Baked, not fried! Top these buttery dense crumb cake donuts with cinnamon brown sugar crumbs and a dusting of confectioners’ 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 don’t 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. It’s 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 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. It’s 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 isn’t in our vocabulary, so let’s 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 shop—it’s 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 crumbs—the ones at the tippy top of the donut—are 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 confectioners’ sugar finishes off each crumb cake donut. You can totally leave it off because there’s sugar in the crumb topping, too.
How to Make Crumb Cake Donuts
Our mixers can take the morning off for this recipe—you don’t 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 you’d 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 confectioners’ sugar. After baking, sprinkle the tops with a light coating of confectioners’ sugar.
- Serve & enjoy! Donuts are best served immediately, though they freeze wonderfully (see my recipe notes).
Don’t Overfill
Avoid over-filling the donut pan. You need less donut batter than you think for each donut because we’re 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 – 2/3 full with batter.
If baked donuts, layers of crumb topping, and a snowfall of confectioners’ sugar doesn’t convince you to get baking, I’m not sure what will.
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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: confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). 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 cavities—I 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 confectioners’ 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 350°F (177°C) 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 don’t need 15 donuts laying around, halve the recipe to yield around 7-8 donuts instead. That’s the amount I usually bake.
I made these a few days ago, they were delicious! After a few days I wanted to spice it up so I warmed one up in the oven, topped it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzled melted Biscoff cookie butter on top, WOW!
I substituted the recipe with 2 flax eggs and instead of yogurt I made homemade buttermilk by mixing a tsp of apple cider vinegar into 1/2 cup soy milk and let it sit for 5 min to get a thick consistency. These were completely vegan and it worked out beautifully! Fabulous recipe thank you for sharing!
Have not made these yet, but they sound delicious. Can I add pumpkin puree?
Hi Cathy, how about my pumpkin donuts recipe? You can add the crumb topping here to those.
Would this be the recipe to use for glazed blueberry cake donuts?
Hi Chris, you could certainly try adding blueberries to this batter (fresh would be best) and a vanilla icing or glaze on top.
Would you think frozen blueberries would work in this recipe?
Hi Jo, you could try adding some frozen blueberries to this dough (no more than 1 cup). Do not thaw, and note that they may still bleed some of their colors into the batter. Bake time may be a few minutes longer to account for the added moisture. Let us know if you try it!
I made muffins and they came out moist and beautiful. I think next time I’ll just make “muffin tops” on a Silpat because the crumble really is the star of the show, so if you can get some in every bite then it’s perfection.
As always, perfect proportions! I made the muffin tin version since I’d like to scale this up to 100 “donuts.” Baking time was significantly longer (since they are solid); I think I baked mine for 14-15 minutes. I took them out at soon as I saw browning starting on the topping.
For muffins, I used a 1.5T ice cream scoop and measured scantily—halfway up the tin is perfect. I did add 2T more flour to the topping because I had a clump of butter that stayed in a big glob, and the extra flour helped break it up. With clean hands I swirled the flour into the sugar so that tines of a fork wouldn’t combine the flour too much.
They are absolutely delicious! And the yield is spot-on. I halved the recipe and made 8 regular muffin-size donuts.
Why does my crumb topping seem to melt too much into the donut?
Hi Donna, For the crumb topping make sure you are measuring your ingredients correctly – using too much butter can cause the crumbs to melt as they bake, as can over-mixing it to the point of it becoming a paste rather than crumbles. You an also try placing the topping mixture in the refrigerator as you prepare the donut batter so that it’s colder before going in the oven. Hope these tips help for next time!
I made these and the texture was amazing! Though I found it not sweet enough. A few of the guests I had asked if I forgot to put the sugar in… I double checked and the actual donut batter only called for ⅔ cup brown sugar, no other sweetener. What did I do wrong?
Hi Ann! With 2/3 cup sugar in the donuts and 2/3 cup sugar in the crumb topping, these donuts should be plenty sweet. But everyones tastes are different! Perhaps you could try a sweet vanilla icing on top next time – it would be delicious!
Fabulous!!
Moist-buttery and all things crumb cake deliciousness
Really great recipe, we call it a “ do again “ in our house!!
