Healthy Red Velvet Cake Donuts
Red Velvet Cake + Donuts = Red Velvet Cake Donuts.
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Red Velvet Cake Donuts + Desserts with Benefits =
HEALTHY Red Velvet Cake Donuts!
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The hint of cocoa and extra vanilla flavor both bring every component of these Red Velvet Donuts together to create one fantastic dessert explosion for your taste buds. It’s hard to believe these are low calorie, low fat, sugar free, and gluten free too!
They taste like they’re packed with sugar when they’re actually sugar free.
They feel soft, moist, and cake-like, although they don’t contain any butter or excess oil.
They are a beautiful vibrant red color even though they’re all natural and don’t contain any artificial food coloring.
Confession time… sooo, I took a donut off the wire rack as the donuts were cooling, and it goes without saying that I ate it in a flash. But it was missing something…
Chocolate. Duh.
So I quickly whipped up two coating options for these bad boys. For half of the batch, I melted some chocolate to give them a nice and rich, firm coating. For the other half of the batch, I made a super simple three-ingredient chocolate fudge glaze to add a creamy and dreamy “frosted cake” element.
And lemme tell ya, what a good choice that was. Both are totally delicious!
Healthy Red Velvet Donuts
Ingredients
Donuts:
- 123g (½ cup) Roasted Beet Puree (see Directions)
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
- 3 Large Egg Whites
- 48g (¼ cup) Granulated Erythritol
- 2 tsp Natural Red Food Coloring
- 1 tbs Grapeseed Oil
- 1 tbs Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Natural Butter Flavor
- 1½ tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- 20g (2 tbs) Organic Corn Starch
- 15g (3 tbs) Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 60g (½ cup) Oat Flour
- 51g (6 tbs) Sweet White Sorghum Flour
- 1 tsp Double-Acting Baking Powder
Coating Option 1- Chocolate:
- 6 oz 70% Cacao Chocolate
- 2 tbs Coconut Oil
Coating Option 2- Frosting:
- 1 cup Powdered Erythritol
- 3 tbs Unsweetened Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
- 6 tbs Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
Instructions
For the Roasted Beet Puree:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Rinse and gently scrub 2 medium beets, then individually wrap them in foil.
- Place the beets on a jelly roll pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a fork pierces through the center of the beets with ease. Carefully unwrap the beets and let cool for 30 minutes.
- Scrape off the beet skins (they should peel off easily) and chop into chunks. Add the beet chunks to a food processor and purée until completely smooth.
For the Donuts:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place 2 silicone donut pans on a large cookie sheet. Place a large piping bag inside a tall cup so you can easily fill it with batter later.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cooled beet puree, almond milk, egg whites, erythritol, food coloring, oil, and extracts. Then whisk in the corn starch, cocoa powder, and salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the oat flour, sorghum flour, and baking powder. Whisk this into the wet ingredients. Give it a vigorous whisk to remove any clumps.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared piping bag. Snip the end off the bag and pipe the batter into donut pan. Bake for ~23 minutes, or until the surface of the donuts spring back when tapped. Let cool completely before frosting or coating.
For Coating Option 1- Chocolate:
- Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
- Break up the chocolate and place inside a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring between each one, until completely melted. Stir in the coconut oil.
- Dunk the donuts in the chocolate, one by one, and place the donuts on the baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until the chocolate is firm. Serve and enjoy!
Coating Option 2- Frosting:
- Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the erythritol and cocoa powder. Whisk in the almond milk (shouldn't be too thick or too runny). Dunk the donuts in the frosting, one by one, and place the donuts on the baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until the frosting has set. Serve and enjoy!
Here’s a picture of the donuts coated with the frosting:
Yup, 90-calorie donuts with only 1.5g fat! Because the calorie content and fat content for these donuts are so low, that means you can dump on a bunch of extra toppings 😉
For some texture and extra chocolate flavor, feel free to mix mini chocolate chips into the batter or top the frosted donuts with them.
TO. DIE. FOR.
And I think it goes without saying that these are totally breakfast-worthy! Can you believe these Red Velvet Donuts are naturally colored, naturally flavored, 100% healthy, and STILL have an amazing flavor?? It’s hard to believe, but it’s true!
Enjoy 🙂
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With love and good eats,
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-Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
What? 90 calories?? I have to get a donut pan…
Since going vegan, I can’t remember the last time I ate a donut. This looks fantastic!
Do you think I can sub the egg whites with flax seed or egg substitute?
Also, I don’t have powdered erythritol. Would a food processor do the job of grinding erythritol into powder?
Haha, YES go get that donut pan! I am so sorry for my flub, I accidentally pinned this as being vegan when it’s not (that’s what happens when you travel to the other side of the country and get four hours of sleep)! I think an egg replacer like Ener-G might work.
You can make powdered erythritol by grinding granulated erythritol in a food processor for a few minutes, or until very powdery and light 🙂
Hopefully these substitutions work for you, hope you like the recipe!!
-Jess
AHHH THESE DOUGHNUTS! I’m freaking out over here. 90 calories?! You’re so awesome.
Thank you for this.
Pinning!
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Hmmmm…would a cupcake/muffin pan work?? I waaaant these!! And I need a waffle maker!! (Regarding a different recipe!)
🙂 love all your stuff….and everything always looks so pretty!
Belle-
Yup, a cupcake pan should work just fine! Cupcakes take longer to bake than donuts so make sure to increase the baking time by about 3-6 minutes. The cupcakes will be done when the tops of the cakes spring back when you lightly tap it.
Hope you like the recipe!
-Jess
PS: And yes, you need a waffle maker! I love mine so much! 🙂
Hi, These look great! Could you tell me if you were using the liquid red flavoring or the powder from this brand please?
I used liquid natural red food coloring in this recipe 🙂
I hope you like the donuts!
-Jess
Is there any way to substitute the sorghum flour?
LJ-
I haven’t tried substituting the sorghum in this particular recipe but from success with some of my other recipes, brown rice flour should work! I hope the donuts turn out for you! 🙂
-Jess
Could I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk rather than soy? I always have some in hand, but never soy.
I dont need these to be Gluten Free,..just Low Calorie (and fat). Is it ok to just use Whole Wheat Flour to sub Oat Flour and Sorghum Flour?
Thanks a bunch!!
I haven’t tried using Whole Wheat Flour here so I can’t be sure if that’ll work or not. I would recommend using Whole Wheat Pastry Flour because it yields a lighter and fluffier baked good, but if all you have is regular WW, you can try giving that a shot. Hope it turns out!! 🙂
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These look BOMB, holy smokes! I saw a comment saying that the egg can be replaced with Ener-G and the flour can be replaced with a whole wheat pastry flour, so I might as well try those substitutions
Hello.
I love your recipes, Similar to my way or eating.
I do not desire to use aluminum paper, do you have a successful alternative, for example in roasting beets?
Thank you, success to your blog
I wasn’t sure if there was a good replacement but I just roasted some beets the other day to test my theory out and it worked! I placed 2 beets in an 8″ brownie pan and covered the beets and pan with a 9″ brownie pan. This helped keep the moisture of the beets in, no aluminum foil necessary 🙂
As for regular baking, I always use parchment paper. It works like a charm and nothing ever sticks!
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