Happy Halloween, friends! This year I’m going all out with spooky face paint, wild hair, and the star of the show: Halloween sweet potato donuts. These vegan baked donuts are moist, rich, and a joy to decorate with bright, natural icings and playful toppings.
A few months ago I moved back to my hometown of Atlanta from Los Angeles. I love my new house and being close to family, and I’m especially excited for fall—my favorite season. The cooler, sunny days and changing leaves are lovely, and my neighbors really embrace Halloween. I’ll have to up my game next year to keep up with them, but one thing I know: my Halloween donuts are unbeatable.
Where to find Halloween Donuts
If you’re wondering where to get Halloween donuts, sure—stores sell them—but making your own is more fun and rewarding. Decorating these sweet potato donuts at home is a great activity for kids or an adult Halloween party. Each frosting color is mixed from scratch using natural ingredients, and every donut is hand-decorated. The process is simple and enjoyable.
How to make spooky Halloween icing
Skip artificial food dyes and use natural ingredients for vibrant colors and extra flavor.
Green Slime Icing: Matcha powder (green tea powder) provides a vivid green and a subtle earthy note. Culinary-grade matcha works, but ceremonial-grade gives the brightest color—use sparingly.
Midnight Black Icing: Black cocoa powder creates a deep, dramatic black with rich chocolate flavor. It’s made by neutralizing natural cocoa acidity, which deepens the color and taste.
Red Blood Splatter: Beet juice makes a beautiful natural red. Dice a beet, boil it in water until tender, remove the beet, and simmer the liquid until it reduces and concentrates. Use 1–2 teaspoons of this concentrate to create blood-like splatter on white icing.
How to make Hard Candy Spider Webs & Eyes
Edible spider webs and googly eyes are such a fun finishing touch. You won’t find these at the big chains—so make them yourself.
To make the hard candy:
- Whisk powdered sugar, cornstarch (or arrowroot), light corn syrup, and soy milk together until smooth and pliable.
- Transfer the mixture to a piping bag or a sealed plastic bag with a tiny corner snipped off.
- Pipe thin spider webs and round eyes onto parchment or wax paper. Place a mini chocolate chip in the center of each eye so it sets in place.
- Let the candy harden at room temperature for at least 8 hours before removing from the paper.
- Plan ahead since these decorations require overnight setting time.
Halloween Donuts Recipe Notes
- These sweet potato Halloween donuts were adapted from a non-vegan pumpkin cake donut recipe. The result is a moist, rich vegan cake donut that’s indulgent enough for a Halloween treat.
- I used a silicone donut mold for these (purchased affordably). The same batter also works for cupcakes and muffins.
- The prep and bake times below do not include the overnight setting required for the spider webs and googly eyes. Allow at least 8 hours for those to harden.
- Store the donuts in an airtight container; they stay fresh for 2–3 days.
More Vegan Halloween Recipes
- Raw Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Waffles with Pumpkin Spice Syrup
Vegan Halloween Donuts
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups + 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour
- 1½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon + 1/4 tsp nutmeg + 1/4 tsp ginger)
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp ground flaxseed + 4 tbsp water (2 flax “eggs”)
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 to 1½ cups vegan cane sugar
- 1½ cups sweet potato purée (I used canned)
- 1 tsp vinegar (white or apple cider)
Halloween Icings
- White frosting (reserve 2 tbsp for red splatter) — 1–2 tsp beet juice for red splatter
- Black icing & spider webs — 1 tsp black cocoa powder for icing (plus recipe below for webs)
- Green slime with googly eyes — 1 tsp matcha for icing
- 2 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Spider webs and Googly eyes
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp arrowroot or cornstarch
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 2 tsp soy milk
- Mini vegan chocolate chips for the centers of the eyes
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a donut pan (recipe yields 12). Silicone molds do not need greasing.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, spices, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients: flax “eggs” (ground flaxseed + water), oil, sugar, sweet potato purée, and vinegar.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined—do not overmix.
- Fill each donut cavity with about 1/4 cup of batter.
- Bake for 18–20 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out clean.
- Cool donuts on a rack, then ice and top with spider webs and googly eyes.
Icing
- Sift powdered sugar into a bowl. Stir in soy milk and vanilla until smooth. Adjust thickness with more milk or sugar as needed.
- Divide the icing into three bowls for white, black, and green. Remove about 2 tbsp from one bowl to use for red splatter.
- Leave one bowl white. Add 1 tsp matcha to the green bowl, 1 tsp black cocoa to the black bowl, and 1–2 tsp beet concentrate to the reserved 2 tbsp for red splatter. Stir until even in color and smooth.
Spider webs & googly eyes
- Combine powdered sugar, cornstarch (or arrowroot), light corn syrup, and soy milk. Knead if needed to form a thick, pipeable paste.
- Transfer to a piping bag or a zip-top bag with a very small corner snipped for fine webs, or a larger opening for eyes.
- Pipe round eyes onto parchment and place a mini chocolate chip in the center of each. Pipe spider webs using a printed template under the parchment to trace if desired.
- Let the eyes and webs harden at room temperature for at least 8 hours before handling.
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