My Jelly Doughnut Bundt Cake is jelly doughnut meets bundt cake for a unique morning or mid-day treat. This comforting, not-too-sweet cake just begs for a cup of coffee or tea.
This doughnut bundt thing is quickly going from an interesting little series to an all out obsession. Today’s jelly doughnut bundt cake makes a cozy foursome along with the others ~
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Cider Doughnut Bundt Cake (the original!)
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Glazed Old Fashioned Buttermilk Doughnut Bundt Cake (say that 3 times fast)
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Chocolate Sour Cream Doughnut Bundt Cake (because…chocolate)
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Pumpkin Doughnut Cake (my latest!)
I think the doughnut loving world is split right down the middle over jelly doughnuts…you’re either for or against. I’ve loved them all along ~ I love their light and airy texture, that sweet blob of jelly that oozes out when you take your first bite, and the sugary coating that gets all over your fingers. This cake gets all that. Serve it warm from the oven and you won’t be disappointed.
This wasn’t an easy recipe to nail, I had to make it a few times before I got a result I was happy with. The problem is that the jelly tends to sink to the bottom of the cake if you add too much. I would like more jelly, but it wasn’t possible. I almost think you might serve it with a little pot of jelly on the side for those who want more.
Use your favorite jelly or jam in this doughnut bundt cake
Bon Maman is the gold standard for jams, so that’s what I used, but use whatever you like or have on hand. About a half a jar is a good amount. The first time I made the cake I got greedy and used a whole jar, which was too much.
If I hit on a better technique for getting that jam in the middle of the cake I’ll update here, and I welcome any suggestions, just leave ’em in the comments.
Jelly Doughnut Bundt Cake
Equipment
- a standard 10-12 cup bundt pan
Ingredients
dry ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
wet ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups buttermilk
- 1 cup vegetable oil I use safflower
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
jam or jelly
- approximately 7 ounces, (about 1/2 cup of good jam or jelly)
topping
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- preheat oven to 350F
- Generously butter and flour your bundt pan, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Note: 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. Add small dollops of jam to the center of the batter, all around the cake. Take a long skewer or chopstick and gently pull it through the jam, just to break up the blobs a little bit. Don't swirl too much.
- Bake for about 50 minutes, 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.
- Invert the cake onto a plate. Brush with the melted butter, and sprinkle very generously all over with the sugar. I like to cup the sugar in my palms to get it to cling to the side of the cake. The more sugar you can get on the outside, the better.
44 Comments
James M Houdaille
July 29, 2021 at 2:58 amI was intrigued by the idea of the jelly doughnut ….my bundt pan was in bad shape so I used an angel cake pan.. well it was awkward to ‘sugar’! The crumb was good, nice texture but a, 1) half of jar of excellent German jam wasn’t enough! 2) the jam changed in consistency, and 3) it sunk!!!! though the cake batter was fairly dense and I gently spooned it on top and didn’t ‘swirl…Thanks!!! Will try it again with more jam! and different fruit… This time it was sour cherry!
Robert Prokopp
March 15, 2021 at 5:05 pmI’ve been threatening myself to try making this cake for the last three months. Last night, I finally tried it out and it came out better than I expected.
While the recipe called for 7oz. of jelly, I ended up using a full jar of strawberry Bonne Mamme. (Yeah, I like jelly donuts.) To help support that amount of jelly and keep it from sinking to the top of the cake, I kept about a 1/4 cup of the dry ingredients aside. After mixing the wet with the bulk of the dry, I poured half of it into the pan. I added a thin layer of the dry ingredients I reserved and then put my jelly on top of that. Whatever dry was left, I mixed in with the batter and poured the remainder over the jelly. (Wish I could post pictures here.)
It baked up marvelously (about 55 minutes for my oven) and I couldn’t be happier.
Sue Moran
March 15, 2021 at 5:29 pmThat’s such a creative method Robert, I know others will be interested. I originally warned that this might be a tricky recipe, but readers have really proven me wrong!
Jan Rutledge
January 18, 2021 at 6:56 amWould love to try this recipe and your lemon and blueberry pound cake so would really appreciate the metric conversions. Don’t want to risk wasting all the ingredients if I get it wrong.
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Germaine
September 30, 2020 at 4:54 amI made this super delicious cake! It disappeared in no time, Kids Love this Cake! Same day I made another one, ran out of Jelly and still was delicious; served it with Ice Cream on demand… So Healthy Cake, you eat it anytime
, this is a real Comfort Food! I have a piece for Breakfast with unsweetened good cup of Coffee! Thanks So much for this wonderful recipe!
