Chocolate Frosted Baked Easter Donuts

one baked double chocolate frosted donut with a candy egg and multicolored sprinkles and a bite out of it

Chocolate Frosted Baked Easter Donuts

These delicious Easter donuts are decadent and rich even though they are baked in the oven and not fried. The moist devil's food cake donuts are packed with chocolate flavor and loaded with a chocolate ganache frosting and a sprinkling of chopped chocolate Easter eggs for a sweet surprise in every bite!

5 from 27 votes

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 12

Cooling & decorating time 40

Total Time 1 2

Course Dessert

Servings donuts

Calories 354 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

For the donuts

1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
⅔ cups buttermilk see notes below for instructions to make this yourself
½ cups butter unsalted, melted
¾ cups brown sugar packed
½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cups M&Ms Easter eggs, if possible, but any M&Ms will work, or even chocolate chips, divided
Pastel sprinkles

For the chocolate ganache frosting

1 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

For the donuts

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Prepare the donut pans with a generous amount of cooking spray (my preference), butter (best flavor), or shortening. Dust with cocoa powder. If using butter or shortening, turn the pan upside down over the sink and tap gently to knock any excess cocoa loose. (If you do this with cooking spray, it will run out into the sink and make a big mess.)
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a larger bowl, whisk eggs to break and distribute yolks. Add the melted butter a little at a time, whisking constantly, until incorporated. (If you add the hot butter quickly, it might cook the beaten eggs.) Add packed brown sugar. Only after these are well combined, add cocoa powder and whisk until blended.
Working slowly, alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk to the wet, approximately ⅓ each time, and mix with a wide spatula until just combined.
Fold in ½ cup chopped candy with the spatula until just distributed.
Spoon batter into the wells of the donut pan, approximately ¼ cup per well, filling the wells only halfway as the batter will rise in the oven.
Bake for 12 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes.
Unmold donuts and place in a single layer on a cooling rack. If you have prepared the pan well, the donuts should fall right out when you turn the pan over.
Cool completely before frosting. You can't frost a hot donut because the frosting will melt, run all over, an make a giant mess.

For the ganache

While the donuts are cooling, prepare the chocolate ganache. Add heavy cream and chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl and heat at full power in 20 second increments. After each increment, stir thoroughly for at least 30-45 seconds.
Allie and I learned that chocolate chips never lose their shape even when completely melted, so in order to get smooth melted chocolate, you have to stir stir stir. It should only take 3-4 rounds of 20 seconds in order to melt your chocolate completely. When the chocolate is smooth and creamy with no lumps, it is ready to frost the donuts.
Note - if the chocolate softens a bit but then gets hard or grainy, you have burned it. There is no way to recover burned chocolate, so you will have to trash it and start over.
Hold a donut upside down and dip in the frosting. Garnish as desired with sprinkles and the remaining ½ cup chopped M&M eggs as well as whole eggs if desired. Return decorated donut to the cooling rack to set.
Continue until all donuts are frosted and garnished.

Notes

You can make your own buttermilk for this recipe by adding a teaspoon of white vinegar to the ⅔ cup of milk and allow it to stand for 5 minutes before adding to the mixing bowl.

Be sure to prepare your donut pan well to prevent donuts from sticking. I think most people would use flour to prepare the pan, but this will leave your chocolate donuts with white flecks all over them. I prefer to dust with cocoa powder when I am making chocolate baked goods. Cocoa powder can be a little bitter if you use too much, but you can always brush off any excess when you frost the donuts.

If you would like to pipe the batter in the pan, do not use a piping tip as crushed M&m’s can get stuck. Alternately cut a hole in a large ziplock bag or disposable piping bag.

Sprinkle donuts soon after frosting as the sprinkles will not adhere once the ganache is set.

You can substitute chocolate chips or any chopped candy for the M&Ms if you prefer. Any flavor of M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, even toffee bits or peanut butter chips would be nice. There are no limits on the variations you could use!

Store leftover donuts in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Nutrition

Keyword baked goods, chocolate

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