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.
My family loved this cake. I baked it according to the recipe, but that’s a lot of baking powder. I was wondering if there’s an alternative. The cake has a slight bitter taste that I think is due to the baking powder.
There isn’t
Great! I noticed that it’s DEFINITELY 1 1/2 TEASPOONS not Tablespoons. You should fix that right away. Also, I went the extra step and browned the butter for the sugar/cinnamon topping. Amazing!
I think you may have just used a bitter cider because I did not have this problem and I rarely bake.
To avoid and bitter taste from baking powder, use cream of tartar and baking soda instead. I used 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. My cake rose perfectly and had a nice crumb. If you want to stick to using baking powder, the ratio of flour to baking powder usual rule is, 1 teaspoon of baking powder per 1 cup of flour in a recipe. So, 1 tablespoon of baking powder instead of 1.5 as stated in this recipe.
Could the measurement for Baking Powder be a typo? Says 1 1/2 Tablespoons. Never used that much before.
THANK YOU for the heads up! I googled other apple cider cakes and they show TEASPOON.
I checked another recipe and it said 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder. Sounds better
Can’t wait to give this a try! Can you use a bunt cake recipe as normal cake layers?
Thank you!
Yes for sure! This recipe will make three 8-inch round cake layers. You’ll bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, same temp.
Courtney, I love this cake so much it is delicious. I made it for my sister’s birthday and it turned out great. Thank you so much for your amazing work.
I had high hopes for this recipe but the apple flavor was so faint that I was disappointed. The moistness in the cake was fantastic and it tasted better when sprinkling cinnamon sugar on it, but still disappointed and won’t make again. Also I cooked for a total of 1 hour, my toothpicks came out very goopy at the fifty minute mark.
I would love for you to do a demo apply the cinnamon sugar coating. Although mine came out fine. Yours is pretty!
I know this recipe gets five stars, but it doesn’t get five stars from me. I don’t know what I possibly could’ve done wrong. I’ve reread the ingredients over and over and I can’t see anything that I screwed up but this cake tasted like paste I cooked it for the amount of time it said tested it with a toothpick, and it came out clean, let it sit for an hour or an hour and a half probably. When I tipped it out of the pan, it had already separated from the sides. No trouble getting it out of the pan but it tastes horrible. I must say that right from the get-go it looked very “wet“ to me I want to like this cake. It looks awesome but somethings not right.😧☹️
i’m at high altitude- should i change anything?
Nope so am I!
Honestly, I have never left a comment or review for anything but this cake is so good I just had to let you know!! Absolutely delicious!!
Hi! have you made this in muffin form? I have some fall mini cakelettes that I was thinking of making this as!
I haven’t but that sounds delightful!
This was amazing! I wish I could leave a picture of how perfect mine came out period
Could you use apple pie spice at all for this recipe in place of the cinnamon and/or nutmeg? Would you recommend this?
if you want!
Can I substitute butter for oil? Or half-and-half?
Not for this cake!
Well I copied your directions step by step for the apple cider Bundt cake .
I’m definitely a beginner 😁
Well I copied the recipe step by step on Instagram after I was done I sat down and went to your online site and noticed it says
Apple cider but not the vinegar one
🙃the juice one 😅
Oops !! Let see how this turns out !!
I have the apple cider juice on my grocery list we’ll have to bake it again 😁
I made this cake twice already and my family loves it 🥰
Thanks for also mentioning the ingredients in gram
Do you use spiced apple cider or regular apple cider? Can’t wait to give it a try!
Just regular!
This looks really good – can’t wait to try it. I have a question – you said you developed this recipe at high altitude. If I’m not at high altitude, do I need to do anything differently?
No you don’t!
I followed the recipe to a T and it came out spectacular. I’m a baker and this is one of the best things I’ve ever made! Adding it to my normal rotation
Delicious! I substituted more applesauce for half of the oil and then used coconut oil for the other half. I did not have baking powder so use baking soda and lemon juice substitution. I also decreased the sugar to 1 1/3c. and used some whole wheat flour (makes me feel healthier!). Very moist!
My family loved this.
I really love this recipe. I am making it on repeat!! I’m making for someone who can not have dairy. What can I use instead of the butter for the topping?
You can use a dairy free butter!