Easy apple cider donut cake recipe is the ultimate fall dessert! This is the best apple cider donut cake recipe and one of my favorite apple cider bundt cake recipes! Just like those delicious apple cider donuts you love!
Preheat oven to 350°F. Position rack in the center of the oven.
Sift together cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2½ cup cake flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ginger
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugars and cream on medium speed until lightened and fluffy, another 3-4 minutes.
1¼ cup salted butter, 1¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 cup dark brown sugar
With mixer running, eggs one at a time, mixing between each addition. Mix in vanilla.
4 large eggs, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream and apple cider until smooth.
⅔ cup sour cream, ⅓ cup apple cider
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in ⅓ of flour mixture until just combined, followed by ½ of sour cream mixture.
Repeat process with another ⅓ of flour mixture, the rest of the sour cream mixture, and then the remainder of the flour mixture, being careful not to deflate the fluffiness of the batter.
Gently fold your grated apples into the batter.
1 cup grated apples
Spray a 10-12 cup Bundt pan with baking spray -- the kind with flour (see note).
baking spray
Spread batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake in preheated oven for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick entered into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Cinnamon-Sugar Coating
Combine together cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg (if using) in a small bowl. Mix well.
Brush melted butter all over cooled cake, including the inner portion of the Bundt, and in all the crevices.
¼ cup salted butter
Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture onto cake and use your hands to press mixture into the sides of the cake.
Notes
Spices: If you prefer, you can substitute 2½ teaspoons of apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice for the spices listed. Apples: You can use any firm, tart apples you like -- I used Honeycrisp, but Granny Smith or Fuji would work as well.A couple tips for prepping your Bundt pan to make sure your cake doesn't stick:
Make sure you have a good-quality Bundt pan or other fluted tube pan with a nonstick coating that isn't scratched or scuffed.
I like to coat my Bundt pan in Pam Baking Spray or another cooking spray with flour. You can also brush your pan with shortening and dust with flour. I prefer baking spray because it never sticks, and I don't get those spots of flour on the outside of my cake, which can happen sometimes when you dust with flour.
Prep your pan right before you pour in your batter. Many cake recipes tell you to grease your pan at the beginning. But with a Bundt cake, if you grease it too far in advance, the cooking spray or shortening might slide down the pan and collect at the bottom. This leaves much of the pan without adequate coating, and also creates pools of oil that can change the texture and taste of the top of your cake.
If you don't have cake flour, you can make a substitute to use for this apple cider donut cake! All you need is all-purpose flour and corn starch. Just measure out 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour and replace 6 tablespoons of it with cornstarch. In grams, it’ll be 273 grams of all-purpose flour sifted with 40 grams of cornstarch.