Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread

4.81 from 51 votes

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Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread is a sweet cakey loaf with a cinnamon swirl, baked to perfection, and then coated with cinnamon sugar!

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread

I’ve done it again. Introducing my Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread recipe! This is very very similar to my first donut bread recipe but obviously made with pumpkin, swirled with a cinnamon/molasses mixture and baked to perfection. After it’s cooled, you dip the entire loaf in melted butter and cinnamon sugar to get the full donut effect that I am positive will blow your minds.

Main Ingredients Needed

This Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread recipe takes two different batters and swirls them together for a sinful treat. These ingredients first listed are just to make the base Pumpkin batter.

  • Canola Oil – this gives the bread tons of moisture.
  • Butter – beautiful buttery flavor.
  • Granulated Sugar – for sweetness, of course!
  • Eggs – this adds structure and helps the bread rise a bit.
  • Vanilla Extract – vanilla compliments pumpkin and cinnamon sugar very well.
  • Pumpkin Puree – this is a pumpkin bread recipe so we need pumpkin!
  • All-Purpose Flour – this fills out the bread and helps make it bread.
  • Baking Powder – for leavening.
  • Salt – to balance and compliments all the other flavors.
  • Buttermilk – extra moisture comes from this ingredient that creates an extra soft pumpkin bread. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand mix together 1/4 cup of milk and 1/4 teaspoon of white vinegar.

Pumpkin Batter

Two Batters

Now from the base pumpkin batter, you can make the second batter. To do so you take 1/2 cup of the original batter and add:

  • Cinnamon – a staple spice that goes so well with pumpkin!
  • Molasses – thick and sticky but also so so so good in this batter mixture. It pairs super well with the pumpkin and cinnamon.

Voila! Now you are ready to dollop and swirl!

Cinnamon Spice Batter

How to Make Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread

For full details on how to make Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread, see the recipe card down below 🙂

  1. Preheat oven. Grease light colored loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, mix oil, butter, and sugar. Stir in eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin until smooth. Gently stir in dry ingredients and buttermilk until a uniform batter has formed. Scrape sides to ensure no lumps are present.
  3. Remove 1/2 cup prepared batter from bowl and place into a separate smaller bowl. To that small amount of batter, stir in cinnamon and molasses.
  4. Pour half of the prepared batter into the bottom of the loaf pan. Spoon half of the cinnamon batter in small dollops over top the batter. Pour remaining plain batter over the top. Dot the top with the remaining cinnamon batter. Using a butter knife, swirl two batters together.
  5. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Pumpkin Bread

Tips and Tricks for Perfect Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread

  • Don’t Over Mix. Overmixing produced gluten in the flour and ruins the soft texture of the pumpkin bread. So mix well but not too well.
  • Mini Loaves. This recipe is also super delicious as mini loaves. Use mini loaf pans or even a cupcake tin! You are going to want to change baking times. They are done when a toothpick comes out clean with maybe a crumb.
  • Mix-Ins. You can also mix in different ingredients to customize your pumpkin bread recipe. Try different varieties of nuts. If you are looking to mix in chocolate chips check out my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread!
Mixing Two Batters

Swirling is Optional

My swirls weren’t the best as you can see in these pictures and you can most definitely skip that step and add the molasses and cinnamon directly into the batter instead of dividing it out, but man, it’s sure fun to do 🙂 I just went back and forth, up and down with a butter knife a few times. Again, an optional step that doesn’t make any difference for taste.

Your texture should be relatively cakey as long as you don’t mix it too vigorously (keep that gluten at bay!) and as long as you don’t over bake. The butter that you coat the entire loaf with will take care of any crispy edges and the cinnamon and sugar coating takes it over the top.

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

Coating Ingredients

This coating takes this Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread recipe over the top! The ingredient list is short and sweet so let’s get into it.

  • Melted Butter – this is used as a soak! This helps the other goodies stick to the outside of the loaf.
  • Cinnamon, Granulated Sugar, and Brown Sugar – this mixture sticks to the outside and covers any imperfections in the bread. Basically, this cinnamon sugar mixture IS perfection. I mean there are a ton of other amazing treats with a mixture like this, like churros, and elephant ears to name a few.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

  1. While the loaf is baking, get coating ready. Pour melted butter into a large shallow dish. Stir sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a separate large shallow dish.
  2. Cool the loaf before loosening edges and removing loaf from pan. It should be very warm, but cool enough to handle with your hands.
  3. Dip each side of the loaf into melted butter until fully coated. Spoon remaining melted butter over the edges that tend to be more crispy. Transfer buttery loaf to the cinnamon-sugar mixture and press into the sides and top until fully coated.
  4. Slice into pieces and serve warm or at room temperature.

How Long Does This Last?

Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread will last 1 to 2 days at room temperature and up to a week stored in the fridge. All in an airtight container of course.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Can You Freeze Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread?

Yes! This Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread freezes beautifully!

To freeze, bake and coat accordingly then let cool completely. The key to freezing pumpkin bread is to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap so it is as airtight as possible. Then place in a plastic freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.

To serve, thaw on the counter for several hours. Then slice and enjoy!

Other Pumpkin Bread Recipes

Or if you are looking for other versions of pumpkin bread, try these out:

The recipe card is listed below. A relatively simple recipe with easy to find ingredients. Just follow the directions as best as you can and enjoy the sugar coma that will follow 😉

Have a great day, friends!

Pumpkin swirl donut Bread
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4.81 from 51 votes

Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread

Pumpkin Swirl Donut Bread is a sweet cakey loaf with a cinnamon swirl, baked to perfection, and then coated with cinnamon sugar!
servings 12 servings
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

for the coating-

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored loaf pan (8 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 2 3/4” high) with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
  • In a large bowl, mix oil, butter, and sugar until well combined. Stir in eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin until smooth. Gently stir in dry ingredients and buttermilk until a uniform batter has formed. Scrape sides to ensure no lumps are present. Remove 1/2 cup prepared batter from bowl and place into a separate smaller bowl. To that small amount of batter, stir in cinnamon and molasses.
  • Pour half of the prepared batter into the bottom of the loaf pan. Spoon half of the cinnamon batter in small dollops overtop the batter. Pour remaining plain batter over the top. Dot the top with remaining cinnamon batter. Using a butter knife, swirl two batters together. Bake 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
  • While loaf is baking, get coating ready. Pour melted butter into a large shallow dish. Stir sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a separate large shallow dish.
  • Cool 10 minutes before loosening edges and removing loaf from pan. The loaf should be very warm, but cool enough to handle with your hands. Dip each side of loaf into melted butter until fully coated. Spoon remaining melted butter over the edges that tend to be more crispy. Transfer buttery loaf to the cinnamon-sugar mixture and press into the sides and top until fully coated.
  • Slice into pieces and serve warm or at room temperature.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 315kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 216mg | Potassium: 88mg | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 1195IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 1mg
Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: pumpkin swirl donut bread

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Recipe Rating




132 Responses
  1. Robin Bielby

    5 stars
    It’s pumpkin weather! This bread looks so delish for anytime but especially when the weather starts to cook down. Thanks for all your effort to bring us recipes that being us to the dinner table.

  2. Laura Cardin

    Sounds and looks delicious! Am looking forward to making this bread this fall to enjoy with steaming cups of coffee. Everything about that speaks to me. Thank you for wonderful recipes.

  3. Nancy M

    5 stars
    I made this the same day you posted it. Amazing! It’s like I was the first in line for fresh donuts at the local farm/orchard – but I got to enjoy it right at home. A definite make again (&again!)

  4. AMY DICKINSON

    I can’t wait to try this! This is why I love Autumn. Im all about pumpkin, and you chose the perfect time to share this with us! Time to get baking!

  5. Kellie

    I just bought a can of pumpkin today and my 5yo wondered what I was going to use it for. I think this will be a perfect way to use it! Thanks for all the yummy recipes you create!

  6. Allison

    5 stars
    I don’t know why I didn’t leave a comment on this before but then I realized I commented in IG already and also I was probably busy wiping up my drool from this amazing ness. It literally sounds like a dream come true! I am in the process of moving (husbands schooling keeps us moving) and once I get my pans back THIS is happening. This may actually be heaven on a plate!!

  7. Judy

    5 stars
    Lauren I made 4 loaves and they all disappeared! I tweaked the recipe a little and added spices to the pumpkin mixture. I also made your hot pot sugar cookies; I’ve been looking for a good sugar cookie recipe for 50 yrs and you win the gold star. I love your site, Thanks from a 71 yr old!😊❤️

  8. DK

    5 stars
    that’s it. I’ve had it. I’m making this after work tonite. secondly, you really need to bundle your best of into a book or series of books. thanks again Lauren, dk

  9. Linnea

    This looks good, as does your Cinnamon Swirl Donut Bread. I have copied both of them onto Word documents.

    Reading the narrative on the Cinnamon Swirl version, I figured out why you say that a person will gain weight eating it. The “servings” is listed as “1 loaf”!!!

    I have fixed it on my copy. >^..^<

  10. Tracy

    5 stars
    Oh! thank you!! Looks a.m.a.z.i.n.g. I want to go into my kitchen right this minute and make it. Unfortunately it’s 10:00 PM so I’ll have to wait till morning…….right after yoga. Gotta exercise to eat this wonderful looking bread. Can’t wait! Great photos.

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