Vegan Orange Chai Donuts

I cannot believe that Nourishing Amy is already 1 year old. How time really does fly when you are having fun. In that time I’ve shared more than 100 recipes (enough for a cookbook, hey?) and have written 1000s of words, as I am quite word-y. And following on from the May’s monthly motivation post I thought I’d continue the blog-iversary celebrations with donuts. To be more specific, Vegan Orange Chai Chocolate Donuts.

Vegan Orange Chai Donuts
Vegan Orange Chai Donuts

If you know me or have made a few of my dessert recipes, you’ll notice that I don’t really have a super-sweet-tooth. I do love sweet things and have chocolate regularly (read: every single day) but I don’t like my desserts, bars, cakes and slices to be overly sweet as it just takes away the enjoyment. I definitely put this down to transitioning from diary milk chocolate to rich and dark indulgent chocolate several years ago and I think people do say that the less sugary foods you have, the less you crave them and the sweeter they then taste. I am not a scientist or a nutritionist please do carry out your own research but from personal experience I can definitely agree.

So, all that I am trying to say is that donuts haven’t really been “my thing” well, ever. I’d rather go for a cookie or a lemon cupcake than a donut but then I had a vegan Crosstown donut and my world was turned upside down. If you don’t know them, Crosstown donuts are made from sourdough, resulting in a lighter and less dense dough which is then baked – meaning they are not greasy either. They are not fully vegan although one store in London is 100% plant-based, offering amazing flavours like peanut butter and jelly, chalet ganache, blood orange and pistachio and cinnamon swirl. They are pretty special and I highly recommend you try one when in London!

Now and then I get a Crosstown craving but I am happy to say that my Vegan Orange Chai Chocolate Donuts certainly tick all the boxes. 

Vegan Orange Chai Donuts
Vegan Orange Chai Donuts

They are baked, not fried, resulting in a light and cake-like muffin texture topped with a simple chocolate ganache and crunchy nuts for a wonderful explosion of texture. Rather than a plain vanilla dough, I have copied the classic chai latte spices of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and clove with added almond essence for a rich and tasty experience. The dough is very simply a mixture of flour, milk, coconut oil and a little bit of sugar and raising agent. The orange flavour comes from a creamy orange chocolate but feel free to play around with the flavour to add to the donut experience.

A few things I learned from playing around with this recipe is that it is necessary to lightly grease the donut pan, even if it is a silicone one! Secondly, do allow the donuts to cool and settle before tying to remove them from said greased pan and you can speed this up by placing them in the fridge. Thirdly, the melted chocolate can cover a multitude of sins so don’t worry if you think they don’t look “perfect” – they are pretty delicious anyway!

Vegan Orange Chai Donuts
Vegan Orange Chai Donuts

These Vegan Orange Chai Chocolate Donuts are light and fluffy with a creamy chocolate coating and delicious nutty crunch. They are easily gluten-free, are naturally refined sugar free, vegan and make a crowd-pleasing sweet treat and snack.

Vegan Orange Chai Donuts

If you fancy more donuts then I also have some raw Cacao and Coconut Donuts or how about making my Carrot and Raisin Cake into donut shapes?

Vegan Orange Chai Chocolate Donuts

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Light and fluffy vegan donuts flavoured with warming chai spices and with an orange chocolate glaze and crunchy crumbled nuts.


Ingredients

  • 340g spelt flour
  • 35g coconut sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • Pinch of salt
  • 210ml almond milk
  • 50g coconut oil, melted
  • 1 tsp almond essence
  • 240g orange chocolate

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180Fan/200*C and grease a donut pan.
  2. Stir together the spelt flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cardamom, ground cloves and a pinch of salt.
  3. To the dry mix, add the milk, melted coconut oil and almond essence and stir until combined.
  4. Spoon or pipe the batter into the donut pan and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
  5. Melt the chocolate.
  6. Once the donuts are cool, cover them with the melted chocolate and sprinkle with some crushed walnuts.
Vegan Orange Chai Donuts
Vegan Orange Chai Donuts

 I hope you’ll love these Vegan Orange Chai Chocolate Donuts – do leave your thoughts below and tag me in your creations on social media. I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on TwitterFacebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With chai donut love x

  1. I’ve never tried the “Orange , Chocolate, Chai” flavor combo but they sound amazing! Happy Blogiversary!

  2. sophielol says:

    Hi Amy. Happy 1st Birthday Blog Anniversary to “Nourishing Amy”!!! I hope you had a great day celebrating 🥳 and you have encouraged me to start my own Food and Lifestyle page. I just Wishes I could come up with a good Username for my food and lifestyle page!!! Aww I so want to try CrossTown Doighnuts- where about a are their shop locations in London?! Have a good week xxxx

  3. Happy 1st Birthday to your blog! What a huge accomplishment. That is so inspiring

  4. […] usually like how sweet they are so that’s why I absolutely loved my first ever donut recipe for Vegan Chai Spiced Donuts with Chocolate Orange and wanted to play around a little more with the flavours and the […]

  5. These sound amazing!

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  7. […] stir them together and bake in a donut mould. As I’ve mentioned in previous donut recipes (see my Chai Orange and my Tiramisu Chocolate Chip creations) I use a silicone donut mould which still requires you to […]

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