Giant Donut Cake
This giant donut cake is an ode to Homer's iconic pink glazed donut with sprinkles. It's a fun and festive cake perfect for birthdays!Yield: 8-inch cake, serves 12-14
Servings: 12
Ingredients
Donut Cake:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temp
- 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup whole milk, room temp
Filling and Buttercream:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 4 drops ivory gel paste food color*
- 1 drop chocolate brown gel paste food color*
- ¼ cup boysenberry jam, or jam of choice
Glaze:
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- pinch fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon milk , or more if needed
- a couple drops of electric pink gel paste food color*
- sprinkles, as needed
Instructions
Donut Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch cake ring pans. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), beat butter until smooth. Add sugar and continue to beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
- With the mixing running on low speed, add eggs one a time. Make sure egg is incorporated before adding the next egg. Add vanilla and mix until batter is smooth.
- Continuing to mix on low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Mix until just combined and there are no longer any dry streaks of flour in batter.
- Divide batter between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Invert pans to unmold cakes. Allow cakes to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Once cakes are cool, level the bottom of the cake by slicing off any excess cake.
Buttercream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment(or using a hand mixer), cream butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix until incorporated. Scrape down bowl as needed. Add salt, vanilla, and milk. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Glaze:
- Combine powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk. Stir until smooth. Add food coloring as needed.
Assembly:
- Place one half of cake on a cake stand or serving plater. Spread jam over cake. Top with a thin layer of buttercream. Place top half of cake over buttercream.
- Dye the remaining buttercream with food coloring.
- Use a spoon or mini offset spatula to crumb coat the cake. Place frosted cake in the fridge for 15 minutes to allow buttercream to set up. Frost cake with another coat of buttercream. Return to fridge for another 15 minutes to set up.
- Use a warmed up off set spatula to smooth out the chilled buttercream. Warm metal spatula by dipping it hot warm and wiping off moisture. Return cake to fridge for another 5-10 minutes to set up. Meanwhile, prepare glaze.
- Remove chilled cake from the fridge and pour glaze over cake. Immediately top glaze with sprinkles. Glaze will harden on it's own. To speed up the process, return cake to fridge. Keep cake chilled until ready to serve. Allow cake to sit at room temperature for about 30-40 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- The set of two 8-inch cake ring molds I used are from Williams-Sonoma have been discontinued. I have linked some options from Amazon in the post above.
- I used these AmeriColor gel paste food colors: ivory, chocolate brown, electric pink
- Cake recipe is adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen
- Buttercream smoothing technique from The Cake Blog