In today’s post: These are the most delicious pumpkin donuts you’ve ever tasted, and they start with a cake mix so they’re are super fast and easy to make. Moist + delicious and full of pumpkin spice flavor with a crunchy cinnamon sugar topping.
If you’re a fan of pumpkin spice (and who isn’t?), you really need to try these baked pumpkin donuts. They only take 4 ingredients and a few minutes to mix up, and they taste amazing. They’re perfectly soft, like little pillows of pumpkin spice heaven. Top them with butter and cinnamon sugar and you have the perfect fall treat. Hello pumpkin spice season!
Baked (not fried!) Pumpkin Donuts
A couple of years ago I shared an easy recipe for baked mini donuts made from a cake mix and it’s been one of the most popular recipe posts on my site. These are definitely “cake donuts”, not raised donuts, so the texture is a bit more like a muffin inside. This year I perfected a pumpkin version, and my kids and I can’t seem to stop eating them. The addition of pumpkin keeps them very soft and moist, and the cinnamon sugar topping adds a little crunch.
Why Use a Cake Mix?
Starting with a cake mix makes these baked donuts so easy. The cake mix already has most of the ingredients you need for a pumpkin spice muffin, including flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and plenty of spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. No need to measure out a teaspoon of this and a teaspoon of that! All you need to add is oil, eggs, and canned pumpkin. Please note that this recipe uses canned pumpkin (100% pumpkin puree), NOT pumpkin pie mix. Stir these four ingredients together in a large bowl, and you’re ready to cook!
Using a Donut Maker
I cook them in my Babycakes mini donut maker (affiliate link), which I love because it’s super easy and fast to use, and much simpler than frying! My older kids are able to make donuts it in without any help from me. It’s so much to fun to make these little donuts that it’s totally been worth purchasing a donut maker.
Cook the Full Five Minutes
When making donuts in a donut maker you usually don’t have to time them; you can just wait for the light to come on that tells you they are done. However, the pumpkin in these donuts keeps them very moist, meaning they take a bit longer to cook all the way through. So I’d recommend cooking for the full 5 minutes even if the “done light” comes on sooner.
Now, if you don’t have a donut maker, you can still make these! Try baking these in a donut pan in the oven, like one of the ones found here. Because I haven’t used a donut pan and they vary in size, you’ll have to experiment a bit with the bake time. You’ll want them to be puffed and spring back when you press down on the tops before you take them out of the oven. And if you don’t have a donut pan, you could cook the batter in a muffin pan! However you make them, be sure to dunk the tops in melted butter and cinnamon sugar after baking for the perfect fall flavor.
Pumpkin Spice Donuts VIDEO
Watch this video to see exactly how to make baked pumpkin donuts (turn the sound on to hear the instructions):
Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 Spice Cake Mix
- 2 Eggs
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 can Pumpkin (puree, not pumpkin pie mix) 15 oz
Cinnamon sugar topping
- 2/3 cup White or Brown sugar
- 2 tbsp Cinnamon or substitute pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 cup Butter melted
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Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, and oil until combined.
- Use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir in the spice cake mix until the mixture is incorporated.
- Preheat donut maker.
- Meanwhile, pour the donut batter into a gallon size ziplock bag. Snip off a corner to make a dime sized hole.
- When donut maker is preheated, spray it with nonstick spray. Pipe out batter into each donut well, filling the bottom half of the donut well.
- Close the donut maker and cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove donuts to cool on a wire rack and continue with the next batch. You'll be able to make about 36 mini donuts. You should not need to add nonstick spray between every batch; only add it if the donuts begin to stick.
- Place melted butter in one small bowl. Mix together cinnamon and sugar in another small bowl. Dip the top side of each donut quickly in butter, then in the cinnamon sugar.
- Donuts taste best when completely cool. Store in a covered container at room temperature.
Tips
Looking for more fall desserts? Try these:
Lisa says
Excellent recipe! 2 thumbs up from my 12 and 15 year old!
Debbie Donnell says
Do you think this would make a good muffin?
Susan says
Do you have a calorie count on these donuts? And the sugar %.
Thanks for your help
Kerri says
Are you using pumpkin or pumpkin pie in the can?
Laurie says
So easy and delicious. I used a donut pan, and yes, they are more like a muffin in texture, but it looks like a donut! Think of all the fat and calories saved by not frying!
I just finished baking 3 dozen for a church brunch. I’m coating 1 dozen in the cinnamon-sugar, icing 1 dozen in a vanilla glaze sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar, and icing 1 dozen in cream cheese icing sprinkled with chopped walnuts.