Baked chocolate cake doughnuts covered with a pop of colorful toppings make these Spooktacular Chocolate Doughnuts the perfect treat for your Halloween dessert table.
Let’s take some time to pay homage to the doughnut. In some families, it’s a once-a-week treat to visit the doughnut shop and carefully look through the bakery case to choose that one special doughnut to enjoy. For me, I always had trouble between sprinkles and the powdered sugar one stuffed with lemon filling. Although choosing just one was difficult, it was part of the experience, and I was always appreciative of too many choices rather than too little. Do doughnut shops bring up nostalgic feelings for you?
I’ve noticed a resurgence of doughnut shops lately and they’re redefining the traditional doughnuts that we’re all used to. “Donut Farm” opened up down the street from my house and only sells vegan donuts. “M&M Donuts” is just minutes away from Disneyland and opens up at 9:00 PM! Believe it or not, there’s always a line at the window and the drive-thru! We were in the drive-thru line for 30 minutes before even ordering! “M&M Donuts” is mostly known for these amazing made-to-order blueberry donuts. They’re crunchy on the outside and cakey on the inside. Seriously, nothing like any doughnut I’ve ever had before. Finally, there’s “Crafted Donuts” in Fountain Valley, CA, that serve donuts the size of your face! See what I mean by resurgence?
Spooktacular Chocolate Doughnuts for Halloween
The presence of all of these doughnut shops must have subliminally infected my mind when I was brainstorming the perfect treat for Halloween. What better sweet to have on the party table than these Spooktacular Chocolate Doughnuts, festively adorned for the occasion?
For these Spooktacular Chocolate Doughnuts, I decided to go for a baked chocolate cake doughnut to really make the colorful toppings pop. The chocolate flavor is enhanced with a smidgen of coffee granules, which makes all the difference in flavor. The chocolate cake doughnuts are delicious on their own, but to make them festive enough for a Halloween party, I dipped them in melted candy wafers. I had so much fun choosing the colors and was proud of myself for narrowing it down to three! Although I only decorated my doughnuts with melted candy wafers, feel free to decorate however you’d like to create your own version of these Spooktacular Chocolate Doughnuts. Use sprinkles, powdered sugar, even eyeball gum balls, or candy. Have fun with it! With such fun colors and designs, these Spooktacular Chocolate Doughnuts will be flying off the dessert table.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped
- 1/3 cup natural, unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder or instant coffee granules
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 different colors of candy wafers
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease the wells of a standard donut pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, add the baking chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso/coffee, and butter. Heat in the microwave for 20 seconds. Stir and continue heating until completely melted and smooth, in 10 second increments. Set aside to slightly cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg and sugar together until smooth and combined. Stir in the milk and extract. Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Add the flour mixture in two additions and stir only until combined.
- Fill a pastry bag with the batter and pipe the batter into the prepared donut pan, filling about half-way. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to completely cool.
- To decorate, melt the candy wafers according to package directions. Dip the doughnuts in the melted wafers and set aside to harden. If using sprinkles or other toppings to decorate, sprinkle on while the candy is still "wet". To add another color of candy wafers, melt according to package directions and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe zig-zags or dots on top of the hardened candy and let sit until completely hardened.
Notes
Home Chef Tip: Have fun decorating by using sprinkles, powdered sugar, even eyeball gum balls, or candy!

We hope you love this recipe for Spooktacular Chocolate Doughnuts from SoFabFood Contributor, Patty from The PKP Way, as much as we do. If you enjoyed this delicious dessert idea, be sure to stop by our desserts section for even more like it. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so that you never miss another recipe, and for daily recipe inspiration, like us on Facebook, follow us on Pinterest, and stop by our Google+ Community to see all of the amazing recipes our community members are sharing. Enjoy!
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