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 made these this morning for breakfast and the family really enjoyed them. I'm going to double the cinnamon next time, as I found them a bit bland. The re ipe as written made 12 large donuts and 12 mini muffins. My children thought the donuts tasted much better lol. I just sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top while they were warm.
Made these today and they were a huge hit! They have a beautiful texture and flavor. The only change I made was to the spices to suit our tastes. I used 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cloves - skipped the ginger (my family prefers ginger in pumpkin pie and cloves in pumpkin breads) and reduced salt to 1/2 tsp, we also skipped the cinnamon/sugar topping - it is pretty but the muffins are plenty sweet without :)
I'm wondering about this recipe. I made these twice. The flavor is outstanding and I like the fact that there is pumpkin in this recipe. Are they supposed to be somewhat dense and very moist? My family ate every last one, but I think we were expecting them to be more cakey and not quite as dense. Thanks.Dense and moist are both words we'd use to describe the texture of these cake doughnuts, Diane, but they should be pleasantly dense. If you're thinking maybe they're a bit too heavy, be sure you're measuring your flour accurately since too much flour is a common culprit of heavy baked goods. We recommend checking out the "Measuring Standards," link next to the ingredients header above. You'll see that either measuring your flour by weight using a scale, or fluffing and sprinkling the flour into your measuring cup are the best ways to ensure your recipe turns out perfectly. Kye@KAF
I used recipe as written with 1 cup plus 1tbsp sugar.... baked great! Delish.
I cut the recipe in half and followed as directed, hubby loved them. I used whole wheat flour for 80% with AP flour for the remaining with the lower sugar amount. Next time, I will increase the sugar for taste, but the texture was quite nice with the lower sugar. For the other "half" of the recipe, I had to adjust for my allergic daughter (no dairy, no egg). I omitted the eggs and instead used 1 TB vinegar and 1 tsp baking soda. I read in a different comment someone tried the flax seed/water substitute and it did not work well. I also used 80%ish whole wheat flour. The dough was a bit dry so added in some soy milk until the consistency was about right. They are flavorful with an awesome tenderness, however, 4 of the 6 fell apart coming out of the pan. I ended up smooshing them like a cake pop to make donut balls (worked well). Would anyone know if I put in some lecithin would they hold their shape better, or perhaps a different suggestion? My daughter would be so grateful if I can figure this out! Will be making these a lot- great recipe!Sounds like you've definitely made the recipe your own! Soy lecithin may not make a noticeable difference in structure, but increasing the all-purpose flour to at least 40% will help keep things together. Happy baking! Annabelle@KAF
These pumpkin donuts were both easy and delicious! I was out of butter, so I used the same quantity of coconut oil to no ill effect. I also cut the sugar to 3/4 cup. I might up the spices next time I make, because I really love a stronger spice flavor. I used the apple cider glaze recipe from King Arthur instead of cinnamon sugar, and they were prefect!
These are so delicious and easy to make! They were a great special treat to make for breakfast on New Year's Day.
Made according to this recipe with some twists. Our family don't eat sweets that are two sweet, so I cut the sugar to 4/3 cup. I also substitute the pastry flour, which gives it a more tender texture. On top, I sprinkled some chopped glazed pecan (60g). It cam out PERFECT!
Insanely delicious! Only changes were - increased spices a tad; used the ziplock method of piping in pan; and tossed in a sugar, cinnamon, 5-spice combo to add a bit more zip to these little darlings!
The donuts are delicious, my only problem is getting the cinnamon sugar to stick to them! Do I need store bought cinnamon sugar? Is it much finer than using regular sugar with cinnamon in it?Linda, it's important to shake or dip the doughnuts in cinnamon-sugar while they're still warm. Otherwise, it won't stick. You can also try brushing the doughnuts with melted butter before applying the cinnamon-sugar if you really want a nice, thick layer of sugar on the outside. Happy baking! Kye@KAF
