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This gluten-free apple cider donut cake is a soft, moist cake recipe flavored with apple cider for fall. I bake this cozy apple cider cake in a bundt pan and coat it with cinnamon sugar, so it doesn’t just taste like a fresh apple cider donut– it looks like one, too!
Enjoy this donut cake for breakfast with a warm cup of coffee, or serve it at a festive fall brunch with sparkling apple cider floats or an apple cider Moscow mule!
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love This Donut Cake
- What’s Special About Apple Cider Donuts?
- Recipe Ingredients
- How to Make an Apple Cider Donut Cake
- My Trick For Releasing a Cake From a Bundt Pan
- Recipe Tips and Variations
- Serving Suggestions
- Storing Leftover Donut Cake
- Shop the Recipe
- More Gluten Free Apple Desserts
- Get the Recipe
During the fall when apples are in season, one of the traditions in my area is to visit the local apple orchard and get a crinkly bag filled with fresh donuts. They are made in-house with cider fresh from the orchard, and the smell is incredible! After our last trip, I decided to re-create the experience at home.
Since apple cider donuts are a kind of cake donut, it only made sense to make a giant apple cider cake in a donut-shaped bundt pan. And of course, I made my cake gluten-free so that I could have a slice, too!
Why You’ll Love This Donut Cake
- Just like an apple cider doughnut. Only bigger! This gluten-free donut cake is soft and moist, and baked in a ring-shaped bundt pan. Afterward, I coat the cake with butter and sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar to give it that sweet, crisp exterior.
- Full of flavor. Apple cider and apple sauce work together to give this cake the most authentic and delicious apple flavor! It’s packed with fall spice, ultra-tender, and tastes like the fresh cider donuts from the orchard.
- Easy to make. This bundt cake recipe is super fuss-free. You don’t even need a mixer! Or any fancy gluten-free ingredients. While you can use your own flour blend, this cake turns out great with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
What’s Special About Apple Cider Donuts?
Apple cider donuts, or cider donuts, are an American donut and a fall tradition in the Northeastern US. They’re cake donuts flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, and apple cider, with a crispy exterior rolled in cinnamon sugar. We pick them up from our local cider mill, but if you happen to be in the Northeast during the fall harvest season, you’ll find apple cider donuts in the grocery stores, too!
Recipe Ingredients
There are two kinds of donuts: yeasted and raised donuts. My air fryer gluten-free glazed donuts are an example of yeasted donuts, while your traditional apple cider donuts are the raised kind, also called cake donuts. This means no yeast!
You’ll need just a few pantry ingredients along with apple cider to make this cake. Check out my notes here, and scroll to the recipe card for a printable ingredients list with amounts.
- Gluten-free flour – I’ve tested this recipe with a fairly basic gluten-free blend of brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch, plus xanthan gum. I’ve also made this cake using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, leaving out the xanthan gum and it worked perfectly.
- Oat flour – Use your favorite certified gluten-free oat flour. Otherwise, an easy hack for homemade oat flour is to add oats to a blender and pulse until they become a fine powder.
- Dry ingredients – You’ll need granulated sugar (or light brown sugar), baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Cinnamon – You can also use nutmeg or apple pie spice.
- Apple cider – Not to be confused with hard or sparkling ciders. You’ll want to use real apple cider for this donut cake (see below). The best is fresh apple cider from a local orchard or the kind you find in the grocery store’s refrigerated section.
- Applesauce – I recommend the unsweetened kind. Applesauce adds moisture to cake recipes like this donut cake and my gluten-free carrot cake. It also boosts the apple flavor in this recipe!
- Vegetable oil – Or another neutral-flavored oil such as canola or safflower oil.
- Large eggs – It’s best to let them come to room temperature.
- Vanilla extract – Make sure it’s real vanilla and not imitation. You can also substitute vanilla extract with an equal amount of vanilla paste.
