These brown butter pumpkin cake donuts are baked to perfection before being dunked in a vanilla glaze! A quick and easy fall treat!
I don't know about you, but I've been making pumpkin everything lately! From bourbon pumpkin pie, pumpkin coffee cake, and pumpkin sourdough pancakes to these brown butter pumpkin donuts! Unlike my fried pumpkin donuts these cake donuts are baked in the oven and super easy to make!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a handful of simple ingredients to make these baked pumpkin donuts!
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter!
Pumpkin Pie Spice - You can buy pumpkin pie spice at most grocery stores, or just make your own!
Pumpkin Puree - I almost exclusively use Libby's Pumpkin because it really is the best of the best! A ton of people have run blind taste tests comparing different brands of pumpkin puree, and Libby's is always the winner!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Baked Donuts
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray donut pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt together and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the brown butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla together. Pour in half of the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Then add in the milk and the remaining dry ingredients Mix until fully combined and smooth.
Transfer the batter to a piping bag, then cut of the tip and pipe into the donut pan, filling about halfway. You can also just spoon the batter into the pan if desired.
Bake at 350°F for 10-11 minutes or until the edges and tops are lightly browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Invert the donut pan on a cooling rack, and the donuts should slide right out!
In a small bowl, make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and melted butter. Add in the milk 1 teaspoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached.
Dip the donuts into the glaze and place back on the cooling rack so the excess can drip off. The donuts are easy to glaze if they are cool, but they taste amazing when they're warm, so it's up to you!
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Tips for Baked Donuts
I use this Nordic Ware donut pan and a little bit of Bakers Joy pan spray and the donuts slide out perfectly every time!! I also find it’s easiest to fill the donut pan by using a piping bag with the tip cut off. However, you can just as easily spoon the batter into your donut pan.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Recipes You Might Like!
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Recipe Card
Brown Butter Pumpkin Donuts
Ingredients
Pumpkin Donuts
- ½ cup unsalted brown butter, melted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 cups cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup whole milk
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted brown butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1-2 teaspoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray donut pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the brown butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla together. Pour in half of the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Then add in the milk and the remaining dry ingredients Mix until fully combined and smooth.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag, then cut of the tip and pipe into the donut pan, filling about halfway. You can also just spoon the batter into the pan if desired.
- Bake at 350°F for 10-11 minutes or until the edges and tops are lightly browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Invert the donut pan on a cooling rack, and the donuts should slide right out!
- In a small bowl, make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and melted brown butter. Add in the milk 1 teaspoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached.
- Dip the donuts into the glaze and place back on the cooling rack so the excess can drip off. The donuts are easy to glaze if they are cool, but they taste amazing when they're warm, so it's up to you!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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