Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts
With their brilliant orange color, pleasingly moist texture, and delightful pumpkin flavor, these baked (not fried) doughnuts are the perfect on-the-go breakfast for a crisp autumn day.
Baking gluten-free? For great results, substitute King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour for the all-purpose flour in this recipe; and increase the baking time to 20 minutes.
Ingredients
Doughnuts
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar*
- 1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus heaping 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour**
- *See "tips," below, for a lower-sugar option.
- **See tips, below, to substitute King Arthur Unbleached Self-Rising Flour.
Coating
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two standard doughnut pans. If you don't have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a standard muffin tin; they just won't be doughnuts.
- Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth.
- Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.
- Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full; use a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well. If you're making muffins, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15, so you'll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans).
- Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you're making muffins, they'll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes.
- Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool.
- While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with the cinnamon-sugar. If you've made muffins, sprinkle their tops heavily with cinnamon-sugar.
- Cool completely, and store (not wrapped tight) at room temperature for several days.
- Yield: 12 doughnuts or 15 muffins.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size 1 doughnut
- Servings Per Batch 12
Amount Per Serving:
- Calories 290
- Calories from Fat 90
- Total Fat 11g
- Saturated Fat 1.5g
- Trans Fat 0g
- Cholesterol 45mg
- Sodium 370mg
- Total Carbohydrate 45g
- Dietary Fiber 2g
- Sugars 29g
- Protein 4g
* The nutrition information provided for this recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information.
Tips from our bakers
- We've baked these doughnuts cutting the sugar back to just 1 cup; and while they were slightly less tender, we found them just as delicious.
- Want to make these doughnuts with King Arthur Unbleached Self-Rising Flour? Reduce the salt to 1/2 teaspoon; omit the baking powder, and substitute 2 cups (8 ounces) self-rising flour for the all-purpose flour. Bake the doughnuts for about 18 minutes.
- Don't wrap leftover doughnuts tightly in plastic; they'll become soggy. If you're not going to consume all of the doughnuts at one sitting, add the final coating of cinnamon-sugar only to those you'll eat; store the rest, without their sugar, on a plate covered with a cake cover; or in a plastic bag that's not fastened shut. Add cinnamon-sugar coating just before serving.
- Our Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour makes it easy to make many of your favorite traditional recipes (like this one) gluten-free. Simply substitute Measure for Measure flour 1:1 for the flour called for in your recipe; no additional ingredients needed.
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Reviews
I love these donuts I always add extra spice
These donuts are terrible--way too sweet (even cutting back the sugar to 1 cup). They taste nothing like a cake donut should taste. Total waste of ingredients.Cindy, we're truly sorry to hear this recipe didn't leave you feeling delighted, as it's one of our favorite recipes to bake during the autumn season. It's true that these doughnuts are a sweet treat; the sugar content is comparable to many cake formulas. The good news is that since this is a simple stir-together batter, it's easy to reduce the sugar without compromising the results. Feel free to use as little as 3/4 cup (149g) of sugar and skip the cinnamon-sugar coating to make something that's more aligned with what you're looking for. (It's also important to make sure you're using pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling, which has sugar already added to it.) We appreciate your feedback, and we hope you're able to bake just the right doughnuts for your taste buds next time. Kye@KAF
Wonderful recipe. I would like to know if the batter can be made the night before and placed in the refrigerator and used the next morning to bake.We're glad you enjoyed these doughnuts, Deb! We'd recommend baking shortly after mixing for best results. Leaving the batter in the fridge overnight won't affect the flavor, but the appearance could oxidize and be greyish in color, and they likely won't rise as much since the baking powder will be on the tired side. Annabelle@KAF
Very good recipe. I like that it has a lot of pumpkin. Either as a doughnut or little muffins I love the texture. Once they are cool the cinnamon sugar wont stick. But they are delicious anyway. Very easy to prepare. I would definitely make again as it was what I was looking for. My friends loved it.
Of the pumpkin muffin recipes I've tried this is a favorite. Lots of Pumpkin. I left out the sugar and used maple syrup with very good results.
This recipe was a hit with my picky family. I love King Arthur brand flours. I won't buy any other brand for baking. Thanks for the recipe!
Easy to follow and delicious. I made these as muffins and used my own cinnamon sugar topping and it worked well. I did put the cinnamon sugar on all of them right away (it said not to) so it did get a little soggy but it didn't affect taste at all!
Incredibly easy and delicious. I am wondering, would this batter work in a traditional cake pan to make cake layers?
I followed the directions exactly and they turned out perfectly. Please realize, they are more like a muffin in the shape of a donut. If you prefer and are expecting oil-fried yeast donuts in taste and texture, you may be disappointed in the results.
This is the BEST recipe. I have many people around me that don't appreciate pumpkin desserts and they all love these donuts. I typically bake them in mini donut pans (I use piping bags to make it easy), cool, and freeze (without coating) in a layer before adding to zip-top bags to store in freezer. I thaw them gently and bring them back to room temperature, adding the coating just before serving. With a steaming cup of coffee, it's the essence of autumn in your mouth. For a twist, I typically coat with nutmeg-sugar or cardamom-sugar. Beyond delicious.
