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.
I was wondering how much apple pie spice I could use, instead of using the separate spices?
Thank you!
Try 2 tsp
Just made this cake today and served it for desert tonight. It was tender and light, not overly sweet and easy to serve.
Next time I might serve with a small scoop of ice cream along side.
An easy fall cake that you also want to enjoy with your morning coffee 🙂
Made this recipe last year and was delicious. Made it this year with some vegan substitutes (more applesauce and no eggs) and it was a huge success. Love everything Courtney does!
thank you so much!
My cake turned out super dense. Is it supposed to be so dense?
I’m about to try this for the first time but was a tiny bit confused at the directions. Is it one and a half tablespoons of baking powder? It says tbsp in the recipe but usually that’s capitalized to further delineate the difference so I just wanted to be sure. Thank you!
Oops never mind – I read through the comments and see that it is indeed tablespoons. Can’t wait to try it!
yes it is
Fantastic cake, delicious and easy to make. There wasn’t as much apple flavor as I was expecting, but I had to sub apple cider for Simply Apple juice because I couldn’t find any cider at my store that wasn’t $10/gallon. But it was still delicious, even without icing.
Wow! Delicious! It came out great – very moist. I did the sugar/cinnamon on the outside but also made some Bourbon glaze and served it with cooked, sweetened apples and vanilla ice cream. Next time, I won’t bother with a glaze. I don’t think it needed it. My daughter brought some to her friends and school and they flipped out – loved it. I’m getting recipe requests and I will send your link to give credit where it is due. Great recipe! (I didn’t change anything but it took a full hour in my oven, which did not surprise me.)
Love this!! Thanks for telling me!
Would this recipe work with mini Bundt pans? If so how long do you recommend baking for?
Yes it would. Lots of readers have used it for mini. I haven’t but I would guess the bake time is about 15-20 mins.
Wonderful recipe! The cake tastes delicious!
But my cake came out very moist, almost wet and dense after the butter coating. Maybe I added too much?
Did you let it cool?
This is delicious! Very nice texture, not super sweet but has good flavor- a keeper! Thank you! (PS yes, 1 1/2 tablespoons of baking powder! I baked for 55 min.)
I had to use my angel food pan, and that took about 15 extra minutes of baking, but this turned out wonderful. Made the whole house smell like fall. Thank you!
I have made this cake several times since I first found it as my family loves it. It is seriously fantastic!!
Thank you so much!!
How many eggs?
The recipe says 3
I gave this one only 3 stars, which I hate to do because I love her cakes. But I found that it needed more spices. And the cinnamon sugar on top was way too much. Those are things that are easily changeable. It was moist. My husband enjoyed it.
4 stars
Delicious. Tastes like fall without too much spice. Sweet and tangy. I used cider from my local orchard.
I used mini bundt pans and baked for 35 minutes. I also added some diced apples coated with flour and it turned out great. Turned out very soft and flavorful and not too wet. My family devoured it.
Could you use this to make donuts?
If you wanted to bake them in a donut pan.
Simple but beautiful and delicious cake! Very tender and moist. Used it for a fall themed birthday cake and it was a big hit.
This is a 10 star cake and easy to make. I made it for a ladies group and they all raved about the taste and moistness. Several wanted the recipe.
I’ve made two of them already and served each slice with a dollop of cool whip and then sprinkle the cool whip with cinnamon.