Rosemarie Garris
July 23, 2020 at 5:30 pmI am going to get the stuff to make this cake later in the week, but I had an idea about the jelly. Could you use the cupcake filling tip on a pastry bag and inject the jelly after it was cooled and before it was turned out?
Sue
July 23, 2020 at 5:33 pmThat’s an interesting idea, and I haven’t tried it, but it might work.
Rosemary
April 15, 2020 at 1:46 pmSorry I meant use more flour instead of oat flour ?
Sue
April 15, 2020 at 1:47 pmYes, the same amount.
Mag'
July 31, 2019 at 12:15 amHi! I would like to try this beautiful cake, but may I swap oil for creme fraiche?
Sue
August 20, 2019 at 7:57 pmI don’t think that would be a great idea Mag, sorry. Oil and creme fraiche are such different substances. I would stick with oil for this one.
Ali Romero
June 23, 2019 at 8:38 amHi Sue! Thank you so much for the recipe. I didn’t have oat flour and added a tsp of almond extract to the batter. For the jam, I mixed a half pint of homemade apricot jam with about 3/4 cup of the cake batter. Poured in half the plain batter, then the apricot jam batter, then the rest of the plain batter. Kinda swirled it with a knife. It came out fabulously!! This will my new go-to recipe for when I have leftover jams.
Sue
June 23, 2019 at 8:52 amThanks for this Ali, your technique sounds inventive, I’ll definitely try it next time I bake this cake. Apricot and almond sounds amazing…
Michael Handler
April 17, 2019 at 3:16 pmCake baked up very nice except that the jelly sunk to the bottom of the pan.???? Will definitely try again, what should I do different?
Sue
April 17, 2019 at 3:41 pmIt’s a common problem with jelly and jam filled bundts, Michael. Make sure you don’t put too much jelly in, and spoon it on right at the top, just before baking.
Susan S.
December 16, 2018 at 2:46 pmi Wish I could post my pictures. I made the first one in a fancy nordic bundt form and it didn’t come out good. today I made it in a traditional bundt form and it came out amazing. However mine had to bake at least 60 minutes and probably would have benefited from 63 minutes. But what a beautiful cake. I wish I could figure out how to make a bigger jelly tunnel. Thank you for this great recipe!
Sue
December 16, 2018 at 3:47 pmYou’re so welcome Susan!
Jodee Ryder
December 2, 2018 at 1:16 pmI just made this cake and unfortunately the jam stayed on the top. Any suggestions on how to get the jam in the middle? The batter didn’t rise over the jam. Smells yummy and I’m sure it will taste ok. Will try it again
Sue
December 2, 2018 at 1:35 pmFunny, that’s the opposite problem I had, how strange. Next time you can swirl the jam to push it down a bit, or add half the batter, then the jam, and then top with the rest of the batter.
Alex
January 17, 2021 at 7:56 amLove this cake and it’s in my list!
As for jelly insertion ideas, I’ve made marshmallow filled Bundt cakes similar in concept. So, instead of putting the jelly in before baking, bake the cake first, let it cool, flip it over to the flat side, and use a small ice cream scoop or Mekong baller to dig divots in cake, saving the cake pieces. Fill those divots with jelly, and replace cake pieces, flip cake back over. Viola! I hope this could be a viable alternative.
CathyAnn
October 28, 2018 at 2:53 pmHi Sue, I am new to your blog and made this jelly doughnut cake yesterday exactly as the recipe stated. D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.!!!!!!!! The second day it is still as moist as the first. Amazing how the taste really is that of a jelly donut but in a cake version. I’m thinking it would be delicious made as muffins with a dollop of jelly for each muffin, dip the top in melted butter and then in sugar, even cinnamon sugar. There’s also an idea I had to help prevent the jelly from sinking that I’ll try next time…roll the dollop lightly in oatmeal flour. Rolling nuts, chocolate morsels, etc. in flour helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom so maaaaaaybe it would help with jelly dollops? Just thinkin’….
Sue
October 28, 2018 at 3:10 pmI like your theory, it might work and I will definitely try it next time. I’m thrilled that you enjoyed this, and I do think that muffins are ideal for the ‘jelly doughnut’ treatment…putting it on my list. Welcome in to the blog 🙂
Alice
September 4, 2021 at 10:58 pmI tried coating the jam with flour and it sunk as if I didn’t coat it at all. Very disappointed. Next time I think I will try adding it on the top as the recipe says. Also, I think I will use more jelly. The cake was very good but could have used more of the jelly flavor.
