Easy mini pumpkin donuts dusted with spiced sugar are made with cake mix and oven baked for a delicious breakfast.
Pumpkin Donuts
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Pumpkin Donuts is my recipe of the day. These delicious breakfast treats are easily make using a cake mix.
If you can’t find the specific cake mix, feel free to substitute a spice cake mix or carrot cake mix instead. I realize these things are sometimes discontinued. Or even sometimes brought back under a different brand. The brand probably won’t make much difference as long as the flour weight is pretty much the same.
Healthier than Fried
This healthier baked version of pumpkin donuts is very easy to make using donut baking pans. You can easily get a pan of these made in about 20 minutes, but the extra time allows to finish them all if you only use one donut pan.
Brushing with Butter for the Sugar Coating
Make sure you don’t skip brushing lightly with butter or the sugar won’t stick well- fried donuts are coated while warm, and the oil from frying helps that stick. But in doing so, make sure you don’t make them too wet with butter.
You can brush them or give them a quick trip through some melted butter, but be gentle flipping them around in there. Baked donuts are a bit softer than fried (because the fried cake donuts are actually quite crispy when they come out).
Don’t Try a Batter Dispenser with this
Oh and I did try using a pancake batter dispenser on the first ones, but gave up since the batter is pretty thick. It’s just easier spooning it into the pan. When I squeezed the dispenser hard enough to get the batter out, it was popping the cap on the end of it.
Pancake batter is a bit runnier so it just flows out. I just wanted to fill the pan circles quickly. Turns out the old spoon method works better after all. You could try using an icing gun- but still, by the time you load that, you would have been done with the spoon anyway.
You might also like:
Amish Pumpkin Roll
Amish Pumpkin Roll is a classic rolled pumpkin sponge cake with a cream cheese filling, made easy using a Silpat.
Pumpkin Raisin Scones
Deliciously moist scones with autumn pumpkin flavors, raisins, and a maple-cinnamon glaze.
Cold Brew Pumpkin Spice Latte
Creamy rich pumpkin spice latte made using a cold brew method with Door County pumpkin spice coffee can be made hot or cold as you prefer.
Palatable Pantry Pumpkin Pie Spice
I used this in my recipe. It is my personal blend for baking all things pumpkin, including pie.
Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Bread
Old fashioned pumpkin quick bread with cranberries, walnuts and ginger.
Pumpkin Donuts
Pumpkin Donuts
Equipment
- 12 cavity donut pan (I used the Wilton nonstick one)
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounces box Pillsbury Perfectly Pumpkin cake mix
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup apple cider
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons Palatable Pantry pumpkin pie spice
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- 15.25 ounces box Pillsbury Perfectly Pumpkin cake mix
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup apple cider
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons Palatable Pantry pumpkin pie spice (click for recipe)
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
Notes
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Palatable Recipes
Content updated 11.5.21 with a new recipe card. The recipe is the same.
I’m going to have to look into getting one of those donut pans. These look so yummy.
Love that you made these with a cake mix!