Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Bundt Cake

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Bundt Cake

Cider gives this cinnamon sugar doughnut bundt cake its robust apple flavor. To get the full effect, be sure to reduce the cider until it is thick like syrup.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Bundt Cake

Makes 1 (10-cup) Bundt cake

Ingredients
  

  • 6 cups apple cider
  • 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened
  • cups (250 grams) granulated sugar, divided
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • cups (406 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons (12 grams) ground cinnamon, divided
  • 2 teaspoons (6 grams) kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (2.5 grams) baking soda
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 large McIntosh apple , peeled and chopped
  • cup (80 grams) confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

  • In a large saucepan, bring apple cider to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil until cider is reduced to 1½ cups, about 1½ hours, stirring frequently during last 30 minutes. Remove from heat; let cool completely.
  • Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a 10-cup Bundt pan with baking spray with flour.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar, and vanilla at medium speed until creamy, 4 to 5 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, 1 tablespoon (6 grams) cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a small bowl, stir together reduced cider, milk, and vinegar. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with cider mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Stir in apple. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack, and let cool for 30 minutes.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Brush cake with mixture, working quickly to keep moist. In another small bowl, combine remaining ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar and remaining 1 tablespoon (6 grams) cinnamon; sprinkle over cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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15 COMMENTS

  1. 5 stars for Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Cake. Moist, full of flavor. Will make again and again.

    Review button under recipe was not working.

  2. Same here: The review button doesn’t work for me, either.

    I had lots of issues with this recipe. Reducing the apple cider is quite the time investment so I hope my comments can help others decide if this recipe is right for them.

    5 stars for flavor, but it doesn’t taste like a cinnamon sugar doughnut. (Maybe an apple fritter?) As for texture, it is moist, but I think it’s too moist, to the point that it’s dense for the sake of moistness. It reminds me of the texture of oil-based apple quickbreads, which is not something I want from my creamed-butter cakes. (Most people love this type of mushy, moist texture, so the cake finished in no time.) Possibly this result is my own fault. I will outline my experience below.

    I used a 15-cup bundt pan (NordicWare heavy cast aluminum non-stick Anniversary Edition.) I think this recipe will overflow in a 10-cup pan. Use at least a 12-cup pan. I used butter and flour to grease the pan, not bakers’ spray. One issue I have with all of these newer non-stick pans is that I don’t get a nice dark crust like the older heavy pans. That’s not the recipe’s fault, however.

    After reducing the cider for 1 1/2 hours, and stirring the last half hour, I ended up with 1 cup of liquid, to which I added unreduced apple cider to bring it up to 1 1/2 cups.

    The recipe didn’t state what speed to beat in the eggs so I kept it at medium speed. Oddly, after I added each egg, the mixture had an un-homogenized, curdled look. I had to mix it quite a bit to get it somewhat smooth looking again. The batter looked fine by the end of the mixing, though.

    I had to bake ten minutes extra for the cake to be finished. Also, the cake deflated 3/4″ while cooling. I had no issue releasing the cake from the pan.

    I cooled the cake 10 minutes in the pan, then 30 minutes out of the pan, for 40 total minutes as instructed. However, the cake was not warm enough to brush the sugar mixture, even in my warm kitchen. The mixture solidified very fast. I used regular confectioners’ sugar with cornstarch, not organic confectioners’ sugar with tapioca starch. I don’t know if that makes a difference. Or maybe the mixture needs more than 1 TBSP water. The cinnamon sugar did not stick to the glaze at all. It just settled in some of the nooks and crannies. The shape of the bundt pan in the picture above provides lots more nooks and crannies than a standard bundt shape. (In that picture, there is no way the cinnamon sugar contains anywhere close to 1 TBSP cinnamon. It would be much darker.) Also, the amount of cinnamon sugar is far too much. Had it magically stuck as I imagined, I still could not have used more than half the amount.

    I really wanted to love this cake. I give it 3 stars overall. Maybe someone can provide some tips. Possibly I ruined it from the start somehow when adding the eggs.

    • I agree. The recipe does not live up to its beautiful picture. It is way moist, and glazing was to thick with fine sugar and cinnamon, it was powder looking instead of granular. Should of used less cinnamon and coarser sugar for the topping.and s thin glaze.

      • Hey Carolyn,

        We’re sorry to hear the recipe didn’t come out as planned! We will note that with this recipe, the glaze is made with confectioners’ sugar and water, and the sugar topping is made with granulated sugar and cinnamon. So the consistency of the two sugars are different, and the sugar topping should not be powdery, but granular. And it is intended to be a very moist cake, but this texture might not be for everyone. We hope that you have better success with some of our other recipes this holiday season. Happy baking!

  3. LOVED this cake! Dealt with the apple cider the. Iffy before. Everything else was super easy. Made about half the glaze. Wish I had gotten my sugar to sprinkle on top ready before the glaze hardened, which happened almost immediately! Got rave reviews!

  4. The flavor on this cake was so awful (overpowering flavor of vinegar) that I threw it away. Did it really require all the reduced vinegar or was there a mistake in the recipe?

    • Hey Lynn,

      We’re sorry to hear the cake didn’t turn out, but we think you might have confused the 6 cups apple cider (the unfiltered apple juice) that gets reduced into a syrup with the 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar added to the cake batter. So it’s reduced apple cider not reduced apple cider vinegar. We apologize if that was confusing!

  5. Thinking about making this recipe, but could you please provide a better idea as to what size to chop the apple? Thank you!

    • Hey Julie,

      That should work! The texture of the syrup might be slightly stickier, but thin it out slightly with some water if you feel it isn’t penetrating and soaking your cake like you’d like.

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