Whoever invented donuts for breakfast is my kind of people!
Rocky Road Donuts are on the breakfast table today!
These Rocky Road Donuts lean dessert-forward, but that’s the point — a chocolatey, marshmallow-studded donut can absolutely start the day on a high note. This version is vegan and easy to pull together: a simple chocolate cake donut base, a chocolate buttercream filling, toasted nuts and pillowy marshmallows, finished with a glossy chocolate drizzle. Use your favorite nut if walnuts aren’t your thing.
Why Rocky Road works so well on a donut
Rocky Road is one of those nostalgic flavor combinations — chocolate, marshmallow and nuts — that translates beautifully from ice cream to a baked treat. The contrast of soft cake, creamy buttercream, crunchy toasted nuts and chewy marshmallows makes each bite interesting. These donuts are baked, not fried, so they’re quick and straightforward to make in a donut pan.
What you’ll need to make these
All you need for the donut batter is a mixing bowl and a spoon or whisk. Specialty donut pans will make the job simplest, and a pastry bag or a zip-top bag with a corner snipped off makes filling the pan neat. Toast your nuts briefly for better flavor, and if you want a quick chocolate drizzle, heat a small amount of ganache or simply melt chocolate with a splash of plant milk.
Quick tips before you start
- Make the vegan buttercream ahead of time or use store-bought; having it ready will speed up assembly.
- Toast walnuts at 275°F for 8–10 minutes until fragrant, then chop roughly.
- If you don’t use ground flax as an egg replacer, any dry egg-replacer of choice can work.
- For a vanilla donut variation, replace the cocoa in the batter with additional flour and adjust sugar to taste.
Simple chocolate ganache for drizzling
To make a quick drizzle, melt chocolate with a small amount of plant milk over low heat or use prepared ganache and thin it slightly if needed. Keep the glaze warm enough to pour but not so hot it melts the marshmallows on top.
Rocky Road Donuts — Vegan
Tips: Double the recipe if you’d like to create double-stacked donuts. These quantities make about six single-sized donuts. Total time is quick: roughly 30 minutes of prep plus baking.
Ingredients
- For the donut batter:
- All-purpose flour — 1 cup (125 g)
- Natural unsweetened cocoa powder — 1/4 cup (20 g)
- Light brown sugar — 1/2 cup (105 g)
- Baking soda — 1 teaspoon
- Salt — 1/4 teaspoon
- Plant milk — 1/2 cup (120 ml)
- Ground flax seed — 1 tablespoon (mix with hot water to form a paste)
- Hot water — 3 tablespoons (45 ml) to mix with the flax
- Coconut oil, melted (or neutral vegetable oil) — 4 teaspoons
- Vanilla extract — 1 teaspoon (5 ml)
- Vegan chocolate buttercream — about 1/2 batch (homemade or store-bought)
- Cocoa powder for buttercream — 1/4 cup (if making chocolate buttercream)
- Vegan ganache — about 1/2 batch for drizzling (optional)
- Walnuts, lightly toasted — 1/2 to 1 cup, chopped to your liking
- Marshmallows (vegan variety) — 1/2 to 1 cup, torn or left whole as preferred
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease your donut pans.
- Combine the ground flax seed with hot water and whisk until smooth. Let sit 5 minutes to thicken into a paste.
- In a large bowl whisk together the plant milk, melted coconut oil, vanilla, brown sugar and the flax paste until smooth.
- Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk until a smooth batter forms with no dry streaks.
- Transfer the batter to a pastry bag or a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off and pipe into the donut cavities, filling most of the way but leaving a little room for rising.
- Bake at 350°F for about 10–12 minutes for standard-sized donuts (about 8 minutes for mini pans). Donuts are done when they spring back when gently pressed.
- Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate buttercream. If using a separate recipe, add cocoa to the final stage of mixing to make it chocolate-flavored.
- Allow the donuts to cool completely. Fill the centers or sandwich two halves with chocolate buttercream, then top with toasted walnuts and marshmallows.
- Finish with a drizzle of ganache or melted chocolate. If you doubled the batter, you can stack two donuts with buttercream between them to create double-decker donuts.
Storage and make-ahead notes
- Donuts stay fresh for up to 3 days at room temperature in a covered container; refrigerate for up to one week.
- Donuts can be frozen (best without the added cream, nuts and marshmallows) for up to 2 months if wrapped well. Thaw before decorating.
- Buttercream and ganache freeze well too — freeze extras in airtight containers for up to three months.
Variations and ideas
These chocolate cake donuts are a flexible base: swap nuts (pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts work well), add a different filling such as salted caramel or peanut butter, or switch to a vanilla base by replacing the cocoa with additional flour and adjusting sweetness. Toasting nuts and using a fresh, fluffy buttercream make the final result feel special even though the method is simple.
If you try this recipe, leave a note about how you adapted it — substitutions and little tweaks are what make a recipe your own.