Apple Cider Donut Cake
This apple cider donut cake has all the cozy flavor of a warm orchard donut baked into one big Bundt cake. Reduced apple cider, apple butter, and warm cinnamon spice make a tender, moist cake, and a buttery cinnamon sugar coating gives every slice that classic donut finish. This treat takes me back to fond childhood memories when I lived in Kentucky and visited apple orchards.
Servings: 12 servings
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar For The Pan
- 1 tablespoon butter to grease pan
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Apple Cider Donut Cake
- 1 and ½ cups apple cider, reduced to ¾ cup *see notes
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 and ½ tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup apple butter
- ½ cup whole milk Greek yogurt, or sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Preparing Pan
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Thoroughly grease 10-12 cup Bundt pan making sure to get into all of the nooks and crannies. Mix together cinnamon sugar for the dusting of the cake pan and set aside.
Cake
- In a small sauce pan over medium heat, bring the apple cider to a boil and reduce heat to simmer until the cider is reduced from 1 and a half cups to ¾ cup. This will concentrate the flavor of the apple cider and make it more pronounced in the cake. This should take about 7-8 minutes. Then allow to cool while preparing other ingredients.
- Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, using a hand held or stand mixer, beat the vegetable oil with both sugars. Add the eggs one at a time and mix on medium speed until well combined. Mix in the apple butter, yogurt and vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and reduced ¾ cup apple cider to the sugar mixture, alternating between the two in small additions. Mix just until the flour is incorporated and no white streaks remain. Do not overmix.
- Add the cinnamon sugar mixture for the Bundt pan, inside the greased pan. Shake all around the bottom and sides of the pan. I like to do this right over my kitchen sink and just keep taping until everything is covered and shake out any excess cinnamon sugar. I do this step right before adding the cake batter so the sugar doesn't have time to dissolve in the butter.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Place in preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the internal cake temperature reads between 190℉- 200℉.
- Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the Bundt pan. Then carefully invert the cake onto a wire cooling rack. If the pan was greased properly it will pop right out of the pan.
- Let the cake cool completely, then melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter for the cinnamon sugar coating. Brush the cake with the butter. Then mix together the remaining ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon to make the coating. Sprinkle the mixture all over the sides and top of the cake. Yo may need to press handfuls into the cake to get it to stick.
- Slice the cake into 12 pieces and serve! The cake will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
Reduce 1 and ½ cups of apple cider on the stovetop to ¾ cup. This will concentrate the flavor giving a more pronounced apple cider flavor in the cake.