Michele
October 27, 2018 at 1:33 pmHi Sue – this looks like a great recipe, looking forward to making it!
Love you blog, btw 🙂
Can I make the cake the day before serving, or does it need to be made the day of?
I saw comments about oat flour – will the cake work with oat flour?
Thanks!
Liz Peters, Sweetness Squared
October 27, 2018 at 8:34 amI have a catering order for 50 people for breakfast meeting on Monday morning, and am making this as one of the offerings, along with croissants, and blueberry bran muffins. I have a feeling this will be the first to disappear
Sue
October 27, 2018 at 8:39 amI would do a test run Liz, the jelly can be tricky. I hope everybody gobbles it up 🙂
Liz Peters
October 29, 2018 at 2:19 pmSo the bundt cake was a success this morning, and I didn’t even take your advice on the trial run! I think I may have been overly cautious with the jelly ( I used seedless raspberry jam), so there was no oozing, but maybe not quite enough of it. Next time, I’ll up the amount just a bit. I did serve a small pot of the same jam on the side to go along with the croissants too, so people could had a spoonful if they wanted to The sugar stayed on the outside really well, and it looked gorgeous on a footed glass cake plate! Thanks so much for your great recipes!
Laura | Tutti Dolci
October 26, 2018 at 1:35 pmWhat a dream cake! Love the jelly filling (and Bonne Maman is my favorite too!!)
Carol Anderson
October 20, 2018 at 4:50 pmSue, what would happen if you baked the bundt cake and then half way through or when it set up a bit then added the jelly on top? Would it still sink to the bottom?
Sue
October 20, 2018 at 6:15 pmI thought of that but I figured the whole cake would not rise properly if I opened the oven door and fiddled with it…might be worth a try though.
Traci | Vanilla And Bean
October 20, 2018 at 8:01 amComplete heart eyes for this cake, Sue! I had my first like this at a bakery in Seattle. It’s so creative and is simpler too than making a bunch of cake doughnuts. Bon Maman is fabulous – agreed! Beautiful work!
Jeff the Chef
October 20, 2018 at 3:47 amI don’t think you understand. I have a weakness for jelly doughnuts. They are my nemesis. The best thing about them is that come in single-serving sizes, because I cannot stop eating them until they’re gone. If I bake this cake, I will eat the whole thing in one sitting!
Tricia @ Saving Room for Dessert
October 19, 2018 at 11:06 amThis is just terrific! I wish I had a big slice right now with my tea. Love that flavor combination and bet it is fantastic. So creative and absolutely gorgeous!
Sue
October 19, 2018 at 12:44 pmThanks Tricia!
Lizbeth
March 4, 2021 at 8:27 amThanks for a great and simple recipe! Made this twice this week! I haven’t had an issue with the jam. It is centered for me. I think it is because I didn’t swirl it and most importantly I was pretty cold. I used a half filled cookie scoop on top. So far that has worked! Thanks again!
angiesrecipes
October 19, 2018 at 10:34 amI’ll go brew some tea, Sue 🙂 The bundt cake looks so inviting! Have a great weekend!
Marsha
October 19, 2018 at 9:49 amSo excited to see this recipe come up as I am going to make it for Hanukkah instead of making jelly donuts.. what I am wondering about is if you don’t use oat flour can you just use more all purpose flour . Also can this be frozen.. so looking forward to your response.
Sue
October 19, 2018 at 10:23 amYou can just use all purpose flour Marsha. I’m not sure about freezing, I haven’t tried that.
Liz
October 19, 2018 at 2:21 pmWhat kind of difference does the oat flour make ? Better crumb or more delicate texture or none at all ?
Carol
October 19, 2018 at 4:45 pmI wondered the same thing, Liz so did some quick research. In an article by pastry chef, Stella Parks, she says oat flour behaves like wheat flour and adds a soft and fluffy texture to baked goods.
Sue
October 19, 2018 at 5:12 pmThat’s right, thanks Carol. Because oat flour is gluten free it tenderizes baked goods and also adds a little moisture. I personally like the flavor, too.
Alexandra
October 19, 2018 at 9:32 amFantastic! Needs no more than a good coffee and good company to share
Chris Scheuer
October 19, 2018 at 8:50 amJust the name has me ALL IN!! Yikes, it looks amazing!
Sue
October 19, 2018 at 9:05 amA fellow jelly doughnut lover!