Apple Cider Donut Bundt Cake

This recipe brings fall’s favorite flavors to a springy, flavorful, and delicious cider-infused Bundt cake dusted with cinnamon sugar that will look beautiful on your table and taste fabulous after your meal.

For all the press it gets, fall’s favorite flavor is not pumpkin spice. A few tweaks, and your best pumpkin pie spice combination is great for your fall lattes or in your Christmas gingerbread. It shouldn’t even count as just a fall flavor. No, indeed. Fall’s favorite flavor is apple. And not just apple, although fresh apples are in abundance right now, but apple cider.

We make a lot of apple cider around here, both mulled and not, and spiked and not. And it finds its way into lots of different dishes. Apple cider is great for basting turkey and ham, for infusing bread and donuts, and in this particular case, for bringing all the flavors of our favorite fall apple cider donuts to a delicious, light, and springy Bundt cake.

You could make this cake in any number of different pans, but Bundt cakes are just fun. Especially if you have a cake like this one that you don’t want to decorate with frosting. Bundt pans let you bake a plain cake that looks anything but. I love this swirled Nordic Ware pan of mine because no matter how simple a recipe you want to cook in it, it comes out looking dramatic.

This particular recipe is a combination of a tried and true yellow cake recipe I’ve been working with through the years {and I now realize I haven’t blogged it yet!} and my apple cider donuts. I dialed back some of the butter and sugar in the cake and worked in a cup of fresh apple cider and 3/4 cup of apple sauce, and layered in some of my favorite fall spices for a cake that tastes like a delicious cake with decided hints of apple and cinnamon, instead of one overwhelmed by those flavors. Everything in moderation is the key with these flavors!

When you finish baking the cake, you brush the outside with melted butter and cover it with a thin coat of cinnamon sugar for the perfect donut-like topping. And in the swirled Bundt pan I have, the cake develops these lovely crevasses that are just perfect for collecting all that butter and sugar!

I brought one of these over to dinner at our friends’ and it was the perfect finish to a hearty meal, and went just great with an after-dinner coffee!

[lt_recipe name=”Apple Cider Donut Bundt Cake” summary=”This recipe brings fall’s favorite flavors to a springy, flavorful, and delicious cider-infused Bundt cake dusted with cinnamon sugar that will look beautiful on your table and taste fabulous after your meal.” servings=”12″ total_time=”1H30M” print=”yes” image=”https://homefrontcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Cider-Donut-Bundt-Cake-1484-1024×683.jpg” ingredients=”For the cake:;3/4 cup butter, softened;2/3 cup brown sugar;2/3 cup granulated sugar;2 tsp vanilla extract;3 large eggs;3 cups all purpose flour;1 1/2 tsp baking powder;1/2 tsp baking soda;1 tsp salt;2 tsp ground cinnamon;1 tsp ground nutmeg;1/4 tsp ground ginger;1 cup apple cider;3/4 cup applesauce;For the cinnamon sugar:;4 tbsp butter, melted;1/3 cup granulated sugar;1 tsp ground cinnamon” ]Preheat oven to 350F. Generously butter a Bundt cake pan and dust with flour. Use a pastry brush as needed to get into all the crevices.;In a stand mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl as necessary.;Beat in the vanilla extract and add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat well between each.;In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl alternately with the apple cider until well combined. Add the apple sauce and fold in with a wooden mixing spoon.;Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.;Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean (you don’t want it too dry).;Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.;Mix together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Brush the outside of the cake with melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar to coat. You won’t use all of it (it goes great in your coffee though).;Serve and enjoy![/lt_recipe]

I’m just starting to use our batch of homemade bourbon vanilla in my recipes right now, and it adds a delicious caramel nuance to my cooking! I couldn’t be happier with it!

So there you go. All of fall’s best flavors wrapped up in a delicious, springy, fresh, sugary, cinnamony, soft cake that is essentially a giant donut. What more do you need?

Hope this crazy fall and this crazy year are being good to you!