking and processing the cacao are treated and paid well. The chocolate I used for this recipe originated from Zorzal Cacao in the Dominican Republic - it states this info on the back of each bag!
For these chocolate coffee donuts, we used melted chocolate to make them super chocolatey, instead of cacao powder. I used the 71% cacao Classic Dark Baking Chocolate from Raaka and it's amazing in this recipe. I recommend using a similar level of cacao in your chocolate for the best results.
Here's what you'll need to make chocolate coffee donuts:
- Oat Flour: adds a delicious fluffy texture to these donuts. I wouldn't recommend trying to replace this with almond flour, as it will throw off the texture.
- Almond Flour: we don't use any oil in this recipe, but the fat in the almond flour helps keep these donuts super moist!
- Tapioca Flour: gives us a light and fluffy texture.
- Baking Soda & Salt: for lift and flavor!
- Melted Raaka Chocolate: I use the 71% Classic Dark Baking Chocolate. You could also use the Maple Dark Baking Chocolate, which is sweetened with maple sugar and is a little darker, 75% cacao.
- Pure Maple Syrup: for sweetness! You could use honey or agave as well, just don't replace with a granulated sweetener.
- Apple Sauce: make sure to use unsweetened apple sauce!
- Coffee: if you don't consume caffeine, you can always use decaf coffee here too. Brew it extra strong!
- Apple Cider Vinegar: this adds a extra fluffiness to the donuts and makes them super light!
- Vanilla Extract: always needed for all the extra flavor it adds!
How to make baked chocolate donuts:
Bringing these donuts together is super easy as well!
- Grease your donut pan WELL - you don't want any sticking!!
- Simply whisk together your oat flour, almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine the melted chocolate, maple syrup, applesauce, coffee, and vanilla extract. Make sure everything is room temperature or warm so the chocolate doesn't seize up.
- Whisk the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Fill each donut cavity very well, almost to the top! This will help give you nice and fluffy donuts.
- Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until firm and fluffy to the touch.
What about the chocolate glaze?
The glaze is SUPER easy to make, with just three ingredients: dark chocolate, coconut milk, and coffee. It's essentially a ganache, with coffee added for flavor. It firms up nicely, but is still soft when you bite into it. Absolute deliciousness!
Then, you'll want to garnish with Raaka Cacao Nibs & crushed coffee beans. Together, they add so much crunch and flavor!