- Cinnamon sugar – I make a simple cinnamon sugar mixture from granulated sugar and ground cinnamon.
Can I Use Apple Juice Instead of Apple Cider?
If we’re getting technical, apple juice and apple cider aren’t the same thing. Both are juices pressed from apples. However, apple cider is fresh and unfiltered, while apple juice is often made from concentrate. As a result, cider is cloudier with a more robust apple flavor. It gives this apple cider donut cake the best, most authentic taste.
Real apple cider is also different from sparkling cider, like the kind I use in my sparkling apple cranberry donut cake. In a pinch, you can use apple juice or sparkling cider in this recipe. However, if you’re after the flavor of a real donut, the real deal is the way to go!
How to Make an Apple Cider Donut Cake
Greasing the pan is the critical step, and the rest of this apple cider bundt cake recipe is very easy. I’ll go over the steps below. Scroll down to the recipe card for the printable recipe instructions.
- Grease the pan. Very important! A thick coating of Crisco shortening is most effective for greasing a bundt pan so that the cake won’t stick. While I prefer not to use a lot of shortening, bundt cakes are my exception!
- Make the cake batter. First, you’ll whisk or sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine apple cider with the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, being careful not to overwork the batter.
- Bake. Pour the cake batter into your greased bundt pan and bake at 350ºF for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the donut cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning it out onto a plate.
- Coat with sugar. Meanwhile, mix sugar with cinnamon for the topping. Brush the top of the warm cake with melted butter, and then sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar for that sparkly finish.
My Trick For Releasing a Cake From a Bundt Pan
Unfortunately, dusting the bundt pan with flour, or using special non-stick sprays that contain flour aren’t an option in gluten-free baking. My solution is shortening. I don’t love to use it often, but it’s by far the most effective choice for greasing a bundt pan, ensuring that this gluten-free bundt cake doesn’t stick. I use a paper towel or my fingers to really work the shortening into the pan’s nooks and crannies.
My second tip for making sure this apple cider donut cake doesn’t get stuck is to only let it cool for 15-20 minutes in the pan, and remove the cake while it’s still warm. Use a small spatula or knife to loosen the edges if the cake doesn’t slide out easily. You can also lightly tap the pan while it’s inverted, and the cake should pop right out!
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Make your own oat flour. As mentioned in the Ingredients section, you can make oat flour by placing your oats in a blender and blitzing them into a powder. I like to sift the oat powder through a mesh sieve before I add it to a recipe, to get rid of any hard bits or whole oats that didn’t break down.
- Sift the dry ingredients. On the subject of sifting, I recommend sifting all of the dry ingredients for the best results. It fluffs them up and breaks up any clumps.
- Get the perfect sugar coating. Coat the cake with cinnamon sugar while it’s still warm. If the cake is cold, the butter will harden and your cake won’t have the same effect as a freshly-fried donut rolled in cinnamon sugar.
- Add a glaze. Drizzle this apple cider donut cake with caramel sauce or borrow the maple glaze from this gluten-free pumpkin bread.
- Add frosting. While I love the cinnamon sugar coating, you can always frost this cake with vanilla frosting or cream cheese frosting and add a dusting of cinnamon.
Serving Suggestions
I served warm slices of this apple cider donut cake to my family and they said the flavor and texture reminded them of the orchard. So, success! This donut cake is a delicious fall dessert, especially topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or no-churn caramel apple ice cream. Enjoy a slice after a day of pumpkin picking! It’s also great to serve at brunch with a warm cup of coffee or tea (or hot apple cider) and more breakfast favorites like baked eggs and ham and cheese strata.
Storing Leftover Donut Cake
- Refrigerate. This apple cider donut cake keeps for a few days at room temperature. To extend the life a couple of extra days, store it in the fridge. The crumb may dry out a little, but it’s nothing a dollop of whipped cream can’t fix.
