Pumpkin Spice Donuts with Chocolate Ganache Topping

oiled donut pan with pastry brush

Oh my goodness, I am in love with this recipe! I keep baking these donuts again and again. They are amazing! Sweet and dense, with a deeply satisfying chocolate topping. Yum!

I’ve been loving silicone donut pans for baking them, or you can make a muffin-shaped version of them in these amazingly non-stick Trudeau Structure silicone muffin tins. With either type of pan, I put in a few drops of oil, spread them around with a silicone pastry brush, and that makes the silicone totally non-stick — the donuts or muffins pop right out!

batter in the pan

Tip: When you are buying donut pans, look at the height of the “stem” in the middle of the donut. It should be taller than the donut. I used to have a donut pan that had a stem that was too short, and then the donut batter would flood right over the top of it, and I would end up with “flattish muffins with a hole in the bottom” instead of donuts. These silicone donut pans that I’ve been using *do* have a stem that is tall enough, and they make much better donuts because of it.

After baking

Happy autumn! I hope you enjoy these donuts as much as I do!

Donut, doughnut — which spelling do you prefer?

Popped out of the pan for cooling

Blender jar with ganache frosting

A finished donut!

For another take on gluten-free pumpkin donuts, check out MI Gluten Free Gal’s Two Ingredient Vegan Donuts!

Print Recipe

Pumpkin Spice Donuts with Chocolate Ganache Frosting - gluten-free, no refined sugar, can be vegan, and totally delicious!

These pumpkin spice donuts with a dense, satisfying, chocolate ganache topping are totally delicious! They are also gluten-free, refined-sugar-free, and they can be vegan.

Prep Time25

Cook Time20

Total Time45

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 donuts or muffins

Author: Valerie Mates

Ingredients

Donuts

1 cup dates pits removed
2 eggs or flax eggs
1 1/4 cups of regular flour or gluten-free flour blend I mix of equal parts of: potato starch, teff flour, quinoa flour, and garbanzo flour, but most gluten-free flour blends should work here
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum only if you are using gluten-free flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder increase to 1 1/2 teaspoons if you are using flax eggs
1/3 cup canola or mild olive oil
1 cup pumpkin puree either storebought or homemade (yum!)

Chocolate Ganache Topping

6 tablespoons cocoa powder
6 tablespoons dates preferably Medjool (because they blend up creamier), pits removed
1/4 cup almond butter or, if you want this to be nut-free, replace the almond butter with another 1/4 cup dates and a little extra water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup water possibly more

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
If you are using flax eggs, mix them up and let them stand for a few minutes.
Put a few drops of oil into one hole of a donut pan or a muffin pan, then use a silicone pastry brush or a paper towel to spread the oil all over the insides of the holes for 12 donuts or 12 muffins. If you are using silicone molds, you may want to put them onto a cookie sheet to give them extra support. If you are using donut pans, also oil the stems that go up in the middle of the donuts, so that the batter doesn't stick to those, either.
In a food processor, blend the dates with the eggs or flax eggs until the mixture is smooth. There will be pieces of dates visible, but it should be a puree without big chunks.
Add the rest of the donut ingredients. Blend until well mixed.
Put the donut batter into the 12 donut or muffin molds that you oiled. Tap the pans to help even out the batter.
Bake donuts for 18 minutes or muffins for 23 minutes.
Remove from the oven. As soon as the pans are cool enough to handle, turn them upside down and pop the donuts out (maybe onto the cookie sheet they were resting on) so that they don't get soggy sitting in their own steam in the pans.
Let cool.
Place all ganache ingredients into the smallest container of a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth. You may need to add more water to get it to blend.
Spread the ganache on top of the donuts or muffins.
Yum!