Part giant baked donut, part perfectly moist cake, this delicious treat is the best of both worlds.
Why you'll love it
This donut cake is so much fun to make, decorate, and eat! Donuts on their own are a delicious treat, especially when they're incredibly soft and fluffy. This particular cake is a baked version of my jelly donut only the size of a bundt cake so you can share with everyone.
It uses pantry staple ingredients and there is no frying involved, so that makes putting this particular cake together easy and fun.
This cake has a dense, tender crumb that is just like your favorite jelly-filled baked donut. A flavor that lightly spiced and has a light tang thanks to the yogurt and buttermilk. A fun glaze that is just like your favorite iconic dessert. A new, fun way to make use of your round Bundt cake.
Key ingredients
The original recipe for this donut cake is actually a baked donut recipe that I love. I multiplied it to fit inside a Bundt pan. This is how we get that true donut flavor. What is important is to make sure you are using the right ingredients. These are some of the key ingredients you need.
- Flour - I like to make by baked donuts with cake donuts, but since this is a larger version that needs more support, especially for the jelly filling, I recommend all-purpose flour.
- Nutmeg - The classic old-fashioned donut uses nutmeg in their doughnuts, so we add a bit here to emphasize that classic flavor.
- Butter - You need unsalted softened butter for the recipe to give it a rich flavor.
- Yogurt - Yogurt helps support the buttermilk in tenderizing the cake and adding moisture and tanginess.
- Buttermilk - Buttermilk gives the recipe its signature tanginess. If you don't have any available, you can easily make buttermilk for the cake.
How to make
The best part about donut cakes is how easy they are to make. It takes only a few minutes to prepare the batter and have it in the oven!
Baking a donut cake isn’t any harder than baking a regular bundt cake. In fact, it is a little easier because there aren’t a ton of crevices to grease and flour. We make the batter in the same way we do any other cake or baked donut, then pour it into our plain, ring mold baking pan.
- Mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy before beating in the eggs and vanilla.
- Mix together the yogurt and buttermilk in a separate bowl.
- Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture into the butter, beginning and ending with the flour.
- Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, then top with the jelly, making sure the jelly doesn't touch the sides of the pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out with crumbs attached to it.
- Leave cake to cool for a few minutes before removing. Leave on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the glaze, and pour over the cake. Finish with sprinkles and serve!
If you want to make a plain donut cake, you can skip the jelly!
How to decorate
You can really get creative with how you decorate a donut cake. I wanted to get a classic look with mine, but you can use cocoa powder in your icing, or use other types of flavors.
If you’d prefer to skip the icing, a nice dusting of powdered sugar would work as would a mix of powdered sugar and cinnamon, or even a thinner glaze to make a glazed donut.
Recipe FAQs
It’s fairly simple to make a gluten-free donut cake. The best way to do so is to use a gluten-free baking mix. I love the mixes that offer a 1:1 ratio of gluten-free baking mix to all-purpose flour. Fortunately, you can find gluten-free baking mixes at most grocery stores now. My best tip is to give the gluten-free flour a few minutes to absorb the liquid in the batter better.
You should store the cake in an airtight container for up to five days.
Recipe Card
Donut Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup plain yogurt room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- ⅔ cup strawberry jam
For the Icing
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 - 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- food coloring
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 hulled strawberry mashed
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a ring mold baking pan.
- Mix together the dry ingredients and set aside.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla, then beat well.
- Mix together the yogurt and buttermilk in a small bowl.
- Add in one-third of the flour mixture and gently mix in. Add in half the yogurt mixture and mix in. Add in half the remaining flour and mix, then the remaining yogurt mixture. Fold in the last of the flour mixture.
- Pour in the batter into the mold. Top the batter with the strawberry jam making sure the jam doesn't touch the edges.
- Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to rest for 20 minutes, then remove the cake and transfer to the wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the icing by beating together the ingredients together until well-combined.
- Drizzle over cooled cake, then top with sprinkles.
John Nail says
You have in the ingredients 2/3 cup strawberry jam. However, you do not have it in the directions. I added it and the cake required much longer cooking time and came out very moist. I'm wondering if it was just an error in the ingredients. The cake was very tasty even though it fell apart.
Amanda Powell says
Hi! That would be an error with my editor. The jam should be dropped on top of the batter after you've added it. It will sink down as it bakes and shouldn't affect baking time. Oven temperatures do vary, so it could be that it could've done with a slightly higher temperature, unless there was an issue with the batter. Was the batter on the thinner side, or thick, but voluminous? It should have a thicker consistency.
Heidi Clark says
I l-o-v-e this donut cake, Amanda!! Soooo adorable! The rose gold cooling rack is so pretty in your photos!!