- Freeze. This bundt cake also freezes well. I recommend freezing before you add the cinnamon sugar and letting it thaw slowly. Defrost the cake in the fridge first, and then bring it to room temperature before adding the melted butter and cinnamon sugar.
Shop the Recipe
BUNDT PAN: I like to make this cake in the classic bundt cake pan, but you can certainly get one of the fancy ones. You’ll want to make sure it is a 10- to 12-cup bundt pan.
Nordic Ware ProForm Bundt, 12 Cup, Gray
$16.97 in stock
More Gluten Free Apple Desserts
- Gluten Free Dutch Apple Pie
- Gluten Free Apple Crisp
- Healthy Apple Candy Bar Salad
- Gluten Free No-Bake Apple Cheesecake Bars
Gluten Free Apple Cider Donut Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup brown rice flour (*see note)
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour (*see note)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup apple cider
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil , such as canola or safflower
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the topping:
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F
- Coat your bundt pan very well with shortening being sure to get into every crevice.
- Into a large mixing bowl, sif together the brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, oat flour, xanthan gum, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In another bowl, combine the apple cider, applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out nearly clean (perhaps with just a few small crumbs).
- Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes.
- While it cools, mix the sugar and cinnamon together for the topping.
- Turn the cake out onto a plate and brush with melted butter, then sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar, coating all sides as best as possible.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- You can replace the brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch with 2 cups of a gluten free flour blend. If the flour you use contains xantham gum, you can omit the 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum. This recipe has been tested with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
- You can purchase oat flour or make your own by placing oats in a blender and blending to a fine powder, then sifting to remove any remaining large or hard bits.
- Adapted from Apple Cider Doughnut Cake from The View From Great Island.
Did you make this?
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Instead of using oats, how do you think almond flour would work?
I haven’t tried this, so I can’t say how it would work.
I made this recipe using the original ingredients (individual flours). I didn’t have iat flour so I just ground some rolled oats in my blender. Also didn’t have apple sauce so I made some using 6 apples, 1 cup of water and a tsp of cinnamon, simmering until soft and then blended with immersion blender. I took it to a football party and it was a huge hit! Very moist but not “gluey.” Nobody knew or cared that it was GF. I brought home the remaining couple of slices and this morning I whipped some cream with a little sugar and pumpkin pie spice and enjoyed the leftovers with a dollop of cream. 😋 This will be an annual favorite!
A co-worker made this for me and substituted all the flours (due to allergy) for Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1. She adjusted xanthum gum to the amount of flour she used (directions on back of flour bag). It was outstanding!!
Thank you for the feedback! So happy you could enjoy the donuts!
Will this recipe as written fit in a 9 x 13 cake pan? Adjusting the baking time obviously as well.
I have not tried that but I suspect it will.
AWESOME RECIPE! Directions are easy to follow and the cake came out great. The cake cooks up well and is moist and flavorful. I can’t even tell it’s gluten free. I used the individua flours but I appreciate that a one to one option was included in the notes. This recipe is a keeper!
I am so happy you enjoyed it! I often start with the 1 to 1 mix in recipes, but I know some people like the individual flours.
Can quick cooking oats be used for making the oat flour? Thanks.
Yes, that should work fine.
This looks amazing! Any ideas on adequate substitutes for the eggs? Making for a friend with an egg sensitivity.
Honestly, I have not baked much using egg substitute, but many of my vegan friends use a flax egg or chia egg – https://minimalistbaker.com/make-chia-egg/ or https://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-a-flax-egg/
This recipe looks and sounds soooo good – I used to love apple cider donuts too until the gluten problem was discovered. But I also have a problem with oats, even if they are certified gluten free. I can eat the other flours you listed. Do you have any suggestions for oat substitutes – maybe quinoa flakes ground into flour or sorghum flour? Thanks very much for any help you can give.
Hi Ines! I haven’t tried this, but I did see that quinoa flakes blended into a flour typically gives similar results to oat flours. Here is some info – https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-oat-substitute/
Let me know how it works!