Skinny Red Velvet Baked Cake Donuts

Toward the end of January, I'm never quite sure what kind of recipes I should be posting. Should I be developing healthy dessert recipes for foodies who are still sticking to their January diets? Or should I be developing Valentine's Day recipes for the loved-up foodies? Today I've decided to combine the two with this Skinny Red Velvet Baked Cake Donuts recipe. Healthy enough for diets and cute enough for Valentine's day - it's a win-win dessert!

Out of all the healthy donut recipes I've tried over the years - believe me, I've tried a few - this is without a doubt the best. The texture is thick, dense and (don't kill me for saying it) moist!! So much so that these baked donuts border on a thick fudgy brownie. Baked donut recipes can yield dry, tasteless results sometimes, so if you've been disappointed with recipes in the past, I beg you to try this one. It will change everything!

To make baked donuts, you need to get your hands on a donut pan - I use this Wilton Nonstick 6-Cavity Donut Pan which lives up to it's name and never sticks ever ever ever.

Since they're on the skinny side, the sugar in these donuts is kept to a minimum. Whilst I'm a-okay with that and can happily munch them without any icing, foodies with serious sweet teeth probably won't be too impressed and will definitely need the icing. But when the icing is skinny, too, that's really not a big deal, is it?

Valentine's Day falls around the time of My Official Treat Taster's and my anniversary, plus my birthday and my mother-in-law's birthday, so it sometimes get pushed to the side, but I always make time for some Valentine's Day-themed baking!

How do you feel about V Day - love it, hate it or really couldn't care less?

📖 Recipe

Skinny Red Velvet Baked Cake Donuts

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 -9 regular sized donuts or 6 regular and 9 mini donuts

Ingredients

for the donuts

• ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons natural or Greek yogurt
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon red food colouring
• 1 egg

for the icing

• 3 tablespoons low-fat cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon low-fat condensed milk
• cute candy hearts optional

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350F/175C and lightly grease two six-hole donut pans or one six-hole donut pan and one mini 12-hole donut pan.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sugar.
• Pour the vegetable oil, vanilla extract, yogurt, milk, lemon juice, food colouring and egg into the bowl with the dry ingredients and beat until everything comes together.
• Pour the donut batter (it will be thin) into a large piping bag and pipe into the donut pans, filling each mould ¾ of the way full.
• Bake in the preheated oven for around 10 minutes, until the tops are springy to the touch.
• Remove the donuts from the oven and leave to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 2 hours, or until at room temperature.
• To make the icing, use a fork to beat the cream cheese and condensed milk together.
• Spread the icing evenly on top of the cooled donuts and sprinkle with cute candy hearts.

Notes

The donuts will absorb the icing, so don't spread it on until you're ready to serve. The donuts will keep perfectly in a sealed container in the fridge for up to one week or in the freezer for up to six months.
Recipe slightly adapted from Amy's Healthy Baking's Red Velvet Donuts