Apple Cider Doughnut Cake has all the flavor of a warm cider doughnut baked into one soft, moist fall cake ~ with plenty of apple cider, warm spice, and that classic cinnamon-sugar finish.
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It’s the first thingI bake every fall
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 cinnamon-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 bring to a party or fall gathering. It’s also ideal for housewarmings, new neighbors, new parents, or anyone who could use a little extra comfort or care.
What readers are saying
➡ 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.
➡ Have made this 3 times in 2 weeks already lol due to popular demand.
➡ This has become one of my all time favorite cakes.
➡ I had to reach out about this recipe because holy batman it is GOOD.
cider doughnut cake ingredient highlights
- all purpose flour + oat flour
- I use both all purpose and oat flour in this cake, which gives it a nice, tender crumb and a ‘dough-nutty’ texture.
- Oat flour can be found in your supermarket baking aisle, and you can easily make oat flour at home using your blender or food processor.
- apple cider
- this is where a lot of the cake’s fall flavor comes from, so use good fresh cider if you can. I like the cloudy, unfiltered kind you find refrigerated in fall.
- applesauce
- adds moisture to the cake. You might also try apple butter.
- vegetable oil
- using oil instead of butter keeps this cake moist and delicious.
- cinnamon
- I usually use nutmeg as the defining flavor in my doughnut cakes, but in this case cinnamon deserves top billing.
more doughnut cake recipes
Apple Cider Doughnut Loaf Cake
Glazed Old Fashioned Buttermilk Doughnut Bundt Cake
Chocolate Sour Cream Doughnut Bundt Cake
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.
I recommend 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.
Reader-tested variations
I don’t expect you to read through 400+ comments, so I pulled out some of the best ideas readers have tried with this cake.
- Make it gluten-free: Karen and Susan have had great results with Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free baking flour, while Karla uses her own blend of rice, tapioca, coconut, millet, and sorghum flours.
- Boost the apple flavor: Sandy adds a cup of grated apple, Lorraine and Susan use boiled cider, and Anne adds a little apple brandy.
- Add more cinnamon crunch: Judy dusts her greased Bundt pan with cinnamon sugar, while Bella adds a layer of cinnamon sugar to the bottom of the pan before baking.
- Add a glaze: Jen drizzles the finished cake with a simple cider icing.
- Swap the oil: Linda uses melted butter in place of the vegetable oil.
- Make your own oat flour: Amanda and Eyvonne grind oats in a NutriBullet or food processor with great results.
- Change the pan: Dee turns it into a layer cake, and reader “A” made half the recipe in an 8×8 pan and baked it for 27 minutes.
- No cider? Enid uses apple cider vinegar diluted with water and loves the result.
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Apple Cider Doughnut Cake
Video
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.
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
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
Oat flour-can you blend old fashioned oats in a vitamix to make it?
Absolutely, it takes just seconds!
Would light olive oil be o.k. instead of vegetable or safflower oil? I usually use light olive oil for other baked goods successfully.
Thanks
That would work perfectly, I just avoid extra virgin because it’s so strongly flavored.
How much finely diced apples would you recommend? Thanks!
Hmmmmm, I would start with maybe 1 and 1/2 cups?
Could you just butter the pan and dust with the cinnamon and sugar instead of flour?
That should work great, but I would still follow through with the melted butter and sugar topping at the end, I think it needs that for the flavor and texture.
I just made this cake and it’s not good at all. Actually I have another in the oven. I should have waited to taste test this one.
Is it because the only oat flour I could find says- whole grain oat flour?
I’m not sure what could have gone wrong Dorothea, it’s a well tested recipe…your flour sounds fine, so something else must have been the issue.
Everyone’s taste is different of course, but is it possible it’s your baking soda? I had a bad batch of baking soda (or maybe an old batch?) that ruined 3 recipes for me before I figured out it was the soda. Also, I always give my flour/s a sniff to make sure they haven’t gone stale.
Has anyone ever tried to make this recipe gluten-free?
Yes, check a few comments down, Karen raves about her gluten free version.
Mary~ This recipe calls for oat flour but I’ve never used that. What is it? I see in a comment you said yes you can use all-purpose flour. Does this change the taste at all? What is the difference between the two types?
Oat flour is simply oats that have been processed (you can do this in a food processor or high speed blender, it just takes seconds) into a fine powder or ‘flour’. I have a post that shows you how to to it HERE. You can usually buy it in supermarkets with the other flours, and definitely always get it online at Amazon. I have a link to that in the post above.
You can substitute regular flour but it won’t have quite the same nice texture and flavor that the cake has with the oat flour.
GLUTEN FREE!!!!! I made this the first try with Bob’s Red Mill GLUTEN FREE baking mix instead of the two cups a/p flour, and 1.5 cups ground almonds instead of oat flour, so our gluten free hosts could try it (folks– not all oats are gluten free. many are contaminated. UNLESS IT SAYS, IT’S NOT!). The subtle almond flavor was incredible, texture was amazing. Don’t skimp on the melted salted butter at the end, OR the sugar. I you don’t have “oat flour,” throw some oats in your blender, food processor or– like I did– coffee grinder. As far as sugar is concerned, this is a LLLAAARRRGGEE cake; try the recipe AS IS before cutting anything please! Not one crumb left over.
Yay Karen! Thanks so much for getting back to us with this, it’s going to be a big help to some folks, I know. 🙂
time and temp if using mini bundt pan? i think there are 12 minis. thanks
Hey Colleen, I generally would leave the temp alone and reduce the cooking time. You might try 20 minutes as a general idea.
What can you use to substitute for the apple cider. I have all of the other ingredients.
I haven’t tried anything myself, Carol, but I’m guessing maybe more applesauce thinned with a touch of water might work. You can always try plain water, too.