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    Home » Recipes » Pumpkin Recipes » Homemade Mini Pumpkin Cake Donuts

    Homemade Mini Pumpkin Cake Donuts

    Published: Oct 3, 2019 · Modified: Sep 27, 2022 by Eric Samuelson

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Homemade Mini Donuts made with fresh pureed pumpkin are easy to make. Experience them fresh out of the oven. The perfect fall treat!

    Homemade Mini Pumpkin Baked Cake Donuts pilled on top of each other on a pumpkin tablecloth

    This post includes affiliate links. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These are products and services I recommend because I use or trust them. Cookies will be used to track the affiliate links you click.

    Apple cider and cake donuts are a fall stable here in the Midwest.

    Every fall people rush out to apple orchards to get their yearly fix.

    In 2012, we had a massive crop failure here in Michigan and the apples were not available. It was so depressing.

    That year I decided to make my very own donuts and have been turning out mini pumpkin donuts every year since. Let's show you how.

    Jump to:
    • ❔ Why Mini Donuts
    • ❓ Do You Need a Mini Donut Pan?
    • 🛒 Ingredients
    • 📋 Instructions
    • 🍩 Decorating
    • 🎃 How to Make Pumpkin Buttercream
    • 🥡 How to Store
    • 🥄 More Recipes
    • Mini Pumpkin Cake Donuts
    Homemade Mini Pumpkin Baked Cake Donuts pilled on top of each other on a pumpkin tablecloth
    Aren't these mini donuts so cute? They are worth buying a mini donut pan for.

    ❔ Why Mini Donuts

    I choose a recipe from a blogger from the King Author Flour Company. I am a fan of the company, their products, and their amazing cookbooks which have taught me a lot. I even got to visit their headquarters in September 2021.

    The recipe was actually for whole donuts, baked in a special donut pan.

    Why make whole donuts when you can make mini donuts? Then you get to eat more donuts, right? And mini donuts cook faster, so you can get to eating faster.

    ❓ Do You Need a Mini Donut Pan?

    While making the donuts in a mini donut pan is really sweet, if you don't have one you can make them in a mini muffin pan, they will just need a little more time to cook and they will be missing the trademark hole. You could call them pumpkin donut holes instead!

    You could use a mini donut maker. There are several on the market now. The Dash brand is probably the most well known right now.

    The donut pan is going to be the cheaper option. The mini donut maker is going to take up more space in your kitchen, so if you are going to buy one, it should be something that you use at least a few times a month. Or if it's going to be fun for the kids.

    So unless you have those reasons or your oven is broken, stick to using a pan.

    🛒 Ingredients

    Here is what you are going to need to make these delicious donuts.

    • 8 oz all-purpose flour
    • ½ cup neutral tasting cooking oil
    • 3 large eggs
    • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
    • 1 ½ cups homemade pumpkin purée
    • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
    • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
    • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
    • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

    You will also need toppings. We will get to that later on in the post.

    💡 Tip - It's better to have the individual spices on hand than just a container of pumpkin pie spice. That way you can pick out the best possible spices. You could make your own custom pumpkin spice blend. This is great if say you really love cinnamon and only sort of like ginger. Or maybe you really live ground cloves or ground allspice and you want to add that to the mix.

    Fresh vs. Canned Pumpkin

    What really made this recipe stand out is the use of fresh pumpkin puree. Yes, canned pumpkin is easier, but the fresh stuff is just better and more cost effective.

    Pick up a pie pumpkin or two at your local grocery store or farmer's market. They are usually available from mid September through Thanksgiving and sometimes later.

    The best part of making your own donuts is getting to eat them warm out of the oven. In doesn't get any better.

    While not as good, they still hold up pretty well the next day, more so than a yeast donut would.

    📋 Instructions

    The donuts are cake donuts which are so easy to make, you will wonder why you never made them before.

    It's a lot easier than frying. No hot oil to have to buy and worry about. No rise time. Don't mistake me for saying that I don't love yeast donuts.

    Let me take you through the steps of making homemade mini pumpkin donuts.

    First beat the eggs, then add all the other ingredients minus the flour.

    Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Then add in all of the ingredients except the flour. Mix to combine.

    You can do this whole thing using a stand mixer as well.

    Steps 3 and 4 show what it looks like when you mix in the flour

    Now add in the flour. It's important here that you don't overmix the flour. Your not making bread! Your donuts will be tough if you do mix too much.

    Just mix slowly, so flour doesn't go everywhere, until just combined. If it's lumpy, don't worry about it, it will work itself out later.

    The batter is inside Whiskware Batter Mixer sitting on a counter top.
    This is the Whiskware Batter Mixer

    In September 2019, I attended my first blogging conference called Tastemaker. As part of our swag bag we received the Whiskware Batter Mixer.

    This thing is perfect for dispensing small amounts of batter, say into a mini donut pan 🙂

    The batter is shown being filled half way up the mini donut pan.

    Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray before adding the donut batter. Even if using non stick, you really should oil the pan, or they probably will still stick some.

    Fill the mini donut pan or mini muffin pan halfway up with the batter.

    Cooling donuts on a wire rack while sitll in the pan and then remove from the pan in the second photo.

    Bake in a 350 degree oven for 5-6 if using a mini donut pan or 8-9 minutes for mini muffin pan.

    💡 Tip - To know when your donuts are done use a toothpick. It should come out clean if done.

    Give them a couple minutes to cook before turning the pan upside down over a cooling rack. If you oiled the pan good enough they should come right out.

    Decorated pumpkin donuts with cinnamon sugar, vanilla drizzle, or pumpkin buttercream frostings on top of a wire rack.
    Which one of these would try first - cinnamon sugar, pumpkin buttercream, or vanilla drizzle.

    🍩 Decorating

    You could enjoy the donuts as is.

    What would be more fun is to add some finishing touches.

    Here is what I like to use

    1. Cinnamon Sugar - Just combine cinnamon and sugar to coat the donuts once they are cool enough to handle. Don't wait until they cool all the way though.
    2. Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting - My favorite choice by far. See Video Below on How to Make It. I add festival fall sprinkles to this one.
    3. Vanilla Drizzle - In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, water, and vanilla extract. I just eyeball it and add more sugar or more water until I get the right consistency.

    I want to try a crunchy cinnamon sugar topping kind of like the one from Panera Bread for their bagels. I will let you know when I figure out how to do that! But in the mean time, I found these delicious maple crunchy sprinkles during a trip to Vermont. They are made of pure maple syrup. Those would be amazing on the donuts. Add them like sprinkles.

    🎃 How to Make Pumpkin Buttercream

    If you want to give pumpkin buttercream frosting a try, watch the video below (under 60 seconds).

    🥡 How to Store

    If some how you can end up with leftover donuts, give yourself a pat on the back for your self-control. Then get out an airtight container to store your donuts in. If you have toppings you don't want to stack those donuts. Just put them in a single layer. If it's just cinnamon sugar it's not an issue.

    I would try to enjoy the rest by the next day. Share with your neighbors if you need to. You also could try putting them in the freezer. This usually helps keep them longer. I have been to bakeries that sell already baked donuts out of their freezer.

    🥄 More Recipes

    Here are some other recipes we thought you might like.

    • Mini Chocolate Peppermint Donuts
    • Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows
    • Pumpkin Waffles
    • Ginger Leaf Cookies with Pumpkin Buttercream
    Pumpkin Mini Donuts

    Mini Pumpkin Cake Donuts

    A King Arthur Flour recipe that I have taken made into mini donuts, Instructions in my own words.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Breakfast
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: donuts, pumpkin
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes
    Author: PJ Hamel

    Ingredients

    • 8 oz all-purpose flour
    • ½ cup vegetable oil
    • 3 large eggs
    • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
    • 1 ½ cups homemade pumpkin purée
    • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
    • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
    • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
    • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

    Optional Toppings

    • cinnamon sugar
    • Pumpkin Buttercream (see NOTES)
    • vanilla drizzle (sugar + water + vanilla)

    Instructions

    • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
    • Combine all ingredients except the flour in a mixing bowl, beat to combine
    • Then add the flour. Mix until combined. Don't overmix. We aren't making a loaf of bread here.
    • Ladle batter into mini donut or uffin pan that you have liberally sprayed with oil.
    • Bake for 5-6 minutes in the donut pan or 8-9 minutes in the muffin pan or until a toothpick comes out clean.
    • Remove from pan as soon as you can.
    • Add toppings if desired (see NOTES)

    Notes

    How to Glaze Your Donuts
    1. Cinnamon Sugar - Just combine cinnamon and sugar to coat the donuts once they are cool enough to handle. Don't wait until they cool all the way though.
    2. Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting - Beat 1 stick of butter til smooth. Add ½ cup pumpkin puree and mix to combine. Add powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until you reach your desire consistency. For me it normally around 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar.
    3. Vanilla Drizzle - In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, water, and vanilla extract. Just eyeball it and add more sugar or more water until you get the right consistency.
    Tried this recipe?Mention @eatlikenooneelse or tag #eatlikenooneelse
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    Comments

    1. [email protected]

      October 22, 2013 at 8:19 pm

      OMG these are so cute and they look so delicious. I wanted to make donuts this past weekend but never got around to it, must make some this weekend. 🙂

    2. Eric Samuelson

      October 23, 2013 at 2:27 am

      Thank you much for the kind words! They are really easy to make.

    3. Dina

      October 23, 2013 at 10:19 am

      they look yummy!

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    Nice to Meet You,

    Hi! I'm Eric : Father of 4, living just south of Ann Arbor, MI. I'm a reformed picky eater finding a new way to not conform. Eating what's in season is my jam (I also make it!)

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