In today’s post: These are the most delicious pumpkin donuts you’ve ever tasted! 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.
Baked 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. This year I perfected a pumpkin version, and my kids and I can’t seem to stop eating them.
Starting with a cake mix means you only need 4 ingredients to make these pumpkin donuts. I cook them in my mini donut maker (affiliate link), which I love because it’s super easy and fast to use, and much simpler than frying! (Here’s a cheaper donut maker option.) My older kids are able to make donuts it in without any help from me.
If you don’t have a donut maker, you can bake these in a donut pan in the oven.
How to make pumpkin donuts
Watch this video to see exactly how to make baked pumpkin donuts (turn the sound on):
Pumpkin Spice Donut Recipe
Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 Spice Cake Mix
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 can pumpkin 15 oz
Cinnamon sugar topping
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter melted
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, and oil until combined.
- Stir in the spice cake mix until combined.
- Preheat donut maker.
- Meanwhile, pour cake 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 cooling rack and continue with the next batch. You'll be able to make about 36 mini donuts.
- 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.
Notes
One last note: When making donuts in my donut maker I usually don’t time them; I just wait for the light to come on that tells me 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.
Looking for more fall desserts? Try these:
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
Jennifer says
four ing?! I was thinking yea,this will be go fun to make with the kids. But alas there are way more than four ing when you look at the box full of everything but four ing. Prehaps make a recipe with more ing not using a box? I hate using boxed food too many additives. They look divine though and I am sure they are!
Megan McEuen says
I LOVE THIS IDEA!
We have the mini donut maker and I had never thought to make them with the bread mixes. So easy. Thank you for sharing
Colleen says
Made these in a regular sized donut pan and they turned out great. Baked at 425 degrees for 9 minutes and got 11 donuts. Only needed half the glaze. Thanks for this very easy recipe!
Brenda says
I didn’t like that you have to use a box cake. Not sure if there is an organic version out there.
Stephanie says
Not sure why it is recommended to pour batter into a disposable plastic bag just to squeeze batter into the donut maker. There are many ways to pour batter without using plastic bags which fill landfills and our ocean. There are mixing bowls with pouring spouts that make it easy and are better for the environment. Serve a donut with a smile knowing future generations can enjoy them too! 😊
VSD says
For those folks that do not want to use a cake mix – here are the dry ingredients to make your own mix:
2 and 1/2 cups (312g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
I get that this is now NOT a 4 ingredient recipe if using the above but, as in everything with life, you can’t have it all most of the time. Enjoy.