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“This Apple Cider Doughnut Cake is the most delicious cake I ever made — and I bake a LOT! I could have eaten the whole cake.” ~Carol
if you love fall, you’ll love apple cider doughnut cake!
I highly recommend this wonderful apple cider doughnut cake, it’s pretty much everything you want in an easy fall treat. There’s nothing fancy or fussy about it, but it’s soft and tender, with a thin cinnamony-sugar crust just like those cider doughnuts you get when you go apple picking. The aroma is intoxicating, and it’s the perfect thing to take to a gathering or party. It’s also ideal for housewarmings, new neighbors, new parents, or anyone who could use a little extra comfort or care.
This cake is not overly sweet, so it’s appropriate for breakfast or mid-morning, with a cup of coffee, tea, your pumpkin spice latte (or hot cider!)
more doughnut cake recipes
ingredients for apple cider doughnut cake
- all purpose flour + oat flour
- I use both all purpose and oat flour in this cake, which gives it a nice, tender crumb. Oat flour can be found in your supermarket baking aisle, and you can easily make oat flour at home.
- sugar
- cinnamon
- vanilla extract
- apple cider
- fresh apple cider is amazing, but you can use apple juice if necessary. Do not use apple cider vinegar!
- applesauce
- you might also try apple butter.
- vegetable oil
- butter
- eggs
- baking powder, baking soda, and salt
I attribute the pillowy texture of this apple cider doughnut cake to the applesauce and the oat flour in the recipe. Oat flour is readily available in most large grocery stores, and Bob’s Red Mill makes a good one, but it’s essentially oats that have been ground into a fine powder, so if you don’t have any on hand you can actually process rolled oats in a food processor or high speed blender, like a Vitamix, to make your own. For more details, check out my post on how to make your own oat flour!
how oat flour changes the texture of this apple cider cake
Oat flour gives baked goods a nice soft texture and a little extra flavor. I love it to add it to regular flour in lots of different types of recipes. It does wonders for my Irish oatmeal soda bread and my quick whole grain rolls.
Oat flour has a slightly higher moisture content than wheat flour, which helps keep cakes moist and tender.
Oat flour has a lovely nutty, earthy taste that adds depth to the flavor of this cake.
a basic bundt pan
This is a must in any kitchen. Recipes that call for bundt pans rely on the shape to bake the cake properly
Bundt pans come in all sorts of wonderful shapes and sizes, which is great, but if you only buy one, I like to use this one from Wilton. It’s a basic, all purpose pan that’s sturdy, nonstick, and a standard size. The simple fluted shape insures an easy release, and isn’t that what it’s all about? Click here for details.
check out the comments for great reviews and variations
I don’t expect you to read through 400+ comments, so here are some highlights!
- Karen and Susan get a gold stars for creating gluten free versions of this apple cider doughnut cake. Many used Bob’s Red Mill gf baking mix with great success.
- Karla makes her own gluten-free flour blend (rice flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, millet flour, + sorghum flour)
- Jen drizzled the cake with a cider icing.
- Sandy added a cup of grated apples to the batter.
- Judy dusts her greased bundt pan with cinnamon sugar for an extra crunchy crust.
- Lorraine and Susan use boiled cider from King Arthur Flour.
- Linda substitutes butter for the vegetable oil.
- Anne made her apple cider cake flavored with a little apple brandy!
- Enid actually subs apple cider vinegar diluted with water for the cider and loves it.
- Amanda and Eyvonne made their own oat flour in the NutriBullet and food processor and it turned out perfectly.
- Dee turned the bundt cake into a layer cake.
- Bella adds a layer of cinnamon sugar to the bottom of the cake before flipping it over, which is genius.
- “A” made half of the recipe, and baked it in a 8X8 pan for 27 minutes. It was perfect.
- and that’s just a few of the great ideas you guys have come up with 🙂
more ways to cook with cider
Apple cider adds natural sweetness, flavor, moisture, and a pop of acidity to so many foods! I make it a point to keep a quart in the fridge all season long.
- Kale and Fall Fruit Salad with Cider Poppy Seed Dressing
- Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts ~ New York Times Recipe
- Homemade Apple Cider
- Apple Cider Doughnut Loaf Cake
- Hot Buttered Apple Cider
- Mulled Cider Jelly
- Slow Cooked Cider Brats with Apple Onion Relish
- Wild Rice Salad with Maple Cider Vinaigrette
- Hard Cider Braised Pot Roast with Fresh Sage
Apple Cider Doughnut Cake
Equipment
- standard bundt pan (10-12 cup capacity)
Ingredients
dry ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
wet ingredients
- 1 cup apple cider
- 3/4 cup applesauce
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil, I use safflower
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
topping
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Generously butter and flour your bundt pan, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Don’t skip this step!
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together in a another bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just combined, don’t over mix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it. Set the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes.
- Stir the sugar and cinnamon together for the topping.
- Invert the cake onto a plate. Brush with the melted butter, and sprinkle generously all over with the sugar.
Video
Notes
- Sub cardamom for cinnamon, yum.
- Fold in some finely diced fresh apple for texture.
- You might use apple butter instead of applesauce.
- Instead of the sugar coating you could make a simple glaze out of cider and powdered sugar to drizzle (liberally!) over the cake.
Nutrition
Can I use regular butter instead of unsalted ?
That should be ok as long as you leave out the salt in the recipe.
How can I make this gluten free? It sounds great but I have celiac and have to be gluten-free.
I would try a good quality gf baking mix, for starters, and then you might want to add a little xanthan gum, and maybe an extra egg, but I haven’t experimented with a gf version of this cake yet, Anne, so it will probably be trial and error.
I don’t have oat flour. What else can I use?
You can use all regular flour Jill, no worries.
Have you tried ONLY using Oat Flour in place of the AP Flour?
Thanks! Debbi
I believe oat flour alone wouldn’t provide enough structure for the cake, but I haven’t tried Debbi. If you need to go gluten free I’d suggest a good gluten free baking mix, and then maybe you could combine with oat flour.
Sounds so yummy. Can you use a spring form pan???
I haven’t tried Joan, so I’m not sure. It’s a pretty large amount of batter, so it would have to be a larger spring form pan.
I have been cooking and baking for fifty years and I’ve never heard of oat flour, and neither have the folks at the three grocery stores that I asked about it. They can’t even find it available from their distributor. Is there some suitable substitute?
You can use all regular flour if you like Vic. oat flour is just processed oats, so you can also make it yourself in a food processor. Bob’s Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills sell oat flour, but you might need to visit a health food type store to find it in your area.
I have a few things to purchase but trying this tomorrow! Supper excited! Love all things Fall, especially apple cider donuts!!!
I can`t wait to make this cake. I think my guys will like it at break time.
Let us know how it goes for you 🙂
How fun, this recipe sure gets me in the mood for fall. At the same time your recipe showed up in my Facebook feed, I saw one from Martha Stewart. Hers called for whole wheat flour and natural cane sugar. This must be a very popular cake. It looks delish no matter what the special ingredients may be.
Could you possibly cut down the sugar somehow? Maybe use maple syrup, or maybe natural stevia?
You can cut the sugar by as much as one third in most baking recipes, but after that the balance of ingredients gets thrown off, Diana. I’m sure there’s a way to make this lower in sugar but it would take some trial and error. When you substitute Stevia for sugar you’ll need to add a ‘bulking’ agent to make up for the lost mass, so in this case it might be applesauce or yogurt.
Can I use all purpose flower instead of using oat flower? I can’t find it at my local gracery.
You can use all regular flour Sheila, that works too.