Baked Chocolate Cherry Doughnut Hearts
Valentine’s Day sure comes at a funny time, doesn’t it? We’re all still reeling from the overindulgences of the holiday season, and then BAM! Here comes the holiday marked by rich chocolate bon bons and red velvet cake. Last year I shared a healthier Valentine’s Day treat idea, but this year I’m making exactly what I really crave (each and every day, not just on Valentine’s Day). Chocolate doughnuts! But not just any chocolate doughnuts- chocolate cherry glazed donuts baked in my new heart-shaped donut pan.
Besides the yummy chocolatey taste, the great thing about these doughnuts is that they’re not quite as unhealthy as traditional doughnuts, because they’re baked instead of fried. So, basically health food… ahem. I added some cherry flavoring to the chocolate doughnut batter, and also some cherry syrup to to the glaze, giving it a pretty pink color and a subtle cherry flavor. The taste is divine! Check out my printable recipe below.
- 2 Cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 Cup white sugar
- 1/2 Cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 Cup buttermilk*
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1 Tablespoon grenadine syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon of melted shortening
- *A buttermilk substitute can be made by adding 1 Tablespoon of vinegar to 3/4 Cup milk and allowing the mixture to rest for ten minutes until sour.
- 3 Cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 Cup (or more) warm milk
- 2 teaspoons grenadine syrup
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and lightly grease your donut pan.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and cocoa powder until all of the cocoa powder lumps are gone. Separately, beat together the eggs with the vanilla, grenadine, and melted shortening. Add the egg mixture and buttermilk to the flour mixture, mixing only until just blended. Do not over mix, or the doughnuts will be dense and tough, instead of light and fluffy.
- Fill the donut pan halfway full, dragging the batter with a toothpick to make sure its surface is nice and smooth. Bake for 9 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. While the donuts bake, beat together the ingredients for the glaze. Start with less milk, and add more as necessary until the glaze reaches a somewhat runny consistency, but thick enough to coat the mixing beater when pulled from the glaze.
- Allow the freshly baked doughnuts to cool for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan and placing on a cooling rack. Dunk the tops of the warm donuts into the glaze, place onto the cooling rack with paper underneath to catch the glaze runoff. Wait 5 minutes and dunk again, this time decorating with red sprinkles immediately dunking.
- These doughnuts taste like a cross between a chocolate cake donut and a chocolate cupcake. They don't have the crunchy outer that a fried cake doughnut has, but the doughnut shape and yummy glaze add enough of the doughnut aspect that this recipe is a winner in my book!
Oh my! Bookmarking this for my Valentines idea folder. :)
looks so nice, i will definitely try it ._.
Mandi, these look delicious! I have to tell you, your tutorials are fantastic – both here and on ABM!
OH MY GOODNESS! Those look and sound DELICIOUS!!!
gah these look heavenly. I’ve got to try them asap.
So cute. My kids would be oohing and ahhing if these were on the Valentines breakfast table. :)
Ive never used grenadine syrup before, but I am assuming that’s what gives the recipe the cherry flavor. Think I could sub some almond extract since I already have it in hand?
Ive never used grenadine syrup before, but I am assuming that’s what gives the recipe the cherry flavor. Think I could sub some almond extract since I already have it on hand?
You certainly could, but then they would be chocolate almond flavor, instead of cherry. Which would be super yummy! Just only use a tiny by if almond extract, because it packs a pretty flavorful punch.
they are so cute!
Those look so amazing. I’ve never tried baked donuts before but I might have to give these a go.
oh my grenadine flavored frosting…you found my weakness!
Lovely donuts, they are perfect for St Valentine’s day !
I know what I want to make for myself now for the holiday. Yum! Great photos also.
Always,
Mostly Lisa
I love these. They’re so beautiful and festive.
Hi! I’m the graphic designer at Lulus.com, and we’re doing a Valentine’s themed blog post on our site. I was wondering if we could use one of your photos from this post in our blog post? It is adorable and absolutely perfect for what we need! We will give you photo credit in the post. And can link back here. Thank you!
Sure thing! Thanks for asking! :)
mmm! Looks absolutely delicious!
xoxo
Taylor
http://www.welcomehometaylor.com
Put them in ma mouth!
I tried these for Valentine’s day and the batter turned out to be very very dry. I added a bit more milk and they turned out “ok”…but do you have any suggestions? I do follow recipes down to a tee. I just think there was way too much of the dry ingredients for that 3/4 cup of buttermilk and 2 egg. The glaze was divine!
http://www.everydayembellished.ca
These bake up very quickly, so if you decide to try them again, I would take them out sooner rather than later. That should prevent them from being dry!