Baked, not fried! Top these buttery dense crumb cake donuts with cinnamon brown sugar crumbs and a dusting of confectionersโ sugar. We use Greek yogurt, melted butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg for mega flavor and texture. These baked donuts can easily be adapted into muffins if you donโt have a donut pan. See my recipe notes.
If you love a good slice of coffee cake or New York-style crumb cake, this recipe is for you. Itโs sweet and kid-friendly, perfect for any celebratory brunch, and piled high with crumb cake topping. They are just as easy to make as powdered sugar donut muffins and crumb cake muffins, and kids and adults alike SWARM to these!!
These Crumb Cake Donuts Are:
- Like crumb cake in donut form
- Buttery and moist
- Soft, dense, and cakey
- Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg
- Sweetened with brown sugar
- Piled high with crumb topping (like my crumb coffee cake)
- A delicious breakfast, snack, or dessert
- Comfort food at its finest
Three Parts to Crumb Cake Donuts
- Donuts: We use my standard baked donut recipe as the base of these crumb cake donuts. Itโs a very thick batter that produces tight-crumbed, cakey donuts. Light and airy? These are not. The recipe uses all very basic ingredients. I like to add a little Greek yogurt to the donut batter for a moisture punch (sour cream works too) and prefer sweetening them with brown sugar. Even plain, these donuts are fantastic. But plain isnโt in our vocabulary, so letโs talk flavor. Add cinnamon to the batter as well as a pinch of nutmeg. Nutmeg leaves the donuts with a familiar bakery-donut flavor. After you mix this donut batter together, the aroma alone will remind you of a donut shopโitโs the nutmeg!
- Crumb Cake Topping: The crumbs are made with some of the same ingredients from the donut batter. (Plus some granulated sugar.) After baking, the crumbs take on a wild array of textures. These little guys have lots of personality! Some crumbs are super soft and melty; other crumbsโthe ones at the tippy top of the donutโare slightly crunchy and crisp. All this on top of a warm, soft, cinnamon-spiced donut is breakfast perfection right at home.
- Powdered Sugar: A flurry of confectionersโ sugar finishes off each crumb cake donut. You can totally leave it off because thereโs sugar in the crumb topping, too.
How to Make Crumb Cake Donuts
Our mixers can take the morning off for this recipeโyou donโt need one here!
- Make the crumb topping.
- Make the donut batter.
- Fill the donut cavities. Transferring donut batter into the donut pan can be tricky, so I always suggest using a zipped-top bag to pipe the batter. (You can see me doing this in my pumpkin donuts post.) Just spoon the batter into a large zipped-top bag, trim off a bottom corner, and squeeze the batter into the pan. The donut batter is thicker than youโd expect, so it pipes pretty neatly.
- Top with crumbs. The key is to really press the crumbs down into the donut batter. And add them with wild abandon, please. Squeeze as many crumbs as you can on top because while the donuts themselves are great, extra crumb topping is never a bad idea (looking at you, apple crumb cake)!!
- Bake.
- Dust with confectionersโ sugar. After baking, sprinkle the tops with a light coating of confectionersโ sugar.
- Serve & enjoy! Donuts are best served immediately, though they freeze wonderfully (see my recipe notes).
Donโt Overfill
Avoid over-filling the donut pan. You need less donut batter than you think for each donut because weโre adding a crumb topping. If you fill the donut pan too high, the donuts will overflow and all the crumb topping will spill off. Just fill about 1/2 โ 2/3 full with batter.
If baked donuts, layers of crumb topping, and a snowfall of confectionersโ sugar doesnโt convince you to get baking, Iโm not sure what will.
Print
Crumb Cake Donuts
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 15 donuts
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Baked and layered crumb cake donuts are a special treat to make for breakfast. Buttery and moist, these cake donuts are comfort food at its finest!
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (140g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Donuts
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (135g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) plain yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- optional: confectionersโ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Spray donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Make the crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Stir in the melted butter using a fork, then add the flour. Mix and crumble with a fork. Set aside.
- Make the donuts: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Set aside. Whisk the melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, milk, yogurt, and vanilla together until completely combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be very thick.
- Spoon the batter into the donut cavitiesโI highly recommend using a large zipped-top bag for ease. Cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cup, filling about halfway. Grab a handful of crumb topping and press down onto the batter of each donut. Pressing it snug into the batter helps prevent the crumb coating from falling off the donuts. (If you only have 1 donut pan, keep the remaining batter in the bowl at room temperature until you can bake the next batch.)
- Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges and tops are lightly browned. Allow to cool for about two minutes then transfer to a wire rack set on a large piece of parchment paper. Bake the remaining donut batter and once baked, transfer to the wire rack. Dust the tops of each with a light coating of confectionersโ sugar, if desired.
- Donuts are best served immediately. Leftovers keep well covered tightly at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 2 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze the baked and cooled donuts for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then warm up to your liking in the microwave.
- Special Tool (affiliate links): Donut Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Zipped-Top Bag | Cooling Rack
- No Donut Pan? Make donut muffins in your standard 12-cup muffin pan. Line with cupcake liners or grease with nonstick spray. Fill each 2/3 full with donut batter. Top with crumb topping. Bake at 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Half Recipe: I tested this recipe for a larger crowd just in case you need it for holiday entertaining. But if you donโt need 15 donuts laying around, halve the recipe to yield around 7-8 donuts instead. Thatโs the amount I usually bake.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Yummy! I made them in a muffin pan.
Third time making these, which tells you how delicious they are! Buttery cake donuts with a crunchy crumb topping. In a word, YUM!
Second time making these! Made half the recipe both times. The first time, we were away, and I forgot to bring vanilla. I also forgot to add the brown sugar to the donut batter! They were still delicious! Today, I made sure to add the vanilla and brown sugar, and once again, they were
delicious! Thank you, Sally for this fool-proof recipe!
Moist and delicious even the next day. Just the right amount of sweet, the textures are perfect, holds together nicely.
I opted to make these since the oatmeal pumpkin whoopie pies wouldnโt go over to well in this house. The doughnuts turned out perfect. The crumb topping is the best. This recipe reminds me of your crumb cake one. That is so good too. Still enjoying these as I put the rest in the freezer.
The recipe is very easy to make, the ingredients are all easy to have on hand, the donuts are baked rather than the mess of deep frying, and my grandchildren love them. I love them also.
These were ok. Not a fan favorite. Even though I added extra cinnamon and nutmeg, my taste testers felt they were ok and lacked flavor. We are usually huge fan favorites of Sallyโs recipes but these were not.
I donโt have a donut pan and used the alternative instructions for making them in a cupcake tins. I made the full recipe and got exactly twelve. The recipe was easy to follow and turned out deliciously!