Spiced Vegan Baked Sweet Potato Donuts

It is a breakfast week on the blog. After these Savory Lentil Bean Omelets, let’s whip up these baked vegan sweet potato donuts.

Let’s be honest, baked donuts are essentially muffins. However, I find there’s something about that donut shape that makes eating them that much more fun.

It feels super indulgent eating one of these baked donuts, but these babies aren’t half bad because they are baked instead of fried. Plus, they are made with spelt flour instead of white flour and have way less sugar than a traditional donut recipe.

Oh, and let’s not forget that these baked donuts have a vegetable in them. A starchy vegetable, but hey, that still counts towards our five a day.

I tossed a few of these baked sweet potato donuts in cinnamon sugar and glazed a few with myhomemade salted caramel. I prefer the cinnamon sugar ones as I like my desserts less sweet. Hubby loved the ones glazed with salted caramel. It’s really up to you how you want to enjoy them.

Ingredients for making this recipe for vegan donuts:

• Sweet potato puree – I use canned. You can also use homemade puree made from baked or boiled sweet potatoes.
• Spelt flour –  is an excellent source of manganese, and a good source of protein, copper, and zinc.  Another bonus of baking with spelt flour is that some people who are sensitive to wheat can tolerate spelt.  Please remember that spelt is not gluten-free, so if you are gluten-intolerant or have Celiac disease, this biscuit recipe is not for you
• Flax meal mixed with water makes for a great vegan egg substitute.
• Maple syrup adds some sweetness to the batter.
• Spices – ground ginger, cinnamon powder, ground cloves and a generous pinch of nutmeg. You can use a pre-made pumpkin spice if you want but I prefer blending the spices myself.

Tips and variations for this baked sweet potato donuts recipe:

• For making vegan pumpkin donuts, you can use canned or homemade pumpkin puree. Or make my yeasted pumpkin donuts.
• I topped these baked donuts with cinnamon sugar and my homemade salted caramel glaze but I also listed some more options for your below.
• I used a standard 6-cavity pan ( 12.5 x 8 inches). Donut pans can vary a lot in size, so the yield might vary. You may need to adjust your baking time accordingly if you have a mini-donut pan.
• Don’t have a donut pan? No problem! You can use the batter to make delicious vegan sweet potato muffins. Just bake the muffins for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• For mini sweet potato muffins, bake these for just 8-10 minutes total.

How to make this recipe for vegan donuts:

1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together. Mix wet in a separate bowl.



2. Add dry to wet ingredients and mix your donut batter until just about combined. Do not overmix. Pipe the batter into your doughnut pan. I do this using a ziplock bag as a DIY piping bag.

3. Even out the tops and bake for 17-18 minutes. Let cool a bit before removing from pan.

4. Toss the vegan baked sweet potato donuts in cinnamon sugar once cooled. Alternatively, glaze them with salted caramel or your favorite glaze. 

Alternative glazes for these Sweet Potato Donuts:

• Rum Chocolate Glaze
• Chai Spiced Caramel
• Pumpkin Caramel Glaze
• Chocolate Glaze
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze

More vegan donut recipes on the blog:

• Vegan Chocolate Donuts
• Strawberry Doughnuts with Chocolate Ganache Glaze
• Mocha Chocolate Doughnuts with Salted Caramel
• Gulab Jamun – Indian Sweet Potato Doughnuts

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2013 and has been updated for accuracy