The Unlikely Baker

Easy and Delicious Recipes for the Home Baker!

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts (with video)

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These cinnamon sugar baked pumpkin donuts are soft, tender, delicious and so easy to make. You’d want to enjoy them with your coffee or tea all season long.

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts (with video)

Remember my No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust from a few weeks ago? These cinnamon sugar baked pumpkin donuts share the same mouthwatering flavour profile.

Filled with fall favourites like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, plus a generous helping of pumpkin puree, they go perfectly with coffee or tea on a crisp fall day. You’d be surprised how they come together so easily too!

Difference between cake donuts and yeast donuts

Baked donuts are also called cake donuts because, unlike traditional donuts, they are baked and cake-like, not fried and airy. And that’s really the main difference between the two.

But if you want to get really technical about it – a cake donut is made with a sweetened batter usually with baking powder to help it rise. It’s firmer and often soft and cake-like, like these pumpkin donuts.

Yeast donuts, also called raised donuts, are the more traditional kind of donut. Think: Krispy Kreme Original Glazed (OMG drool).

It’s made with a yeast dough then cut into shape before deep frying. They’re light and airy, have a slight chew and yeast flavour.

Related: Pandesal Recipe (Filipino Bread Rolls)

What is the better donut – cake or yeast?

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts (with video)

So what is the better donut? It’s really a matter of preference. Some people like that yeast donuts are airy but others don’t like the fact that they’re fried (though some cake donuts can be fried too).

Cake donut fans like the fact that cake donuts are baked and more filling while non-fans miss the light texture of a yeast donut.

I personally like all donuts (I’m not picky lol). I think the more important question is, is it donut or doughnut?! (I went with the simpler route, donut).

How to make cake donuts without a donut pan

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts (with video)

I was inspired by my friend Dawn over at Girl Heart Food (she has some amazing donut recipes) to start experimenting with donuts. It took me longer than expected to start though because I didn’t own donut pans.

I did eventually buy some since I baked donuts a lot but you don’t have to. Don’t let not owning donut pans stop you from making donuts at home!

I found these two really clever hacks for you:

How to make cinnamon sugar baked pumpkin donuts

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts (with video)

Once we’ve addressed the donut pan situation, we can get on with baking! And it cannot get easier than this.

You don’t even need a mixer. In fact, as a general rule, cake donut batters should be mixed minimally to ensure tenderness so mixing by hand is preferable.

Make sure to mix thoroughly though. Ensure there are no patches of flour remaining in the batter.

So scrape the bowl to make sure your ingredients are combined well, but avoid over-mixing, which can make the batter tough. Gentle but thorough does it.

You then have a choice of scooping your batter into the pan or piping them. I like to pipe them – I find it’s less messy that way (check out the video). Don’t have piping bags? Just get a large Ziploc bag and cut off one tip.

Related: Pumpkin Buttermilk Pancakes with Candied Pecans

How to make cinnamon sugar

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts (with video)

Can we take a moment to talk about cinnamon sugar? So simple, but so good! Who knew mixing sugar with a little bit of cinnamon can take your baked goods to the next level?

In addition to these baked pumpkin donuts, you can also sprinkle cinnamon sugar in cakes, cupcakes and even your favourite lattes.

I’m convinced the perfect ratio is 1/4 cup sugar to 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, which was what I used in this recipe.

Related: How to Make Churros con Chocolate at Home

Thanksgiving breakfast recipes

I’m not entirely sure how to categorize donuts. I eat them for breakfast, snack and the occasional dinner lol! But I suppose a lot of people have them in the morning.

In which case, these cinnamon sugar baked pumpkin donuts would be perfect on Thanksgiving morning. Nothing beats waking up to the smell of these baking in the oven!

Here are more Thanksgiving breakfast ideas for you:

Related: How to Take Delicious Food Photos

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts (with video)

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts

These cinnamon sugar baked pumpkin donuts are soft, tender, delicious and so easy to make. You’d want to enjoy them with your coffee or tea all season long.
5 from 13 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Snack
Cuisine: North American
Keyword: Cinnamon Sugar, Easy, Fall, Thanksgiving
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 50 mins
Servings: 24 donuts
Calories: 119kcal
Author: Jolina

Ingredients

For the Baked Pumpkin Donuts

  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 pcs large eggs room temp and lightly beaten
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree see note 1
  • 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

For the Cinnamon Sugar

  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease donut pans (see note 2) and set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk all ingredients - except the flour - until incorporated. Add the flour and gently stir until combined and no more patches of flour remain. 
  • Transfer to your donut pans. You can either spoon the batter into the pans or pipe them (see video).
  • Bake for 12-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a couple of donuts come out clean (see note 3). Allow the donuts to slightly cool in the pan. 
  • In the meantime, combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon. While the donuts are still warm (but already set), roll/dip them in the cinnamon sugar.

Video

Notes

  1. I used canned pumpkin puree for this recipe.
  2. I used regular-sized donut pans and mini donut pans for this recipe, which resulted to 12 regular-sized and 24 mini donuts. I think this batter is enough to yield 24 regular-sized donuts.
  3. The regular-sized donuts were done in 17 minutes, the mini donuts were done in 12.
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Reader Interactions

Comments


  2. Regardless of whether they are cake or yeast I could stand a donut right now. I’m ready to have a nice hot cup of herb tea — cinnamon apple and I figure these donuts would be perfect. I like the cinnamon sugar on top — a real treat. In fact, I’d love to make this recipe and take the donuts over to my daughter’s house.

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  3. These look fantastic and unlike yeast donuts, they seem like something I could actual bake. I even have the donut pan! Thanks for the donut lesson too …. I didn’t know the different between the two.

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  4. I LOVE how simple and easy these are. My kids would be all over these. They love cinnamon sugar too. I am like you I can have donuts any time of the day.

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  6. Baked donuts are the BEST. Great minds think alike, I just posted a baked pumpkin donut recipe last week. I would love one of these with my coffee anytime!!

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  7. Wow, so many drooling recipes that could be tried. Glad I was able to stumble upon this website. Will definitely be trying this out.

    Reply

  10. I love this cake donut recipe. There’s something about a cinnamon sugar cake donut in the fall that is so special. These look incredible and I so want to try to make these at home now!

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  11. The donuts sound awesome. I read the posts about how to bake donuts without a pan. That has what has kept me from adventuring into the donut world of baking.

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  12. I personally think I like the fried better, just thinking of Krispy Creme, but really have had wonderful baked donuts too. So I guess I’m just an all around donut fan.

    Reply

  14. I’ve never made donuts, but I would love to try your recipe. What a perfect fall treat! My kids would love these too.

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  17. Now THOSE look SO tasty! I love that they are baked too! WAY better than fried. Anything pumpkin is awesome in my book!

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  20. These look SO good! I love doughnuts. And pumpkin stuff. Plus I like that these are baked. I need to make these for the family.

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  21. Now these sound like such a delicious idea as something to enjoy this time of year! They sound like they would be easy enough for me to give a try of making as well!

    Reply

  22. I make a baked donut so very close to your recipe. I am not eating this kind of food right now but if I am going to make them I always make baked donuts.

    Reply


  24. I have a doughnut pan sitting up in a cabinet all lonely because I haven’t used it in a while. I love baked doughnuts and these are perfect for fall! Yum!

    Reply

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