Doughnut Cake Recipe

How to make homemade Classic Cake Doughnuts! This easy cake doughnut recipe features a fried golden brown exterior and ultra tender, moist, cakey and delicate interior. A perfect vehicle for a rich and fudgy chocolate glaze and sprinkles on top! 

Ease: You can totally do this, and it’s easier than yeast-based doughnuts, but you will make a mess. So completely and utterly worth the effort to enjoy a bite of heaven.

Look out everyone because I have been on a doughnut rampage recently. And the most dangerous part is that indulging in and making doughnuts only makes me want more in return! It’s a vicious cycle, but luckily you seem to enjoy when I post doughnut recipes, so at least I have that as my excuse.

Classic Cake Doughnuts Recipe

These classic cake doughnuts are absolutely positively delightful, and as a warning, they’re highly addictive. You just can’t beat that fried golden brown crust with that tender, soft, and delicate interior. And then to top it all off with a super rich, chocolaty, and fudgy glaze just takes it to a whole other level.

Make these cake doughnuts for your family and they won’t believe you made them right in your kitchen. They’ll think you went to the bakery to pick these up – they’re that good.

The best part is that cake doughnuts don’t take nearly as long as yeast-raised doughnuts but are just as good. By the way, these doughnuts are deep fried without apology and it’s glorious.

Amazing Apple Cider Doughnut Bundt Cake

The flavor and customization options with this cake doughnut recipe are limitless. Top with any type of glaze, sprinkles, chocolate chips, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar – just have fun! Check out all my cake doughnut recipe tips below.

P.S. We actually baked these Cake Doughnuts together with HTH Baking School students in a live Zoom class! Take a peek below at how much fun we had as well as some of the doughnuts baked by members during class.

Cake doughnuts get their rise from baking powder instead of yeast. Where yeast-raised doughnuts are ultra light and fluffy, cake doughnuts have some more heft to them and are slightly crunchy, but still soft and satisfying. They also still have that hint of nutmeg flavor which is absolutely characteristic of just about any doughnut, but feel free to omit the nutmeg if you don’t like it.

The Doughnut Cake

Yes! After the dough has been made, you can refrigerate the covered dough for up to 48 hours. Let come to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe as written.

No! You don’t need a special appliance to deep fry. Although convenient, you can simply use a heavy bottomed pot and your stovetop.

I prefer to use either a large but somewhat shallow stainless steel saucepan or a Dutch oven. If a pan is too deep, it makes it difficult to maneuver the doughnuts in and out. If the pan is too shallow, you risk oil bubbling up and splashing and burning. You want at least 2 inches from the top of the oil to the top of the pan. Avoid nonstick pans.

Funfetti Doughnut Cake The Little Epicurean

Yes, for best results and the safest approach, use a deep fry thermometer. This is one that clips onto the side of your pot so you can constantly measure the temperature of the oil.

No, this recipe was designed specifically to be fried for best results. An air fryer will also not work as intended for this recipe.

The best oil for frying doughnuts is actually refined coconut oil. Refined means it won’t have any coconut scent or taste. It will emit fewer offensive ‘fry oil’ aromas in your house and because it’s solid at room temperature, it gives fried food a lighter, crisper, and less greasy texture and the doughnuts will stay fresher for longer (compared to doughnuts fried in a liquid oil). You could also use vegetable shortening, which is also solid at room temperature. Purchase a large container in bulk at Costco or online if you can make good use of it often.

Giant Doughnut Cake With Homemade Sprinkles

Besides refined coconut oil or vegetable shortening, the next best and easiest options are vegetable, canola, or peanut oil because they have high smoke points. Never fry with an oil that has a low smoke point, such as olive oil. Whichever you choose, be sure to give it a quick sniff before using. If it smells off at all, it will impart a rancid taste to your doughnuts. Use a fresh bottle for best results.

The most challenging part of deep frying is maintaining a consistent temperature. In fact, it’s just about impossible. The key to deep frying is to constantly monitor the temperature and adjust your burners accordingly. Not just reactively, but proactively too. Especially if you have an electric stove.

This takes practice. Notice if your oil begins to creep above or below 350°F and immediately adjust the burner’s heat setting, knowing it will take several minutes for the temperature to begin to rise or drop, depending on your stove and pan.

Chocolate Donut Cake: A Delightful Twist On A Birthday Classic

Don’t overcrowd the pan! This will not only drop the temperature quickly but the doughnuts won’t get an even crispy exterior. This is because deep fry oil’s recovery time is slow, meaning it will take a while for the temperature to recover back to its original 350°F once too much food is added to the pan.

If your doughnuts are pale and greasy, your oil is too cold. If they’re hard and overly browned, even undercooked in the middle, the oil is too hot.

Doughnuts are definitely best served the day they’re fried. They will lose their crisp texture and stale the longer they’re stored. If you do need to store leftover glazed doughnuts, you can do so in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Cake Doughnuts Recipe

My chocolate glaze is included in the recipe below, but here are a couple other doughnut glaze flavor variations. You can also simply coat your cake doughnuts in powdered sugar! Click here for even more doughnut glaze recipes sent straight to your email inbox.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk until smooth. Immerse each doughnut into the glaze. Place glazed doughnuts on a wire rack above a lined sheet pan to catch any excess glaze. Let sit for 20 minutes, or until glaze is set, before serving.

Show us! If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with # so we can all see!

Homemade Cake Donut Recipe

*The corn syrup in the glaze keeps it nice and shiny and thick, but feel free to omit it if you prefer not to use it.

This recipe was originally published in 2015 and recently updated with new photos and recipe improvements in 2022. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I’m a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!).Krispy Kreme Doughnut Cake: a cake made entirely of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and drizzled with chocolate fudge sauce. I’ve died and gone to heaven!

Classic Cake Doughnut Recipe

So I did this thing. This amazing, epic thing. I made a cake out of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. YES, PEOPLE. A KRISPY KREME-INSPIRED DOUGHNUT CAKE. 

So I actually scoured the internet, and doughnut cakes aren’t really a thing… yet. There are doughnut walls, but not doughnut cakes. But let’s focus on the positive. This means that we can be the first and best Doughnut Cake makers out there. So let’s make Doughnut Cakes a thing in 2018.

What is in a doughnut cake, you ask? How do you make one? Well, you need three dozen Krispy Kreme Original Glazed® Doughnuts, a whole lotta whipped cream, and homemade chocolate fudge sauce. Easy enough right?

Powdered Donut Cake

This cake is incredibly easy to put together. No need to make your own doughnuts, Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Doughnuts are absolutely perfect for the job. They’re light, fluffy, and the perfect size to make into a six-layer doughnut cake.

To ensure your cake stands nice and tall, you need to lay out the cake layers in a specific pattern. The bottom two layers use six doughnuts (one in the center and five circled around it). The next two layers up use just four doughnuts, and so on. Homemade whipped cream holds all the layers together, and the rich chocolate fudge sauce is poured on top to take this cake to the next level.

To keep the cake looking especially gorgeous, I cut some of my doughnuts into quarters, then used them to fill in any gaps between the whole doughnuts. It made it so my cake didn’t have these deep caverns around the outside 🙂

Glazed Old Fashioned Donut Cake

And of course, in true Broma Bakery fashion, a sparkler on top is a perfect way to present a cake. I mean, just look at that glow.

Krispy Kreme Doughnut Cake: a cake made entirely of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and drizzled with chocolate fudge sauce. I’ve died and gone to heaven.

This post is sponsored by Krispy Kreme. All text and opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help

Glazed Chocolate Cake Doughnuts