Baked Chocolate Cake Doughnuts

While still definitely a treat, these doughnuts are baked, not fried, elevating them a notch on the healthfulness scale. Do they still taste good? My children – self-proclaimed experts on all things sweet – praised them as the best doughnuts they'd ever eaten.

This recipe makes 18 doughnuts, requiring the special equipment of 3 doughnut pans (or 1 used in heavy rotation).

1 3/4 c white whole wheat flour (or 2 c pastry flour)
1 c plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 c cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon, or 1/2 tsp espresso powder (optional)
6 Tbsp butter
4 large eggs
6 Tbsp buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.

Melt butter in a small bowl. Beat in eggs until thoroughly incorporated. Add buttermilk and vanilla. Pour liquid ingredients all at once into dry ingredients; stir just until combined. Batter will be thick.

Scrape batter into a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Cut off one corner, making an opening about 3/4" in size. Squirt the batter into the openings in the doughnut pans to fill each doughnut form half full.

Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 12 to 14 minutes. When done, they'll spring back when touched lightly. Remove pans from oven, remove doughnuts from pan (mine lifted straight out with a slender silicone spatula), and allow finished product to cool slightly before glazing.