Easter is on Sunday, so it’s time to be planning ways to make it a special day for your family without having the extended family over for a fancy brunch (thanks, COVID-19). This time of year is all about carrot cake and coconut cake, both of which I love. I already have a Carrot Cake Oatmeal on the blog, so this year I created some gorgeous Baked Coconut Donuts! These donuts turned out beautifully — cakey, moist, and the perfect amount of sweetness.
I had so much fun creating these coconut donuts! Vegan baking isn’t always the easiest endeavor, but that just makes it that much more exciting when you bite into your cake and it’s exactly how you wanted it. If you prefer your donuts with a simple glaze or icing, I got you covered. My taste testers couldn’t agree on which they liked more, so I included both options.
If you love coconut as much as I do, these coconut donuts are heaven. They contain shredded coconut, coconut butter, and coconut milk. And if that’s not enough coconut for you, you can dip them in icing made of melted coconut butter (drool!) and sprinkle them with more shredded coconut.
I used sweetened coconut shreds in this recipe because that’s all I had on hand, but you can definitely use unsweetened desiccated coconut if you’re trying to reduce your refined sugar intake.
The best way to spread donut batter into a donut pan is to scoop your dough into a large plastic bag or piping bag, cut the corner off (about 1 inch wide), and squeeze the dough in a circle in each well. Use a clean, damp finger to smooth out the uneven spots. I highly recommend a silicone donut pan for easy donut removal.
There are two ways to ice your donuts after they’ve cooled: the drizzle method and the dip method. I used the dip method for these, and I love the way they look with the thick icing. The drizzle method works better with the glaze because it’s much thinner, but feel free to experiment!
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1½ cup desiccated coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
- ⅔ cup maple syrup (warmed if stored in the fridge)
- 1 cup coconut milk (regular or lite)
- ½ cup coconut butter OR coconut oil, melted*
- 1 Tbs. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
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- Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 3 Tbs. coconut milk
- ½ tsp. lemon juice
- Optional: ¼ tsp. coconut extract
- Coconut Icing:
- ¼ cup melted coconut butter
- ¼ cup confectioner's sugar
- 1-2 Tbs. melted coconut oil
- --------------------------------------------------------
- Optional: ¼ cup shredded coconut for topping
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, and desiccated coconut.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, coconut milk, melted coconut butter, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until combined. Transfer dough into a large plastic bag or piping bag. Cut off one corner about 1 inch wide, then squeeze the dough into a circle in each donut well.
- Bake 19-21 mins until tops are dry and golden. Allow to cool in pan 10 mins, then flip out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Whisk together glaze ingredients or icing ingredients. Add more coconut milk to thin the glaze OR melted coconut oil to thin the icing. DO NOT add liquids other than oil to the icing because they will cause the icing to seize up.
- When the donuts are cool, place them and the cooling rack over a sheet of wax paper for easy cleanup. Then drizzle the glaze or dip the donuts in the icing. Sprinkle tops with coconut shreds, if desired.
- Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee!
Coconut butter is blended up coconut meat, whereas coconut oil is just the oil. I used the coconut butter in my dough to reduce the amount of refined oil and increase the coconut flavor, but the final results are similar. Feel free to use coconut oil if that's all you have on hand or don't want to splurge on coconut butter (but it's soooo good!).
I store these in an air-tight container in the fridge. Before serving, heat each donut in the microwave for 30 seconds or set out and allow to return to room temp.
As expected, these coconut donuts were a huge hit with my family! Picky Husband even gave them two thumbs up! He was the one who preferred the classic glaze over the thick coconut icing, but the rest of us liked the velvety coconut texture of the icing. Try both and perform your own taste test!
I hope you all enjoy these treats and have a great, healthy Easter! 
♥ ♥ ♥
Also try my Raspberry Almond Breakfast Cake!
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