These vegan red velvet donuts with cashew cream frosting are moist, cakey, perfectly sweet and ridiculously easy to make. Great for your vegan Valentine’s Day celebrations.
It’s the first week of February, which means one thing and one thing only – Valentine’s day is upon us. I’ll be single for V-Day once again, so I don’t have any plans. But I’m not mad, cuz I’ve got these vegan red velvet donuts to keep me company.
Red velvet anything is usually pretty simple. Just make a chocolate version, dye it red, bake and smother with cream cheese frosting.
However, things get a little more complicated as you move into vegan red velvet territory. First, red food colouring isn’t normally vegan so most veganized red velvet treats use beets to colour the batter.
Some people use beet juice, beet powder, grated beets or beet puree made from raw beets. But I just used cooked beet puree for these vegan red velvet donuts.
Sounds easy enough but baking with beet puree isn’t as easy as baking with pumpkin or butternut squash purees. In fact, if your batter is just a touch too alkaline, your dessert will go from red to brown in a flash.
I learned that the hard way since my first batch resembled slightly maroon chocolate donuts.
Luckily, all I had to do to get red velvet donuts that were actually red was reduce the amounts of baking soda and powder and increase the apple cider vinegar.
The red velvet donuts are pretty damn good on their own and I’ve been eating them that way for the most part. But if you want to get fancy, I highly recommend making the optional vegan cashew cream cheese frosting.
You’ll need a handful of ingredients and a high speed blender or food processor but the payoff is well work the added effort. The frosting legit takes these donuts from seriously good to out of this world epic.
There’s no way I’ll be longing for company on V-Day when I’ve got these to devour.
If you make these donuts, I’d love to hear what you think. Leave a comment and rate the recipe or take a pic and tag it @ExSloth on Instagram!
More vegan baked donuts:
- 1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water
- ¼ cup almond milk + ½ tbsp ACV
- 1 cup spelt flour
- 1½ raw cacao powder or NON-Dutch processed cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- ½ tbsp cinnamon
- ⅓ cup cooked beet puree
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Icing/powdered sugar
- Melted vegan chocolate drizzle
- Melted coconut butter drizzle
- Vegan buttercream
- ¾ cup raw cashew halves, soaked overnight or soaked for 15 minutes in hot water
- 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 - 3 tbsp agave, more or less to taste
- water, as needed
- Drain and rinse the soaked cashews
- Add all ingredients for the cashew frosting in a high speed blender or food processor and blend until creamy, adding water as necessary
- Taste and adjust sweetener, lemon juice or ACV to suit
- Store in the fridge until ready to use
- Whisk together ground flax and warm water in a small bowl. In another bowl combine milk and ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar. Let them stand for about 5 minutes
- Preheat oven to 400F and grease a donut pan and set aside
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
- In another bowl, add the beet puree, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, flax egg, milk and apple cider vinegar and mix well
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix the dough
- Pour dough into a ziplock bag, close and snip the edge off of one corner. You can also use a pastry bag if you have one
- Pipe the dough into the donut pan. You should fill 6 - 8 cavities
- Bake for 12 - 13 minutes. Let cool in pan for a couple minutes then turn over onto a wire rack
- Allow to cool completely before topping with cashew cream frosting
- Best when served immediately but store any extras in an airtight container in the fridge
Want more red velvet? Try these shortbread cookies:
Well, I don’t do Valentine’s Day and I don’t have a donut mold, but I’d sure eat these if someone made them for me!!! 😀 I love how much work you put into getting the red right without food coloring- I’m not a food coloring fan!
I’ve never actually tried this, but I know a lot of people repurpose donut recipes into cupcakes/muffins. Definitely be worth a try and then you can eat them all – which is what I plan to do 😅
I seriously love how you made them pink with beets! They are so pretty and fluffy looking; homemade doughnuts are DELICIOUS!
Emily recently posted…Favorite Recent Foodie Finds: February 2017
I love the cute little donut pans. These donuts are something I would definitely enjoy since you used beet juice for coloring. I’ve never had cashew frosting but I think I need to try this. I guess I could probably make these in a cupcake pan.
Stephanie@ApplesforCJ recently posted…Cheesy Garlic Pull Apart Eggplant
Wow – these look amazing! I’m in love with that cashew cream; I could eat just that. LOL. I’ve been putting off buying a donut pan for so long. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had one in my hands and put it back on the shelf. I think it’s time to break down and get one. 🙂
In my family, married or single, we celebrate National Half-Price Chocolate Day (Feb 15) and skip Valentines Day altogether! 🙂 The amount of food coloring that goes into red velvet has always kept me from enjoying it. The color you got with the beet puree is lovely!
Wendy recently posted…No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
I was so excited to see this recipe! I just bought a donut pan and have been looking for a really great recipe to break it in. Red velvet anything calls my name and my husband will jump for joy when he sees these donuts! Thanks so much for sharing!
Yummmy! I would sure like to live near you — I’d come over just to see what you were baking. The donuts look wonderful. May I place my order now? I don’t have a donut pan 🙁
Your pictures are absolutely gorgeous! I love the idea of a healthy donut and also one that is as creative as yours. Nice breakfast item for the weekend (or any day of the week for that matter)!
This donuts look fantastic! Love that these are made with all healthy ingredients and without any artificial coloring or refined sugars. Perfect guilt free dessert 🙂 My kiddo loves donuts and I’ll be making him this deliciousness this weekend. Sharing and pinning this off course!
These red velvet donuts look totally scrumptious and I am intrigued by your cashew cream frosting! A must-try as it sounds totally divine!
OK..I have these donut pans. Baked donuts ROCK!! I totally love them. They are a huge HIT when you take them to friends too. These sound delicious.
I love that you used beets to make these red! This recipe definitely makes me want to go out and buy a donut pan right now!!
You’ve got me drooling over that cashew cream frosting!! I don’t use my donut pan enough but I’m pulling it out so I can make these for my family. They’re especially perfect for Valentine’s Day!
I can few of this red velvet donuts at a stretch as it has healthy ingredients also it is naturally colored as I am always afraid of food color going on to the red velvet recipe. Those cashew cream is die for.
swathi recently posted…Barbecue spiced sweet potato and black beans tacos
These donuts look great! What a delicious flavor combo! I love that these are so much healthier, and they sound great!
Seeing this post gives me a solid reason to buy a dont pan. Baked donuts are so much healthier and I can definitely indulge in my favorite. That cashew cream is so awesome. Love the recipe and I am bookmarking it to make soon.
I love using beets for natural red coloring – such a fun little trick. Your doughnuts look lovely. I need to invest in a doughnut pan!
I LOVE homemade donuts! These look so good, perfect for Valentine’s Day or …. any old day, really!
Kylee from Kylee Cooks recently posted…Banana Cream Cheesecake
Here’s a recipe I haven’t tried yet. Thank you for sharing it.