Coffee and donuts — the police had it right all this time. They’re a great tandem but if you’ve ever tried dipping your donuts in coffee, you know it ends up as a mess nine times out of ten. The icing melts and the donut crumbles, and you end up with soggy donuts at the bottom of your coffee cup. Yeah, no thanks. This raises the question of why not put the coffee inside the donut? And that’s exactly what I’ve done here with these high protein caramel mocha donuts.
Cleanliness aside, the macros on these donuts are amazing as usual. With under 100 calories and 14 grams of protein per donut, they’re a great start to any day or the perfect snack when you need a pick-me-up. And you already know they taste great!
High Protein Caramel Mocha Donuts Ingredients
Aside from protein powder, our caramel mocha protein donuts call for coconut flour as a base ingredient. Like I mention in my Chocolate Cake Protein Donut Holes recipe, if you would like to substitute all purpose flour for coconut flour, use a 3:1 conversion. In this recipe, instead of 1/4 C or 28g of coconut flour, you may need around 3/4 C or 85g of all purpose flour. This swap would add around 200 calories, so if you’d like to order coconut flour for future recipes, this is the flour I use.
If you’re familiar with my recipes, you know I typically recommend stevia as a zero-calorie sweetener option. I still love stevia and use it regularly, but I understand that some don’t enjoy the taste.
So, I’ve been experimenting with other low-calorie sweeteners and have fallen in love with Swerve’s confectioner’s blend. Swerve is a sweetener that subs 1:1 for sugar and is made from erythritol and oligosaccharides (similar to the IMO syrup I used for the homemade quest bars). If you don’t have an issue with artificial sweeteners, I would highly suggest picking some of this up. So far, I’ve found it works a bit better in baked recipes than stevia. I got mine on Amazon here.
And in case you’re wondering, the confectioners blend for the baked donuts is correct. Since I rarely use large amounts of a sugar replacement, I wanted to kill two birds with one stone and be able to use Swerve for both baking and icings/frostings. If you’re going to be using larger amounts of Swerve, like in full-sized cakes, you’ll probably want to get the granular version.
I’m far from a coffee snob and think McDonald’s coffee > Dunkin’ > everyone else > Starbucks. So, you can use any coffee you’d like. I will add that at home, I love using filter packs from this brand nobody’s ever heard of. If you look at the reviews, you’ll see my highly coveted 5-star rating. Sure, using filter packs is less cost-friendly, but I don’t mind paying for convenience in certain areas (like making my mornings easier).
How to Make the Protein Icing
The icing is simple enough, but you may have to play around with how much coffee you use based on how dense your protein powder is. I used Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard. You want your icing to be thick like icing or frosting but thin enough that you’re able to either dip or spread it on the donuts without ripping. For the caramel drizzle, I used Walden Farms Caramel Syrup like I use in my copycat Snickers protein oatmeal recipe.
And one last thing, any donut pan will do, but you can get the one I use on Amazon here. The recipe makes 6 donuts, but you could easily double the recipe if you have two donut pans.
How to Avoid Tough or Dry Protein Donuts (Or Any Protein Powder Recipe)
Since there are a lot of moving parts in recipes with protein powder (different types of protein, volume differences in scoops, scooping vs weighing accuracy, etc.), there’s always a chance you’ll end up with a tough or dry finished product. I’ll include a few ideas to combat this below:
- Use whey concentrate or a blend of proteins that’s not super lean like whey isolate (the extra carbs/fat goes a long way)
- Slightly reduce the amount of protein powder used
- Increase fat sources or faux fat sources (i.e. pumpkin, mashed bananas, sweet potato, avocado, unsweetened apple sauce, coconut oil or processed coconut flakes, etc.)
- 14 grams of light butter only has 50 calories and changes lives
- Slightly increase liquid ingredients
- Reduce cook time
- Add moisture after cooking via whipped topping, ice cream, or fruit reductions
Life’s too short for dry protein treats. I hope this helps!
