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These Gluten Free Halloween Doughnuts are such a fun and easy bake for spooky season! Delicious, baked gluten free doughnuts with spooky spiderweb icing, great for making with kids or as an alternative to trick or treating!
Based on my easy gluten free baked doughnuts recipe, this is also a really easy Halloween bake to adapt to be dairy and egg free too.
The spooky spiderweb icing is way easier to do than you may think and I’ve even got a video tutorial in the recipe card below to prove it.
Updated for 2025: You guys have been loving this recipe since 2020 but I’ve given it an upgrade for October 2025 with fresh new photos, ideas for substitutions and step-by-step photos and a tutorial video in the recipe card to make this even easier to follow.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
There’s a printable recipe card below for these Halloween donuts with the full quantities. But here are the main ingredients and ideas for any swaps:
- Gluten Free Self-Raising Flour: I use the FREEE self-raising gluten free flour and it’s the most widely available in the UK. To make your own self-rising flour add 1 tsp gluten free baking powder per 100g plain gluten free flour and mix well.
- Sugar: For the doughnuts I use caster sugar (bakers sugar or superfine sugar in the US) and icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar) for the icing.
- Vegetable Oil: You’ll want a neutral oil like vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed oil. You can use olive oil, coconut oil, or even melted butter, but this will add additional flavour to the doughnuts.
- Milk: Any form of milk works for this recipe, from cows milk to a dairy free milk such as almond, soya or gluten free oat milk.
- Egg: To make this recipe egg free you could replace this with a flax egg, by mixing 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds with 3 tbsp cold water. I’ve also done this with chia seeds too.
- Baking Powder: Always ensure you use gluten free baking powder as some brands contain wheat starch.
- Sprinkles: I used these Cake Decor Sprinkles which I’ve so far found in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. The Cake Decor Edible Eyes are also gluten free and the ones I use every year. Always double check as some brands contain wheat starch.
- Food Colouring: I always recommend a gel food colouring so it doesn’t water down the icing too much. Sugarflair is my go-to brand as they produce amazing vibrant colours and are gluten free. I once got glutened by food colouring with a ‘may contain’ warning which is why I always use these now!
How to Make Halloween Doughnuts
There’s a printable recipe card below with the method. But here are some step-by-step photos to show you how easy these gluten free spooky doughnuts are to make:
Storing and Freezing Instructions
TO MAKE AHEAD: You can easily bake the doughnuts 1-2 days before, or freeze them and defrost to bake. They are definitely better fresh though.
TO STORE: These doughnuts will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container but are always much better eaten fresh, which is why I make small batches.
TO FREEZE: Any leftover iced doughnuts can be frozen and defrosted to eat.
Gluten Free Halloween Doughnuts Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 120 g self-raising gluten free flour
- 75 g caster sugar
- 30 ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
- 125 ml milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the glaze:
- 200 g icing sugar
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Gel food colouring
- Halloween sprinkles , (if using)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180'C / Fan 160'C / Gas 4 and grease two 6-hole doughnut tins well with a little oil. (See notes if using a muffin tin instead)
- Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking powder to a large mixing bowl and stir together with a wooden spoon.
- In a separate bowl, add the milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract and gently whisk together with a work until combined.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a whisk to mix together until it forms a runny batter with no lumps.
- Pour the batter evenly between the doughnut moulds (approx 2 tbsp per hole) making sure the ‘hole’ in the middle isn’t covered. If you get batter on this bit, wet your finger with a little cold water and use that to clean it off.
- Bake the doughnuts in the oven for 12-15 minutes until well-risen and golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and place the tins on a cooling rack while you make the frosting.
- Mix the icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth. Separate into 2-3 bowls and in each add a small amount of purple, green and black gel food colouring in the colours of your choice.
- Mix up the colours until smooth. Use a knife to carefully remove the warm doughnuts from the tin.
- One at a time, dip the doughnuts into glaze. Either decorate with sprinkles while still wet, or pipe the black icing onto the coloured glaze in circles, then use a cocktail stick to create a spiderweb effect.
Video
Notes
- Eat Them Fresh: These doughnuts are best eaten fresh from the oven. They will keep for up to 3 days but I do recommend eating them on the day of baking.
- Small Batch: You can easily half this recipe to make a smaller batch using one doughnut tin – this will make 6 donuts.
- Muffin Tin? If using a muffin tin, grease the tin well and add approx 2 tbsp of batter per well. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden – you may find they need nearer 15 minutes due to the lack of hole in the middle!
- Weighing Scales vs Cups: You can toggle this recipe card to convert the ingredients into cups. However, I always recommend using weighing scales – these are cheap to buy and much more accurate. And in gluten free baking, a tiny variation can make a huge difference!
Nutrition
More Gluten Free Halloween Bakes
If you like this gluten free Halloween Donuts then make sure you check out these other gluten free Halloween recipes too…
- For something a bit gory, try my Broken Glass Cupcakes – a gluten free red velvet cupcake with edible blood and peppermint glass shards.
- These cute iced Halloween Biscuits are a great baking activity for kids – delicious gluten free sugar cookies you can decorate how you like.
- Or for a gory surprise try my gluten free Monster Cupcakes with a surprise jammy filling. A great way to use up any leftover edible eyes!
- And these Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes are topped with cute buttercream pumpkins that are easy to pipe – and great fun to make!
- Make this 3-ingredient Halloween Fudge for a fun spooky activity and alternative to gluten free trick or treat candies!
- Or why not combine all your favourite bakes into a Halloween Snack Board, including some cute additions like pretzel ghouls and apple monsters!
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- Tag me on Instagram with your amazing creations so I can share them!
- Join my Facebook group to meet other awesome gluten free people.
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