The Most Delicious Apple Cider Donut Bundt Cake for Fall
Apple Cider Donut Bundt Cake – an incredibly tender and moist apple spice cake with a delicious cinnamon sugar coating.
One of My Favorite Fall Traditions
Since moving to Utah six years ago, one of my favorite fall traditions is visiting Rowley’s Big Red Barn in Santaquin. It’s about a 45-minute drive from our house and worth every minute on the road! As soon as we arrive, we hop the wagon ride out to the field to do all the activities first. The kids love the corn mazes, slides, zip-line and apple throw.
After hours playing in the field, we head back to the Red Barn for apple cider donuts, ice cream and apple slushies. We always get one of everything! (Well, more than one donut, because those are too hard to share. Ha!)
Every year after we visit Rowley’s, I always say I’m going to make an Apple Cider Donut Cake based on their donuts. Somehow, however, life gets in the way and other cake flavors take priority.
Not this year!
Apple Cider Donut Bundt Cake
For this cake, I worked off my pumpkin cake recipe from my Pumpkin Pie Cake. In my pumpkin cake layers, I use two cups of pumpkin puree. Since we’re not using pumpkin, we’re replacing that with a cup of applesauce and one cup of apple cider for this cake…plus oil! All these liquids make this cake incredibly moist! I’ve also added some cinnamon and nutmeg for a little extra flavor. This Apple Cider Donut Bundt Cake is simply one of the best fall desserts you’ll ever make!
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
Once the bundt cake is baked and cooled, you’ll use a pastry brush to coat the cake with butter and then a dusting of cinnamon and sugar. I used coarse sugar, but you can also use regular, granulated sugar. (or powdered sugar for a more “wintery” looking cake!”
Tips for Making a Bundt Cake
- Bake at a low temperature for longer to ensure your cake bakes completely but doesn’t burn around the edges.
- Allow the cake to cool in the bundt pan for at least an hour to cool completely. Allowing the cooled cake to sit will make it easier for the cake to come out of the cake pan.
- This cake will freeze well if covered in plastic wrap. Just make sure to bring back to room temperature before serving.
- At room temperature, this cake can be stored for a couple of days in an airtight container.
Which Bundt Pan Should I Use
When making bundt cakes out of my cake recipes, I recommend using a 12-cup bundt pan. You’ll have plenty of room for the cake to rise without spilling. I recommend THIS bundt pan.
Other Cakes You’ll Love for Fall
- Caramel Apple Cake
- French Apple Pie Cake
- Turtle Pie Cake
- Pumpkin Gingersnap Cake
- 5 Delicious Thanksgiving Cakes
Apple Cider Donut Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp (5 g) ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp (1 g) nutmeg
- 1 tsp (5.6 g) salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp (21 g) baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (110 g) brown sugar
- 1 cup (224 g) vegetable oil
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (250 g) unsweetened applesauce, at room temperature
- 1 cup (248 g) apple cider juice (not vinegar), at room temperature
- 1 tsp (5.6 g) vanilla extract
For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 1/4 cup (56 g) unsalted butter melted
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp (5 g) cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray and then dust with flour. Set aside.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar and oil. Mix on medium speed to combine.
- Add the eggs to the sugar mixture and mix on medium speed for about two minutes.
- Add the applesauce and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- With the mixer on low speed, add ⅓ of the flour mixture, followed by half of the apple cider. Continue alternating the flour mixture and the apple cider, finishing with the flour mixture. Mix until no streaks of flour remain. The batter will be slightly thin, not thick.
- Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Let the cake cool for an hour in the bundt pan before turning it over onto a cake plate or cooling rack.
- Using a pastry brush, coat the cake in butter.
- Combine the ¼ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon and then sprinkle onto the top and sides of the cake. To coat the sides, it's best to fill your hand with the mixture and pat it on the cake.
This looks amazing, but I do not have a Bundt pan. Would this work in a loaf pan- like a quick bread? 55-60 minutes?
Yes, but you would need to reduce the recipe by half or bake in a couple large loaf pans.
Made this for Thanksgiving and got so many compliments on it. One person even said it was the best part of the meal!
This is the third apple cider donut cake I have made, in a search for the perfect recipe, and unfortunatly this one was my least favorite. It had the best texture/moisture, and unlike other recipies this one actually rose for me, but the flavor was far too sweet, unpleasently bitter (could it be the nutmeg? I don’t know!). The sweetness was the biggest problem, I don’t think this needed a full two cups of sugar(s), plus applesauce, plus cider, as a person with a sweettooth it was way too much! If I made this in the future I would try to ruduce that a lot. Not sure where the bitterness was coming from- another reviewer suggested the baking powder, but it didn’t seem like that much to me. Oh well, on to the next one!
Excellent cake! You can really taste the apple cider, and the browned butter enhances that flavor. The texture is also perfect. I will definitely make this again.
I’ve made this cake multiple times. I use sweetened applesauce and omit the nutmeg just because I don’t like it. It’s so good and everyone raves about it. Brought it to work last week and it was gone within an hour. Making another one for tomorrow. It’s cooling now. Thanks for a great recipe!
This cake baked up beautifully and is incredibly moist! Everyone loved it. Can’t wait to make it again! I may try it with coconut sugar.
Thank you!
Making this now for the FOURTH time!! I made this cake for my family on Thanksgiving & they absolutely devoured it! So because they raved about how good it was, I made it again for my family reunion that was right after Thanksgiving. Then I made it for a third time for our potluck at work. My coworkers loved it so much, that one of them gave me $20 to make one for him. And it is currently in the oven at this moment. Lol
This cake is so moist & perfectly sweet! And obviously it has been a success for me. Thank you so much for the recipe!
This cake was easy to make and delicious .
Decadent, simple and excellent! Moist, rich, and as close to a donut as you can get without frying. Keeps well under a cake dome for several days.
I increased the nutmeg to 1/2 t and used a bit more than the 1/4 c. sugar to cover the outside so will use 1/3 c sugar to 3 t. cinnamon next time. We like the spices!
we used earth balance instead of butter and it was fantastic!
Would adding actual apples work?
Sure!
I really want to try this recipe but I’m currently out of oil 😩 is it possible to use crisco?
No