Pumpkin Spiced Latte Baked Donuts

Ingredients and Substitutions

Pumpkin puree – It’s important to note that pumpkin puree is NOT the same as pumpkin pie filling. Look for cans of 100% pure pumpkin, with no other ingredients. If you like making your own pantry staples, or if you’re unable to find canned pumpkin, consider making homemade pumpkin puree.

Vegetable oil – feel free to use any neutral flavor of cooking oil you prefer. Good options include avocado, grapeseed, and canola.

Eggs – The purpose of eggs in cake is to add structure and moisture. If you need an egg-substitute, you could try using a flax egg. However, the recipe hasn’t been tested with flax eggs, so I cannot guarantee good results.

White granulated sugar – To reduce the calories a bit, feel free to substitute an equal amount of less processed sugar, like coconut sugar or turbinado. Note that coconut sugar will affect the taste.

Espresso powder – Make sure to use instant espresso powder. This is a concentrated powder used for flavor. It works in a similar way to how coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate cake.

Powdered sugar – Also known as confectioner’s sugar, this fluffy form of sugar is what you’ll use to create the donut glaze. (If you don’t have any on hand, it’s very easy to make your own! One cup of granulated sugar makes 2 cups of powdered sugar. Simply add the sugar to a blender or food processor (don’t forget to attach the lid!) and blend on high speed until it becomes a fine, fluffy powder.)

Note: This is a partial list of ingredient, for the purpose of ingredient notes and substitutions. For a complete list of ingredients, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How To Make Baked Pumpkin Donuts

1- Preheat oven and prep the pans. Lightly grease your donut pans with a spritz of non-stick cooking spray. Alternatively, you can use a paper towel to rub the wells with melted coconut oil or melted butter.

2- Combine wet ingredients.

The reason we mix wet and dry ingredients separately is to avoid over mixing, which causes the cake donuts to become very dry and dense. Just add the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and use a whisk to combine them.

PRO TIP: Using an electric mixer isn’t necessary. In fact, hand whisking is another way to avoid over-mixing the batter.

3- Sift dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients.

Again, how you incorporate the ingredients makes a big difference in the success or failure of this baked donuts recipe. Rather than dumping all of the dry ingredients in at one time, sift them in. This ensures that the baking powder incorporates and combines into every bit of the batter.

4- Add batter to the donut pans. Using a pastry bag is the easiest way to fill the pans with batter.

PRO TIP: if you don’t have pastry bags on hand, simply add the batter to a quart or gallon size zip-top plastic bag. Then, cut one corner off, then squeeze the bag gently to let the batter out.

So that the donuts bake evenly, it’s important to fill the wells evenly. After you add the batter, gently tap the bottom of each pan onto your countertop. This will move the batter around to fill in any empty spaces.

5- Bake, cool, then add glaze to the pumpkin baked donuts.

Under typical circumstances, making the glaze while the donuts are cooling is a great idea. However, this glaze sets up to harden rather quickly. 

So, I recommend that you wait and make the donut glaze after the donuts are completely cool. Just whisk the ingredients together in a bowl that is deep and large enough for the donuts to fit into.

PRO TIP: To avoid covering your countertops with pumpkin donut glaze, place a large sheet of parchment paper, baking sheet, or a paper towel underneath the cooling rack to catch the drips.

Storing Glazed Donuts

No matter where you store these donuts, make sure to store inside an air-tight container with a paper towel under them. Since these donuts are made with pumpkin puree and the glaze has dairy in it, shelf life at room temperature is only 1 day.

If you won’t eat them in 1 day, I recommend that you store them in the refrigerator. They will last about 5 days in the refrigerator.

You can always make donuts ahead and store them in the refrigerator without the glaze. Make the glaze right before taking donuts to a part or a friend and glaze them cold.

Freshen up cold donuts by heating them up for a few seconds in a microwave! Just a few seconds to warm them up though, you don’t want to melt the glaze.

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