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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.
- Can you make this batter into doughnut holes? Yes! Portion the batter into a lightly greased mini muffin pan or doughnut hole pan, filling the wells about 3/4 full; a teaspoon cookie scoop works well here. Bake in a preheated 425°F oven for 7 to 8 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the doughnut holes comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven, let the holes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then toss them in cinnamon-sugar. Repeat with the remaining batter. Yield: about 5 1/2 dozen doughnut holes.
