My mom and I went shopping last weekend.  She’s been on a mission for the past month or so to find a good cast iron griddle — you know, the kind with a grill on one side and a flat top on the other.  Our family watches a lot of Food Network and Cooking Channel (oftentimes together), and I love that my mom’s continually inspired to try new recipes and kitchen gadgets.

So, in our quest to find this griddle, I found this doughnut pan.  This sweet little doughnut pan that was inexpensive and was just calling my name — especially after seeing so many great doughnut posts on Pinterest.

The truth is, I never even thought about making doughnuts at home.  When I worked at my old bakery job, they made doughnuts the only way I knew you could — which was in a big, scary deep fryer (seriously, friend — that fryer was massive).  But these little cake doughnuts?  Totally not scary and so delicious!

So, to break in my new favorite kitchen accessory, I made these easy-peasy chocolate cake doughnuts with a super simple glaze (two ingredients!) — and they were moist, chocolaty, and so dang good.  Get yourself a doughnut pan and follow suit.

Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts

Recipe adapted from Shutterbean

Makes 6 regular sized doughnuts

For the doughnuts, you will need:

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

1 egg

3 T. unsalted butter, melted

1 t. vanilla

For the glaze, you will need:

1 c. powdered sugar

2-3 T. milk

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Coat a 6-cavity doughnut pan with cooking spray and set aside.

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

3. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sugar, egg, butter, and vanilla until smooth.

4. Slowly add milk mixture to flour mixture and mix with a spatula until no flour bits remain.

5. Spoon batter into plastic piping bag — I use these (or you can totally use a large, resealable plastic bag).  Cut off the corner and squeeze batter into doughnut pan, filling cavities about 2/3 full.

6. Bake for 13 minutes, or until doughnuts spring back when lightly pressed.  Cool in pan for 3 minutes, then flip out onto a cooling rack or a clean dish towel.

7. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth.  Dip the tops of cooled doughnuts into the glaze and allow the extra to drip back into the bowl before placing on a large piece of parchment paper (you can also use foil or plastic wrap) to let the glaze set.

Doughnuts will keep, in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to three days (if you can not eat them all before then).