Loved the tip on making the crumbs to add melted butter to sugars first- then stir in flour= perfect clumps!
Can I use a muffin top pan for this recipe, if so how full each cavity should be and how long should be baked?
Hi Patricia, I’m sure you could be we have never tested it so I’m unsure of the quantity or bake time needed. Let us know if you try it!
I dont have any donut trays what else could I use for it?
Hi Kelsey, you can use a muffin pan. See my recipe note for more instructions!
Just made these and turned out delicious! I did have extra crumb topping how can I store these to use for another recipe?
These were incredible!!!! I used sour cream instead of yogurt and I used Gluten Free flour. I cannot believe how fantastic and soft and tender they are!
Amazing recipe! Thank you,
Rita
Just made this recipe! I used a muffin tray instead of the doughnut one, and they came out amazing!! Will be making these again, they were such a hit with my family.
Do you have any recommendations I could use if i don’t have sour cream or yogurt? These look delicious !
Use more milk in its place.
Any reason why you used milk + yogurt instead of buttermilk for this recipe?
Hi David! Many usually have yogurt + milk as opposed to buttermilk in the fridge, so that’s why I used the combination. Feel free to substitute if desired.
My husband has been looking for crumb topped Doughnuts in the store and has not been able to find them. I am excited to find your recipe and I will be making them. They sound delicious. Will let you know how they turned out.
I added shredded apples to this recipe YUM!!
I weighed out all ingredients and made sure everything was perfect but the batter wasn’t as thick as described. I baked them in a muffin tin and they were absolutely delicious but more like a single serving coffee cake than a donut. I will definitely use it again because it’s the best coffee cake I’ve ever had.
Good Morning Sally! I JUST took the donuts out the pan and they smell so GOOOOOODDDDD! Last night I was craving something and quick to make for in the morning…these were it. Now, I made the mistake that you have STRESSED…READ INSTRUCTIONS TWICE. Well, I didn’t read the instructions AT ALL for making the topping as I’ve made similar before…adding all ingredients at once. Well, imagine to my surprise when I REALLY read it! My son Byron who LOVES your cinnamon bum blondies said…MOM remember what SALLY SAYS in her notes! I had to laugh as I ALWAYS tell him to read it twice! ANYWAY…they STILL came out GREAT, waking my husband and older son up to the smells. Hubby to 2 to work with him, I asked if he wanted some for co-workers, he said oh, no. theses are only for us. I’m making more later & this time I will do what “Sally says”.
This look amazing!! Do I fill the muffin pan to the top or just halfway? Thank you in advance!
In Christ,
Lindsey Johnson
Hi Lindsey! Fill about halfway – 2/3 full with batter.
Can I make donut “holes” by using mini muffin pan?… How long to bake?
Yes, definitely! Grease your pan or use mini liners, add the batter to the pan only about 3/4 of the way full then press in the crumbs. Bake at 350°F (177°C) for about 10 minutes.
Hi!
Can you use whole wheat pastry flour for these? And sub white sugar with coconut sugar?
And why can I use instead of yogurt!?
Hi Emily! Feel free to play around with this recipe using your substitutions. I haven’t tested it any other way. You can try sour cream instead of yogurt.
We made these this weekend as well as three other of your recipes for the New Years party. No we did not share these with everyone but only two people got a nibble of them. We love love them. My husband gave up donuts more than years ago for dietary reasons. But these are not fried so he says it is okay. Snicker. You should have seen his eyes roll back when he bit into it. He is so happy. I will be making the brown sugar ones soon. Your chewy brown sugars cookies were the biggest hit I think. But my Sissy stole most of the leftovers especially those. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes. Wishing you success, happiness, and good health in the New Year!
Mmmmm, Sally, this is a winner! My mom made them this afternoon and I’m enjoying a warm one right now. Delectable! Happy New Year!
Made this as a coffee cake this morning in an 8×8 pan. It took about 25 mins, but it was phenomenal!!! Impressed my in-laws and hubby licked the plate to get all of the crumbs. The only change I made was I used vanilla yogurt instead of plain. It was great! Thank you, Sally. You always save the day!!!