Eggless Apple Cider Donut Cake

This Eggless Apple Cider Donut Cake is moist, dense, buttery, and full of apple flavor. Super easy to make with kitchen staples. It’s perfect for dessert, brunch, or with your afternoon coffee. The recipe includes step-by-step photos and lots of tips.

Eggless Apple Cider Donut Cake Recipe Highlights

This Eggless Apple Cider Donut Cake was inspired by this Eggless Apple Cider Doughnuts recipe, which has become one of your favorite fall desserts.  

It’s moist, dense, buttery, and full of apple flavor. Plus, it couldn’t be easier; this Bundt cake requires just 2 bowls: 1 for wet and 1 for dry. The ingredients are all kitchen staples like flour, spices, vanilla, etc.

This apple cider doughnut cake is perfect for dessert, brunch, or with your afternoon coffee.

Add a generous drizzle of brown butter glaze. It’s a big cake, for sure, so invite a bunch of friends and family over to help gobble it up.

Let’s get baking!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Please check the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact quantities and detailed instructions (scroll down). 

You’ll need: 

Ingredients Notes & Substitutions

For the Apple Cider Cake: 

• Apple cider: Apple cider is an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made from apples. It’s mostly available in US and Canada. Do not use apple juice or applesauce in place of cider, as it does not have the same complex flavors and consistency that cider has. You can use store-bought or homemade apple cider. See the instructions below to make apple cider at home.
• Flour: Standard all-purpose flour works best here; skip the cake flour, bread flour, and wheat flour. Make sure to measure accurately; a kitchen scale is the best way to measure your ingredients.
• Baking powder & Baking soda: Make sure they’re not expired or too old. To avoid a chemical aftertaste, make sure your baking powder is labeled aluminum free. I usually use the Clabber Girl brand, and though the ingredients state aluminum, I’ve never noticed an aluminum aftertaste. 
• Salt: I prefer kosher or sea salt. If you only have table salt handy, I recommend reducing the amount to half.
• Spices: For extra warm flavors. I used ground cinnamon and apple pie spice  
• Butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter, but if you only have salted butter handy, you can use it. In this case, skip the salt called in the recipe.
• Oil: Vegetable or canola oil – Or any light-tasting oil of your preference. 
• Sugar: For this recipe, you will need regular white granulated sugar o caster sugar, and brown sugar.
• Milk: For baking, I like to use whole milk. However, you can use any milk you have handy.
• Yogurt: You can substitute plain yogurt for plain sour cream. I recommend using the full-fat versions.
• Vanilla extract: For optimal flavor, reach for pure vanilla instead of imitation. Even better, try homemade vanilla extract! If you are looking for non-alcoholic vanilla flavoring, I recommend Simply Organic Vanilla Flavoring.

For the Brown Sugar Glaze

• Brown sugar: Light or dark brown sugar will work for this glaze.
• Butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter, but if you only have salted butter handy, you can use it. In this case, skip the salt called in the recipe.
• Heavy cream: Make sure it has at least 35% of fat content.
• Confectioners’ sugar: Regular confectioners’ sugar, also known as powdered sugar.
• Salt: I prefer kosher or sea salt. If you only have table salt handy, I recommend reducing the amount to half.

Step 3 – Pour the Batter Into the Prepared Pan

Step 4 – Bake

Bake for 40 – 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove it from the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire cooling rack before glazing or slicing.

Easy Homemade Apple Cider

Stove: Place 1 peeled orange (quartered), 10 medium apples (quartered), 3 cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons ground cloves, and 2 teaspoons ground allspice into a large pot. Add enough water to cover the fruit, about 8 cups. Bring everything to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 hours. Mash the fruit with a large spoon or potato masher. Cook for an additional hour. Then strain the mixture using a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Once you’ve strained all the cider, you can add a sweetener of your choice to taste or just leave it sugar-free. If you decide to add sugar, adjust the sugar to your taste. I usually use 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar for a spicier cider. If you prefer your apple cider on the sweeter side (like the kind you buy at the store), use 1/2 cup (100g) of granulated sugar.

Slow Cooker: Place 1 peeled orange (quartered), 10 medium apples (quartered), 3 cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons ground cloves, and 2 teaspoons ground allspice into the slow cooker. Add enough water to cover the fruit, about 8 cups. Cook on LOW for 6 – 8 hours (or overnight). Mash the fruits and cook for an additional hour. Then strain the mixture using a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Once you’ve strained all the cider, you can add a sweetener of your choice to taste or just leave it sugar-free. If you decide to add sugar, adjust the sugar to your taste. I usually use 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar for a spicier cider. If you prefer your apple cider on the sweeter side (like the kind you buy at the store), use 1/2 cup (100g) of granulated sugar.

Best Apples to Use in Homemade Apple Cider

I recommend using a variety of apples – some sweet, some tart – for the best flavor. Sweet apples: Fuji, Jazz, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Gala, and Cortland. Tart Apples: Granny Smith, Braeburn, and Jonathan.  

More Egg-Free Fall Dessert Recipes You’ll Love!

• Eggless Apple Cider Donuts
• Eggless Apple Cinnamon Rolls
• Easy Apple Butter
• Eggless Apple Spice Cake
• Eggless Pumpkin Roll
• Easy Eggless Pumpkin Pie
• Eggless Pumpkin Cake
• Browse more recipes…

Recipe Card 📖

This recipe was originally published on November 2021. The recipe remains the same, but more notes, tips, photos, and information have been added to the post in September 2022 to make it as helpful as possible!