Freshly baked Chocolate Cake Donuts with a pumpkin twist! You will love this baked donut recipe.

Need a weekend breakfast idea? These Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Donuts are easy to make, soft and tender, and topped with a rich chocolate glaze. In other words, they are amazing.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Donuts

I love cake donuts! These Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Donuts are the best. I think it is because they are baked! Oh, yes, I said it… baked. So I can have four instead of one. Because they’re healthier!?! 

Every Sunday growing up, I always looked forward to church, not necessarily because of the church but because of the free donuts afterward! It was a great childhood memory, gathering with our friends in the basement meeting room, eating donuts, and drinking coffee or juice. 

Now my kids look forward to Saturday…for the same reason, except there aren’t free donuts at our church but at our bank. They get so excited to go in and pick out their favorite one. Most of them are chocolate lovers like me, and we almost always cause instant restocking since we have seven.

Now, we have donut pans to make our favorite donuts anytime. 

glazed donuts on a baking rack.

Homemade Baked Chocolate Donuts

  • These chocolate pumpkin cake donuts are our favorite to make for the fall and winter seasons. They are soft and spiced with fall flavors -the perfect treat for breakfast or brunch.
  • Because they’re baked in the oven, they’re easy. Like, really easy! Just mix up the batter, bake, and then add the easy chocolate glaze.
  • The pumpkin gives the donuts the best texture. They’re moist, soft, and irresistible. 
  • This recipe is as easy as making chocolate pumpkin bread, but more fun because you end up with a batch of glazed chocolate donuts! 

So, grab your donut pans, and let’s make these chocolate pumpkin donuts. You are going to love them.

A stack of chocolate cake donuts.

Donut Ingredients

  • Milk
  • Vinegar
  • Melted unsalted butter
  • All-purpose flour
  • Pumpkin puree
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Baking soda
  • Salt
  • Nutmeg
  • Ground cloves
  • Cinnamon
  • Sugar
  • Honey
  • Large egg

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease two donut pans with cooking spray.

Mix the milk and vinegar in a bowl. Let the mixture sit until it starts to curdle, about five minutes.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. 

Whisk the pumpkin and honey into the curdled milk until well combined. Add the egg and melted butter and whisk until combined.

Combine the wet ingredients and dry ingredients and mix just until the batter comes together. Make sure you don’t over mix, you want a fluffy donut, not a dense one. 

the batter piped into the donut pan.

If you don’t have a piping bag, cut the corner of a Ziplock bag, add batter, and pipe the dough evenly into the prepared pans, about 2/3 full.

Bake the donuts for seven minutes and then remove them from the oven. Cool the donuts for one in the pan before you turn them over onto a cooling rack. Let the donuts cool on the rack while you make the glaze.

Baked donuts in the pan.

Easy Chocolate Glaze

  • Butter cut into 1/2 inch squares
  • Semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips
  • Corn syrup
the glaze being stirred in a bowl.

Combine the butter, chocolate chips, and corn syrup in a double boiler over medium heat. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and you have a smooth glaze.

a donut being dipped in the glaze.

Dip the tops of the cooled donuts into the glaze. Lift them out and place them back on the wire rack so the glaze can set. The glaze will set in about 15 to 20 minutes, but we can’t usually wait that long!

Optional Toppings

We like them simple, but you can decorate your donuts with some of these topping ideas:

  • Add your favorite sprinkles! multi-colored ones would be adorable.
  • Sprinkle some mini chocolate chips over the top.
  • Toasted nuts – try some chopped walnuts or pecans.
chocolate glazed donuts on a rack.

The first time I made these, I was super mom and made them on a school day…gasp! I made them eat rolled oats first, then they got a donut…sprinkled or not, their choice. It was a great morning for us, hope it was for the teachers. 

You must give these chocolate pumpkin donuts a try! Homemade baked donuts for the weekend are at the top of our favorites list. You will love every last crumb. Enjoy! XOXO San 

a donut with a bite taken out of it.

More Recipe Ideas

Looking for other baked donut recipes? Be sure to try these, too:

Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board to save for later!

chocolate cake donuts pinterest image.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Donuts

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 7 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 299 kcal
This is an easy, freshly baked Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Donut recipe with a chocolate glaze frosting. You just can’t get much better than that!
baked chocolate pumpkin donuts
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Ingredients
 

  • 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp milk
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
  • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 large egg

Glaze

  • 3 tablespoons butter cut into 1/2 inch squares.
  • ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips dark chocolate is my preferred type of chocolate chip
  • 1 tablespoon corn syrup

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 2 donut pans with cooking spray
  • In a small cup, mix together milk and vinegar. Allow this to sit until it starts to curdle,  about 5 minutes.
  • Melt butter in a small bowl and set aside to cool.
  • In a medium mixing bowl add together flours, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, sea salt, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Set aside.
  • Whisk the pumpkin and honey into the curdled milk and beat until well combined. Add the egg and butter and whisk until combined.
  • Mix together the wet and dry ingredients until just combined, make sure you don’t over mix, you want a fluffy donut, not a dense one. 
  • If you don’t have a piping bag, cut the corner of a Ziplock bag, add batter, and pipe the dough evenly into the prepared pans, about 2/3 full.
  • Bake for 7 minutes, remove from oven and cool for 1 minute before you turn them over on to a cooling rack. Let the donuts cool on rack while you make the glaze.

Glaze

  • In a double boiler combine butter, chocolate chips and corn syrup over medium heat. Stir until completely melted and well incorporated.
  • Once glaze is done and donuts are cool, dip the tops of the donuts into the glaze and turn over, back onto the cooling rack. Glaze side up. 
  • Allow glaze to harden for 15-20 minutes or like our family prefers- serve them right away. Enjoy!

Notes

Recipe adapted from The Faux Martha
Calories: 299kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 4gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 44mgSodium: 197mgPotassium: 194mgFiber: 2gSugar: 19gVitamin A: 1515IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 38mgIron: 2.4mg
baked chocolate pumpkin donuts
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Hey, I'm Sandra! At A Dash of Sanity, you'll discover family-friendly recipes for every occasion. Whether it's speedy dinners or delectable desserts, I'm here to make your mealtime delicious, simplify your holiday baking, and unite your loved ones around the table.

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82 Comments

  2. Hi, donuts are in the oven now. The recipe doesn’t specifiy what to do with the butter after is has cooled I put it in the wet ingredients and whisked. I think this seemed to work.

    Thanks for the recipe! Can’t wait to try them.

    Reply

    1. I just made these and had the same question- what do you do with the melted butter after it’s cooled? Add to batter or is it for the glaze? I added it to the batter. Hopefully that’s right!

      Reply

  3. I made them today and I have not expected the taste, it’s very delicious especially with pumpkin flavor.

    I will consider it as my favorite recipe for baked donuts.

    Thanks for sharing

    Karmen

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Baked Cinnamon & Sugar Pumpkin Donuts