Donut Cake
This Donut Cake is so good, and it’s so easy to make. The Hot Pink Center is a great surprise when you slice into the moist, tender cake, and it’s sure to be a treat when served.
We love cakes, and we make them frequently. One of our favorite things to do is decorate them in festive but simple designs. This particular cake features bright blue icing and sprinkles to make it look like a big, fat donut!
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s moist and tender with a wonderful texture.
- It’s decorated to look just like a giant donut.
- It’s super easy to make.
- Every part of this recipe uses simple, easy-to-find ingredients.
🛒Ingredients
You’ll only need some simple ingredients to make this recipe, and you can find them at any grocery store. These days, even the meringue powder is available at almost any grocery store. Be sure to check the recipe card at the end of the post for exact quantities.
For the Cake
- Butter – softened
- Cream cheese – softened
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Donut flavoring
- Flour
- Salt
- Milk
- Hot pink food coloring gel
For the Icing
- Warm water
- Meringue powder
- Powdered sugar
- Karo Syrup
- Donut flavoring
- Blue food coloring gel
🔪 How to Make Donut Cake
This recipe might sound complicated, but in reality, it’s actually very easy to make. Even beginners can make this one!
Step 1: Combine the Wet Cake Ingredients
Blend the butter, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and donut flavoring in a stand mixer on low speed until combined. Then increase to medium speed and blend until smooth and creamy.
Step 2: Combine the Dry Cake Ingredients
Combine the flour and salt in a separate bowl.
Step 3: Make the Cake Batter
Add half the flour and half the milk to the stand mixer and mix until blended. Continue alternating adding flour and milk and blending until all ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth.
Step 4: Color the Batter
Place about 1/3 of the batter into a bowl and add a few drops of hot pink food coloring gel. Stir until combined.
Step 5: Add the Batter to a Bundt Pan
Pour half of the plain batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Then, spoon the hot pink batter on top of the plain. Finally, pour the remaining plain batter over the hot pink batter.
Step 6: Bake
Bake the cake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Step 7: Cool
Remove the baked cake from the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Then, remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on the wire rack.
Step 8: Make the Icing
While the cake cools, combine warm water, meringue powder, Karo Syrup, and donut flavoring in a stand mixer and mix until combined. Then, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and blend until smooth and creamy. Finally, add the blue food coloring gel a few drops at a time and mix until combined.
Step 9: Decorate the Cake
Place the completely cooled cake on a plate or cake stand. Then, spoon the icing over the top of the cake, allowing it to run down the sides. Sprinkle multi-colored sprinkles all over the top of the cake, and enjoy!
📝Variations
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Plain Cake – You can omit the donut flavoring for a plain cake.
- Chocolate Donut – Make a chocolate cake and use frosting with no color for a frosted chocolate donut cake.
- Cake Flour – For an extra-tender cake, use cake flour in place of all-purpose flour.
If love bundt cakes of all kinds, then check out our chocolate pumpkin bundt cake.
🥄 Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Stand or hand mixer
- Bundt pan
- Wire rack
🥫 Storage
Store this cake in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, chill the cake completely, wrap it in a double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil, and freeze it for up to 3 months.
💭 Tips
- Scrape the sides of the stand mixer bowl down as you mix the batter and frosting to ensure that all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
- Add just a few drops of food coloring gel at a time to the batter and frosting. You can always add more, but you can never remove it!
- Be sure to let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the bundt pan before removing it. This allows the cake to finish baking to perfection.
- To ensure your cake comes out of the pan easily, tap the pan firmly all over to help the cake release.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
It actually tastes pretty close to a donut! The flavoring has notes of sweet sugar and pastry dough – just like a donut!
Donut flavoring can be found at many grocery stores. If yours doesn’t have it, you can find it easily online.
Be sure that every nook and cranny of your bundt pan is greased and floured. If even a little bit of the pan isn’t well-coated, the cake can tear or fall apart when you try to remove it.
This is one area that we don’t recommend cooking spray. In most cases, cooking spray works wonderfully, however, it will run down the sides of the bundt pan, and it may not hit every part of the pan if you’re not careful.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy donut recipes of all kinds? Then try these delicious recipes:
📌 PIN IT!!
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Donut Cake
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- bundt cake pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup Butter softened
- 6 ounces Cream Cheese
- 2 ½ cups Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 2 drops Donut Flavoring
- 3 cups Flour
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ⅓ cup Milk
- Hot Pink Food Coloring Gel
Icing
- ½ cup Warm Water
- ¼ cup Meringue Powder I used Wilton
- 16 ounces Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Karo Syrup
- 1 drop Donut Flavoring
- Blue Food Coloring Gel
Instructions
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, place the Butter, Cream Cheese, Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla, and Donut Flavoring, and blend on low until mixed.
- Turn the mixer to Medium speed, and blend until smooth and creamy, scraping the mixing bowl down as needed, and blending again.
- In a separate bowl, place the Flour, and Salt, and mix together.
- Add about half the Flour, and half of the Milk to the mixing bowl, and mix until blended. Continue adding the Flour, alternating with the Milk, until all ingredients have been added to the mixing bowl, and the batter is blended smooth.
- Place about 1/3 of the Batter in a separate bowl, and add a few drops of the Hot Pink Food Coloring Gel to the batter, and stir until well mixed.
- Grease and Flour a Bundt Pan, and pour half of the Batter in the mixing bowl into the Bundt Pan.
- Spoon the Hot Pink Batter on top of the Batter in the Pan, and add the remaining Batter in the Mixing Bowl on top of the Hot Pink Batter.
- Place the pan in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove the pan from the oven to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the Cake from the pan, and leave on the wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting Directions
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the Warm Water, Meringue Powder, Karo Syrup, Donut Flavoring, and mix together.F
- Add the Powdered Sugar about a cup at a time, and mix on low speed, until all the Powdered Sugar has been added. Turn mixer to Medium High speed, and blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down the mixing bowl as needed. Add the Blue Food Coloring Gel a few drops at a time until desired color is achieved.
- When Cake is completely cool, place the Cake on a serving plate, or Cake Stand, and Spoon the Icing over the top of the Cake, allowing the Icing to run down the sides of the Cake.
- Sprinkle Multi Colored Sprinkles of choice to the top of the Cake, similar to the ones you would get on a Donut, to decorate the Cake.
- Cut in 2 inch pieces to serve.
- Serve, and Enjoy!
This is so fun! I love things-that-look-like-other-things, and cake and donuts are two of my favourite things 😋 You’ve also chosen some gorgeous, vibrant colours for this recipe that are sure to catch everyone’s eye for any event that this cake is featured at! 😍
Thank you! It is a delicious cake