As always, if you make this or any other recipes on my site, tag me in your creation on Instagram. I’ll be sure to share it with everyone.
Caramel Mocha Protein Donuts
Ingredients
Mocha Cake Donuts
- 2 scoops, 64g Protein Powder, vanilla
- 1/4 C 28g Coconut Flour
- 2 Tbsp Swerve Confectioners, or 0-Calorie Sweetener
- 2 Tbsp 10g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 large Egg
- 2 Tbsp 30g Unsweetened Apple Sauce
- 4 Tbsp 60g Brewed Coffee, chilled
Mocha Icing
- 3 Tbsp 45g Brewed Coffee, chilled
- 1 scoop, 32g Protein Powder, vanilla
- 1 Tbsp Swerve Confectioners, or 0-Calorie Sweetener
- 1 Tbsp 5g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Caramel Drizzle
- 1-2 Tbsp Walden Farms Caramel Syrup, as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and spray a donut pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Mix all dry donut ingredients in a bowl before adding the egg, apple sauce, and chilled coffee. Mix until smooth like cake batter.
- Spoon donut mixture into donut pan, spreading evenly and wiping excess away from the edges.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- While the donuts are in the oven, mix together icing ingredients and set aside.
- After removing the donuts from the oven and cooling briefly (2-3 minutes), remove them and either dip them in the icing mixture face down or set them on a plate and spoon icing on top.
- Finish by drizzling as much caramel syrup as you'd like and adding a few chocolate sprinkles if that's your thing. Enjoy!
Notes
- Each donut has 2 Smart Points.
- Be careful to not overcook. These donuts have a tendency to dry out quickly.
- If you'd like a fluffier donut, add another egg and omit the apple sauce.
- And since these donuts are very low calories already, you could also reduce the protein powder to 1.5 scoops (45g) and add 1 Tbsp (7g) coconut flour to further improve tenderness.
- Be sure to check out my other protein donuts recipes.
These look great thanks for the recipe I’m Considering making these on a bunt cake pan, I wonder if adding a couple tablespoons of coconut oil would work for these…
Sounds like a great idea! I’m sure the coconut oil would make them even better in terms of texture. You could swap the apple sauce for coconut oil.
Literally just made these and I’m going to have to have a lot of self control to not eat all six. Tonight. Right now.
Literally just made these and I’m going to have to have a lot of self control to not eat all six. Tonight. Right now.
Stay strong! 😉
These were my first ever donut and they are great (and easy). The more sprinkles the better. Can’t wait to try one of the other donut creations!!
If you are a coffee lover you MUST try these! The smell alone has you drooling! I used Simple Truth Cold Brew Kona Blend and it worked perfectly! They taste and smell delicious are are super easy on the eyes!
If you are a coffee lover you MUST try these! The smell alone has you drooling! I used Simple Truth Cold Brew Kona Blend and it worked perfectly! They taste and smell delicious are are super easy on the eyes!
Optimum Nutrition has a mocha cappuchino protein powder that would work great.
Holy donuts of all glory. Ok. Please HAVE to try Bowmar nutrition Carmel Apple protein and the cocoa is Jet black cocoa from hitt nutrition. I don’t have coffee so just milk. Soooooo good. Best protein donuts I’ve ever had. Dang. I’m so glad for you and your recipes. I’m excited to try the other donut recipes. 🍩 The Carmel part had that in my mind and I had Carmel Apple protein on hand. Yummmmm.
Holy donuts of all glory. Ok. Please HAVE to try Bowmar nutrition Carmel Apple protein and the cocoa is Jet black cocoa from hitt nutrition. I don’t have coffee so just milk. Soooooo good. Best protein donuts I’ve ever had. Dang. I’m so glad for you and your recipes. I’m excited to try the other donut recipes. 🍩 The Carmel part had that in my mind and I had Carmel Apple protein on hand. Yummmmm.
Sorry I couldn’t spell caramel last night. Hahah. I was just too excited about protein donuts.
Disappointing results. The batter was super dry and the donuts did not hold together.