Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Donuts

Name: Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Donuts
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 7 min
Total time: 30 min
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; 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

October 14, 2021 by Sandra 81 Comments

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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.

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, right? Because they’re healthier!?!

Every Sunday growing up, I always looked forward to church, and not necessarily because of church, but because of the free donuts after! It was a great childhood memory of mine, gathering with our friends down 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 there are seven of us.

Now we have our own donut pans and love to make our own special creations.

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.

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.

In a bowl, mix the milk and vinegar. 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.

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.

Easy Chocolate Glaze

Butter cut into 1/2 inch squares
Semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips
Corn syrup

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.

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.

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

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!

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4.95 from 17 votes