Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake Donuts

I've been all about the donuts lately, all of them yeasted. I decided to be all wild and crazy and try a cake donut instead. I'm not sure which I love more... yeast or cake donuts. Cake donuts get bonus points for not having to take time to rise the dough but otherwise it's a tie. 

Both kinds are delicious. 

I'm still looking for an old fashioned sour cream style cake donut so give me a shout if you know a good recipe. Definitely found a keeper in this chocolate cake donut recipe. You could bake it instead of deep frying it but that will change the texture completely. Deep frying is the way to go. 

Deep frying is magic. 

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake Donuts

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp butter, melted

Oil for frying (about 1 liter)

Glaze

icing sugar

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. 

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light. Beat in sugar, buttermilk, and melted butter. 

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just mixed. 

Place dough on floured surface and let rest 10 minutes. 

Roll to 1/2 inch thick.

Cut out with cookie or biscuit cutter. Then, take a smaller one and cut a hole out of the center. 

Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Reroll any scraps and cut out more donuts. (NOTE - I believe I got 18 donuts plus holes from this recipe)

Cover and let rest while you heat up your oil for frying. Place oil in a large, deep pot. It should reach between 350 - 355 F. (You will want to use a thermometer for best results)

Gently place about 3 donuts into the oil at a time. Cook about 1 minute on each side.

Remove from oil with a slotted spoon onto a wire rack or cookie sheet lined with paper towel. Let cool about 5 minutes and then roll in icing sugar. 

Continue until all the donuts are cooked and rolled in sugar.

The powdered sugar turns into kind of a glaze as the donut cools. 

Best eaten within a day OR these freeze quite well if you need to make them up ahead of time.

Yeast donuts have a definite chew where as cake donuts are much softer with a more delicate crumb. 

FYI - They make great gifts for family and friends! Need a bake sale idea? Look no further! 

Let's get up close and personal with all that chocolatey goodness! 

Are you a yeast donut person or a cake donut person? 

I don't discriminate. I'll take one of each, please and thank you. 

Be sure to pop over to Carole's Chatter for tons of fun foodie links!