Apple Cider Doughnut Cake with Caramel Sauce
It’s my favorite time of year. Fall means comfort baking and the warm, cinnamon-laced treats we crave. Ah, can’t you just smell the cozy scent filling your home?
Today’s cake recipe brings the orchard into your kitchen, even with the absence of apple chunks. Apple Cider Doughnut Cake has all the flavors of fall wrapped into one easy, pretty dessert—apple cider, apple butter (or applesauce), warm spices, and a sparkly cinnamon-sugar coating that tastes just like those warm little doughnuts we all love.
Apple Cider Doughnut Cake with Caramel Sauce
This apple cider doughnut cake and the caramel sauce recipes come from blogs that my sister Heidi found a few years ago. The combination quickly became a family favorite. Her husband, three grown sons, and granddaughter don’t agree on much when it comes to food, but they all agree on this cake. She even jokes that they’d drink the caramel sauce for breakfast if she’d let them.
Heidi elevated the richness of the cake, which is surprisingly not too sweet, by adding a caramel sauce that you can pour over the cake or serve on the side as each person drizzles on their own slice.
It’s prettiest as a Bundt, but you can bake the cake in a 9×13 pan. When it comes out of the oven, brush it with melted butter and cover it with mix of cinnamon and sugar. The result? A golden brown, sparkly crust—just like a warm bag of doughnuts.
Heidi has tweaked the recipe over time—she uses salted butter in both the cake and caramel sauce, dark brown sugar instead of light, and adds a pinch of salt to the caramel sauce. And I added extra nutmeg to the batter, so if you don’t love nutmeg as much as I do, you can reduce it by half.
It’s a beautiful fall dessert, a great choice for brunch, Thanksgiving or even a bake sale. For that, Heidi makes them in mini Bundt pans and they sell out fast!
The Bundt Pans
Some of my favorite Bundt pans are from Nordic Ware—12-cup 75th anniversary braided rope Bundt pan and mini pans like this 12-cavity braided 75th anniversary Bundtlette pan and for a little larger mini Bundts, this 6-cavity 75th anniversary Bundtlette pan.
(This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission if you click on the links and make a qualifying purchase. This is at no additional cost to you, and I sure do appreciate the support.)
As Seen on KELOLAND Living
Watch my KELOLAND Living T.V. segment with Ashley Thompson and Mitchell Olson featuring this apple cider doughnut cake and caramel sauce by clicking the button below.
The Recipe Credit Goes To
- Original apple cider donut cake: from Allison at Celebrating Sweets
- Original caramel sauce: from Allyson at Domestic Superhero (Heidi makes half this recipe and it’s enough for one cake. My recipe below has already been halved so if you want more, use Allyson’s original recipe.)
A Few Tips
Pan prep magic: Grease your bundt pan with a concoction of equal parts flour, vegetable oil, and vegetable shortening to release beautifully every time.
Serving ideas: Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream, caramel drizzle, and a dollop of whipped cream.
Presentation: The cinnamon sugar coating gives it a pretty sparkle, so you can leave it plain or drizzle caramel just before serving.
The Caramel Sauce
The caramel sauce has just four ingredients — butter, brown sugar, heavy cream and salt. I cut the original recipe in half because Heidi says it’s plenty to drizzle over this cake.
The sauce is rich, quick, and indulgent. You could pour it over the entire cake before serving, or drizzle it on each slice. It would also be delicious on oatmeal, yogurt, or brownies and ice cream, and in hot apple cider.
During the KELOLAND Living segment, we talked about using shelf-stable whipping cream for the caramel sauce — I’ve found it at Trader Joe’s. Here’s the packaging so you know what to look for. I’m assuming there are other brands at other stores.
More Cozy Apple Recipes from Random Sweets
If you’re in the mood for more apple baking this season, try these favorites:
- Butterscotch Caramel Apple Bars
- Caramel Apple Nut Bars
- Apple Cider Spice Cake
- Hot Apple Pie Cocktail
- Bobbi’s Crock Pot Apple Butter
Sweet wishes,
Apple Cider Doughnut Cake with Caramel Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Bundt pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup apple cider
- ½ cup apple butter or applesauce (sweetened)
- ½ cup (8 Tbsp) salted butter, softened
- ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- 2 Tbsp salted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Caramel Sauce
- ½ cup (8 Tbsp) salted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- pinch of salt
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
Instructions
Cake
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 10-cup Bundt pan or a 9×13 cake pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together the apple cider and apple butter or applesauce.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat softened butter, oil, granulated and brown sugars for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until combined.
- Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat well. Add ½ of the apple cider mixture and mix well. Repeat with 1/3 flour mixture, beat, add ½ apple cider mixture. End by adding 1/3 flour mixture and beat just until combined. Do not overmix or the cake won’t have a nice crumb texture.
- Evenly pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, melt the butter and prepare the cinnamon-sugar topping.
- Place the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then, place the wire rack on top of the Bundt pan and invert the cake onto the rack.
- While the cake is still warm, place the wire rack (with the cake on it) on a large cookie sheet. If you don’t have one large enough, place a large sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil underneath the rack.
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- Working quickly while the cake is warm, brush ¼ of the cake with melted butter and then sprinkle and lightly press the cinnamon sugar into the cake. Then do the next ¼ of the cake and the next fourth until it’s completely buttered and heavily coated with cinnamon and sugar. Cool the cake before serving.
Caramel Sauce
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar, and salt over medium heat. Whisk to combine.
- Add the heavy cream and continuing whisking until the sugar is dissolved.
- Boil for 3 minutes—no longer. Remove from heat and cool.
- Once cooled, drizzle completely over cake or serve along with each slice.
- Store in refrigerator. Reheat on the stove top over medium low heat, or in a microwave safe bowl in 30-second increments, stirring in between.
Nutrition
Go back to the recipe by scanning this QR code:
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
