Chocolate Cake Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze

If you happen to drop by this morning, I hope you are craving chocolate.

Oh, I forgot…  Doughnuts, too.

If you are, feel free to knock on my door and kick off your shoes so long as your feet don’t smell.  I also won’t protest if you feel like volunteering to clean up my messy kitchen…  Thoughtful and courageous gestures are always welcome.

If you ask me, there’s nothing better than a warm, glazed chocolate doughnut on a lazy Saturday morning.

Mornings when you were still up at 3AM watching reruns of Sex in the City because you like Carrie’s shoes and her hats.  Mornings when you roll up your curtains and refuse to make your bed because you’ll end up napping there later.

Mornings when you refuse to shower because you don’t feel like it or put on real clothes and just breeze through the morning in your jammies and slippers.  Mornings when your dad has just brewed a fresh pot of coffee and is sitting at the counter reading the newspaper.

Or just a regular busy Wednesday morning.  When you’re up at 6AM, in a chaotic hurry because you’re late for work and forgot to leave more time to clean off your car.  Mornings when you’re up before the sun shines and the birds awaken.  Mornings when you literally wish for nothing more than to just lay back in bed and sleep for another four hours.

Mornings when you don’t want it to really be morning and are ravenously craving something along the lines of doughy or sweet or gooey…  Like say, a chocolate glazed doughnut, to knock you outta this feeling.

Yup, those are also doughnut mornings.  Chocolate cake doughnut mornings.  With sprinkles.

Chocolate Cake Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze

(yields 6-8 doughnuts)

recipe from Joy the Baker

For the Doughnuts:

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted until just browned

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 to 4 tablespoons cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

color jimmies

To make the Doughnuts:

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 325  degrees F.  Spray a doughnut baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar.

In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together until all of the ingredients are well combined.  Scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure that you’re not leaving any flour behind.  Use a small spoon to portion batter into the prepared doughnut baking pan.

Bake doughnuts for 11 to 13 minutes or until a skewer inserted into one of the doughnuts comes out clean.  Remove from the oven.  Allow to rest for five minutes before transferring doughnuts onto a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

To make the Glaze:

In a medium bowl whisk together powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  Add 3 tablespoons of cream and vanilla extract.  Whisk to combine.  Add more cream, a tablespoon at a time, until the glaze is thick but still liquid.

Dip each doughnut into the chocolate glaze.  Shake off some of the excess glaze then dip into a bowl ready with rainbow jimmies.  Allow to rest a few moments for the frosting to harden slightly.

These doughnuts are best served within two days of baking.  Enjoy!