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 nearly 10 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 used to love the corn mazes, slides, zip-line and apple throw.
After hours playing in the field, we always head back to the Red Barn for apple cider donuts, ice cream and apple slushies. We get one of everything! (Well, more than one donut, because those are too hard to share. Ha!)
A few years ago, I came home from one of our visits and decided I had to recreate the donuts in cake form!
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. 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.
How to Make This Apple Cider Donut Bundt Cake: Video Tutorial
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.
The cake turned out wonderful. I am wondering if the butter, sugar, cinnamon coating should be put on before you are ready to serve the cake or if it can be done the day before?
Thank you.
It can be the day before but I recommend the day of!
Hello,
Im thinking of making this but using a MINI FLUTED CAKE PAN (6 mini Bundt cakes) instead of the traditional Bundt cake pan. What temperature and for how long would you recommend?
Same temp. Probably half the time but keep an eye on them.
Can you use this for a wedding cake, or cake you can stack?
Yes. I still always recommend using dowels to support the tier above.
The ingredients don’t mention eggs yet it tells you to add eggs in the instructions. How many eggs?
Eggs are in the ingredients.
I’ve tried this before, but thinking of adding 1 packet of the mix/powder from a spiced apple cider packet for extra flavor. Has anyone tried this before?
This is the discovery day of your website! I made this delicious cake for grown kids and family and everyone thinks it’s fabulously moist and tasty! I added a cream cheese drizzle! Thank you!
FABULOUS!! Made this cake today with some minor adjustments. Trying to be more health conscious, I used 1/2 cup olive oil instead of 1 cup vegetable oil, and increased the applesauce to 1 1/2 cups. So so good!! Moist and delicious!
And then, like another reviewer, I omitted the buttery coating and instead, sprayed the bundt pan and replaced the flour dusting with a cinnamon/sugar dusting.
Everyone loved it!
I made this cake and it is absolutely amazing! I don’t think I have ever had a cake that has such nice texture and the taste is fantastic!
Is 1& 1/2 TABLESPOONS of baking power correct?
I haven’t seen that much in a cake recipe before
Yes
Dying to make this cake!! Just found out one of my guests is lactose intolerant. Does this mean I can’t use the melted butter to get the sugar and cinnamon to stick? Can you recommend something else I can use in place of the melted butter?
You can use a dairy free butter!
Very moist but I was hoping for more apple and cinnamon flavor. I used Chinese cinnamon but perhaps should have used Ceylon. Any suggestions for a flavor boost?
While this was VERY moist, it tasted nothing like apples. I even boiled down 2 cups of cider into 1 cup, hoping to concentrate flavors. It’s a very pleasant sweet and cinnamon-y cake, but not donut-y or apple-y by any stretch. Would not make again.
I want to use this recipe to make petit fours, would this cake recipe work well for that and do you have any idea how many this recipe would make?
Yes, it should work great for that, but I’m not sure how many it would make. I’m sorry.
DELICIOUS! Like most of your cake recipes, this was a hit! Moist, flavor on point and that slight crunch from the sugar/cinnamon….must try it if you haven’t already.
Hi, this looks sooo yummy. Do you use sweetened or unsweetened applesauce? Thank you
unsweetened
I’m planning on baking this recipe using a Mini Fluted Cake Pan (6 individual Bundt cakes) is there anything I need to do differently/add/substitute/bake time?
Thanks!
It’s probably less bake time so keep your eye on it!
Very moist and delicious. Definitely reminiscent of fall and an apple cider donut!
I haven’t made this yet, but can tell it’s going to be delicious. Can I add the cinnamon sugar for the outside into the batter and get a similar result? I have to make in advance and pre-slice and was worried about how well the cinnamon sugar adhered to the outside of the cake. Thanks!
It won’t work if its mixed into the batter.
Do you use sweetened or unsweetened applesauce?
Unsweetened
Yum! I came back to try it again with delicious results! I used butter because I was out of oil and it turned out great! Thanks for sharing!