Donut Cake is tender, light, and airy made in a bundt pan for an iconic donut shape. Perfect as is or get creative with different toppings!
Cake Donuts are a classic breakfast treat with a sweet flavor and tender crumb and this recipe takes that same idea to make a delicious Coffee Cake perfect for a special breakfast. Try my Cream Cheese Pound Cake and Sour Cream Pound Cake for other tasty cakes to enjoy with your coffee.
Why You’ll Love This Cake?
- Simple, tender, light cake that can be served for breakfast or dessert.
- Topping can be customized to different donut flavors! See ideas below!
Sabrina’s Donut Cake Recipe
It’s hard to pick a favorite between donuts and classic cake, so why not combine the two? This recipe is like one giant cake donut. This cake is perfect for breakfast, brunch with friends, or add frosting and make it a birthday cake that any kid will love.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups sour cream , 16 ounces
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
To Finish:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 15 cup rounded bundt pan with baking spray.
- Add butter and sugar to your stand mixer on medium speed and beat for 2 minute until lightened in color.
- Add in eggs one at a time until combined.
- Add in sour cream, vanilla extract and sour cream on low speed until well combined.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and baking soda.
- On the lowest speed setting add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer until just combined.
- Add the batter to the bundt pan evenly.
- Bake for 60-75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool for 15-30 minutes.
- Flip a plate upside down over the top of the slightly cooled cake and flip to remove cake from bundt pan.
- Cool completely.
To Finish:
- Mix powdered sugar and nutmeg and dust it over the cooled cake.
Nutrition
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Note from Sabrina
You’ll need a traditional bundt pan to make this cake recipe. Using this pan creates the classic donut shape with a hole at the center, but it also helps the recipe bake. When you use a bundt pan, more of the cake batter comes in contact with the edges of the pan. That way, it cooks more evenly, and you don’t have to worry about the edges of the cake burning before the center bakes.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
This recipe gets its name because of its classic donut shape and powdered sugar topping. Its melt-in-your-mouth texture and rich vanilla flavor are also reminiscent of a classic cake donut, since they have similar ingredients. This recipe can’t be any easier. Just combine the easy, creamy batter, pour it into a bunt pan, and bake to golden brown perfection. Once it’s done, you’ll have the perfect moist and airy vanilla bundt cake. It’s like a giant donut that you can slice into and serve.
Ingredients
- Butter: The cake batter is made with pretty basic ingredients that you’d find in a lot of cake recipes. Be sure to leave the butter at room temperature ahead of starting the recipe. The room-temperature butter will be able to easily cream with the sugar into a soft consistency.
- Sugar: Use 1 ½ cups granulated sugar to sweeten the cake recipe. As you cream the sugar with the butter, it’ll create air bubbles for a sweet and tender cake recipe.
- Leavening Agents: Add baking soda and baking powder to the dry ingredients. The leavening agents work together during baking time to help the cake rise. The result is a perfectly soft, tender crumb.
- Eggs: You’ll need 4 large eggs for the recipe. The eggs act as a liquid ingredient. They also add flavor and act as glue to bind the ingredients together into a thick, creamy batter.
- Sour Cream: Adding sour cream softens the batter. It provides moisture without thinning out the cake mixture. If you don’t have sour cream, you can swap it out for Greek yogurt. Be sure to use full-fat yogurt for the best results.
- Powdered Sugar Coating: To finish, mix together powdered sugar with a dash of nutmeg. Then sprinkle the sugar and nutmeg powder over the cake. This finishing touch not only looks beautiful but it adds a sweet and spiced flavor to the entire cake recipe.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, you can absolutely bake this cake recipe in advance to freeze it. After letting the cake cool, double-wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, then tin foil to ensure it’s sealed. Then place it in the freezer for up to 3 months. The night before you plan to serve the cake, transfer it to the fridge to thaw overnight. Then let it sit at room temperature for an hour or so before serving so that it can fully come to room temperature.
Serving Ideas
This cake tastes amazing as is, but there are also some delicious toppings you could add. This recipe uses an easy powdered sugar topping, making the recipe similar to a classic powdered donut. But you could always add other toppings like a dusting of cocoa powder, vanilla glaze, or Buttercream Frosting. The buttercream is an especially good option if you want to turn this into a birthday cake recipe. If you want a chocolate sprinkle-inspired donut, pour Chocolate Ganache over the top of the cake and add rainbow sprinkles before the chocolate hardens. You could also serve your slice of cake with Whipped Cream. Or, add a little bit of strawberry jam for a jelly donut-inspired cake recipe.
How to Store
- Serve: Make sure to let the cake cool completely before serving. Don’t leave the recipe sitting out for more than 2 hours, or the moist cake will start to dry out.
- Store: To keep the leftover cake fresh, you can cover it in plastic wrap or tin foil or store a smaller portion of the cake in an airtight container. Kept covered, the cake can stay good at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Freeze: You can also carefully wrap the cake to store in the freezer. To maintain the cake’s texture, don’t freeze this recipe for longer than 3 months. You can transfer the cake to the fridge to let the recipe thaw before serving.
Variations
Cinnamon Streusel Topping
- Make this donut-inspired cake with a classic breakfast topping, like cinnamon streusel.
- To make the cinnamon crumb topping, add 5 tablespoons softened butter, ¾ cup all-purpose flour, ½ cup packed brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon to a mixing bowl.
- Then use a fork or a pastry cutter to combine the cinnamon sugar mixture into coarse crumbs.
- You’ll add the crumb topping to the bottom of the cake pan. That way, when you flip the cake to remove it from the pan, the cinnamon sugar topping will be on top.
Vanilla Glaze Topping
- You can also make a vanilla glaze to top off your Donut Cake.
- To make this recipe, you’ll need 2 cups confectioners sugar, ¼ cup melted butter, 2-4 tablespoons of whole milk, and 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract.
- To start, sift the powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Then add the melted butter and whisk until well combined.
- Pour in 2 tablespoons of milk and mix the powdered sugar glaze together.
- If the glaze is too thick, you can add more milk as needed. The milk mixture should make the recipe pourable but not too runny.
- Then add the vanilla extract to finish, and pour the smooth glaze over the Donut Cake as the perfect topping.
- Feel free to add sprinkles over the glaze before it dries. If you like donuts with pink frosting, you could also add food coloring to the glaze.
Maple Cinnamon Glaze Topping
- You could also make a maple syrup glaze for the recipe.
- For this delicious glaze, you’ll need 1 cup powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon vanilla, and ¼ cup real maple syrup.
- Whisk the ingredients together into a smooth consistency, then pour the maple cinnamon glaze over the cooled cake recipe.
- To add the maple flavoring throughout the cake recipe, you could also add maple extract to the cake batter.
Related Recipes
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Photo used in previous post:
Hello!~Love your site!! Can any other pan be used?
Thanks so much!~
Do you have a loaf pan or a round cake pan? Let us know what you decided to go with and how your Donut Cake turns out!
Yes!”:) I have a loaf pan! I’ll try! Thanks so much!!