These baked donuts are like a small bite of autumn! Super soft and fluffy little bites of cinnamon sponge topped with a maple glaze and chopped caramelized pecan nuts that just melt in your mouth. And, not only do they taste good but they look so cute too!
Baked donuts can be whipped up within a couple of minutes and only need to be baked for around 10-12 minutes. Once cooled, you can dunk them in a sweet glaze and top them with sprinkles, nuts or chocolate! They’re perfect for a quick party treat!
What equipment do I need for this cake?
- Donut baking tin with 6 or 12 holes
- Stand mixer or electric hand-held mixer (optional)
- Piping bag (optional)
What ingredients do I need?
- Vegetable oil– A good standard vegetable oil, canola oil or olive oil will work fine for this recipe
- Caster sugar – White refined caster sugar or fine caster sugar
- Eggs – medium free range eggs at room temperature
- Gluten free flour – A gluten free flour blend such as Doves Farm Self-raising Flour with added Xanthan gum is perfect for this recipe, otherwise a standard flour blend will work fine
- Vanilla Essence – Vanilla essence, extract or vanilla paste can be used as long as it is gluten free
- Milk– Whole milk is best for this recipe but semi-skimmed or coconut milk can be used as alternatives
- Xanthan gum – Xanthan gum is essential for most gluten free recipes and there’s no exceptions here. Doves Farm is my preferred choice!
- Pecans – Unsalted, plain pecans are best for this recipe.
Can I make these donuts dairy free?
Yes! The only dairy product in this recipe is the milk which can be substituted for coconut milk 1-1.
Tips
- Rather than spooning the mixture into the donut tin, pour the mixture into a piping bag and snip off the end. This makes pouring the mixture much easier to control when forming round circles.
- Greasing the donut tin, flouring and tapping out the excess flour, will help prevent the donuts from sticking.

Maple Cinnamon Baked Donuts
These cinnamon baked donuts with maple syrup glazing and crushing candied pecans are like little bites of Autumn
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 10-12 minutes
Chilling Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 18 small donuts
Difficulty: easy
Author: Sarah | Baked by Sarah, Gluten Free
Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 240g gluten free self-raising flour
- 20g almond flour
- 60ml vegetable oil
- 2 medium eggs at room temperature
- 140g caster sugar
- 240ml whole milk
- 10g baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- Pinch of salt
For the maple glaze:
- 125g icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon milk or double cream
- 50g chopped pecans
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan and grease and flour a donut tin. If using a baking tin with only 6 spaces, bake the donuts in batches.
2. Combine all of the ingredients in a mixer and mix on a medium speed until the ingredients are completely combined and no pockets of flour remain.
3. Pour the mixture into a piping bag and snip off the end.
4. Pipe the mixture into the donut tin until around 2/3 full. Level off using fingertips.
5. Bake on the middle shelf for around 10-12 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Set the donuts aside on a cooling wrack to cool completely before glazing. Let the donuts cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing so as not to damage them in the process.
7. Combine the icing sugar, milk and maple syrup in a mixer and mix on high speed until no lumps remain. If a thicker less runny glaze is preferred, add more icing sugar to thicken and avoid running.
8. Pour the glaze out into a deep bowl, large enough to fit the donuts when dipped in.
9 Dip each of the cooled donuts into the glaze, coating them thoroughly before returning to the cooling wrack.
10. Sprinkle with chopped pecans to finish.
Note * For the optional caramelized pecans, fry the chopped pecans beforehand with 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 1 tablespoon butter until throughly coated and allow to cool before using.
Happy Baking!

Tried this recipe? Let me know what you think!
2 responses to “Maple Cinnamon Baked Donuts”
Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome!