These baked spiced banana donuts have a cake-like, fluffy inside and a flavorful butter, cream and brown sugar pecan praline icing that turns them into an indulgent treat.
For more delicious baked donuts, check out these Chocolate Cake Donuts with Bourbon Glaze and these Cardamom Cinnamon Sugar Donuts.
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Why make banana donuts instead of banana cake?
I have two good reasons:
- Because of their shape, donuts allow for a high icing to cake ratio, much higher than what you would get in a slice of cake. So if you like a good amount of icing then that’s a good reason to make donuts. :)
- Donuts look pretty and are easy to bring to and eat at a picnic or get together because no utensils and slicing, etc. is required.
Ingredients:
For the donuts:
A few notes on some of the ingredients:
- a very ripe banana – if you don’t have a banana ripe enough when you want to make the donuts, check out how to ripen bananas in the oven.
- brown sugar – you can use light or dark brown sugar for this recipe
For the icing:
How to make the donuts:
Step 1.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease the wells of a donut pan.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together.
Step 2.
- Mash up the banana with a fork.
Step 3. Add brown sugar and egg to a separate bowl.
Step 4. Whisk together until well combined.
Step 5. Whisk in melted butter.
Step 6.
- With a wooden spoon, stir in the dry ingredients. (Don’t overmix).
- Stir in the mashed banana.
- Stir in the nuts.
Step 7. Fill the batter into a piping bag* and pipe into the donut pan wells.
*RECIPE NOTE: If you don’t have a piping bag you can use two spoons instead.
How to make the icing:
Step 1. Add brown sugar, butter and cream to a saucepan. Stirring continuously, boil the mix for 1 minute, then turn the heat off and let cool for 5 minutes.
Step 2. Whisk in powdered sugar and adjust with more powdered sugar or more cream to get a thick but pourable consistency. Pour the icing over the donuts, then sprinkle with chopped pecans and let dry.
How to store the donuts:
The donuts are best fresh but you can keep them in an airtight container for up to one day.
Can I freeze the donuts?
They will not be as good as fresh but yes, you can transfer the glazed donuts into a freezer bag (you can stack them, separating the layers with aluminum foil) and freeze. To thaw, let the donuts sit on the kitchen counter for about ½ hour.
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Recipe Card
Baked Spiced Banana Donuts with Pecan Praline Icing
Ingredients:
For the donuts:
- ¾ cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground clove
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 very ripe banana*
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped pecans
For the icing:
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 5-6 tablespoons powdered sugar (start with 5 and add more as needed)
- 2 tablespoons pecans, finely chopped
Instructions:
For the donuts:
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease all six wells of a donut pan (this recipe will make 5 to 6 donuts). Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, clove, ginger and salt together. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, mash up the banana with a fork. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the brown sugar and the egg together until well combined.
- Whisk the melted butter into the sugar/egg mix.
- Stir in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until just combined.
- Stir in the mashed banana.
- Stir in the pecans.
- Fill the batter into a large piping bag and pipe into the donut wells.** (You will be able to fill 5 to 6 wells, depending on your piping technique).
- Bake the donuts until they start to brown on the surface and an inserted toothpick comes out clean (about 12 minutes).
- Let the donuts cool completely, then unmold.
For the icing:
- Add brown sugar, butter and cream to a pan.
- Turn on the heat and bring the mix to a full boil, whisking continuously.
- Boil for 1 minute, then turn the heat off and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the powdered sugar until no clumps remain. If the icing is too think, whisk in more cream, if it's too thin, whisk in more powdered sugar.
- Pour the icing on the donuts, then sprinkle the pecans over it and let the icing dry.
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