If you love old-fashioned buttermilk donuts, you'll love this glazed tangerine donut cake. Plus, this donut cake is drizzled with a delicious tangerine-flavored glaze.
Of course you can use any citrus flavoring you like... or just use a vanilla glaze.
This cake is like a giant buttermilk donut that is baked in a ring pan. It has all of the flavors of old-fashioned buttermilk cake donuts.
In fact, the cracked top is like the fried buttermilk donuts that you can find in your favorite donut shop, except this cake is baked.
The cake itself includes buttermilk and sour cream and it is flavored with nutmeg and vanilla, just like an old-fashioned donut.
About Cake Donuts:
A bakery old-fashioned cake donut (unlike a baked donut made at home in a donut pan) is a deep-fried donut made from a sweet dough that is leavened by baking powder rather than yeast. The dough is either rolled and cut, or extruded and immediately placed in the hot oil. There is no rising time involved because the donuts are not yeasted.
They are a slightly denser than yeast donuts and have a cake-like texture on the inside with a light glaze on the outside.
While this cake is baked in the oven, it truly comes pretty close to the flavor and texture of an old-fashioned buttermilk donut.
Ingredient Shopping List:
(for exact amounts, scroll to the bottom for the printable recipe card)
Dairy: Unsalted butter, sour cream, and buttermilk, all at room temperature. If your kitchen is cold, you can begin beating the butter for a bit on low, let it rest, and then continue with the recipe.
For the buttermilk, I used powdered. If you do too, whisk the buttermilk powder into the flour mixture and then substitute water for the liquid.
Sugar: Granulated sugar for the cake and confectioner's sugar for the glaze.
Nutmeg: For the traditional donut flavor.
Eggs: You will need one egg and two egg yolks.
Pantry Ingredients: Cake flour, vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract, oil, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. You will also need light corn syrup for the glaze.
Fresh Tangerine Juice: This is for the glaze. If you want, you can also add some zest to the glaze to enhance the flavor. I actually used tangelos from our very productive tangelo tree. P.S. Trader Joe's sells an amazing bottled fresh tangerine juice.
Procedure:
To make the cake, you beat the butter, the granulated sugar, and the nutmeg for about five minutes, until everything is fluffy.
Next, you beat in the oil and then the egg and egg yolks. sour cream, and vanilla. You should have a totally fluffy mixture.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then, add the butter and sour cream mixture in two stages, alternating with the buttermilk. You can mix with a rubber spatula until everything is combined. It will still be slightly lumpy.
Bake the cake for about 40 minutes and then, after it cools a bit, glaze the cake with a mixture of powdered sugar, hot water, tangerine juice, and corn syrup.
Equipment You May Need:
I used a tube pan, which is the same pan I used for a rustic grape cake. It's a great pan. If you don't have one, you can use a standard bundt pan and just de-pan it upside down so that the cracked side of the cake is facing up.
You will need a stand mixer or a hand mixer for beating the butter, sugar, and nutmeg.
A fine mesh sieve is also handy for sifting the confectioner's sugar for the glaze.
I also used an offset spatula for spreading the glaze on the sides of the cake.
Finally, two wire cooling racks for turning out the cake and flipping it over are super handy.
Recipe and Serving Variations:
While this cake is wonderful on its own, you can serve it with a bit of whipped cream or ice cream to jazz it up as a dessert.
For breakfast, you can serve it with some jam, kind of like a jelly donut.
You could also adorn the glaze with some sprinkles if you like.
Finally, you could also add some cinnamon or cardamom along with the nutmeg to the batter.
Tip for Success:
Be sure to line the bottom of the tube pan with some parchment paper. I had some 9 inch rounds so I cut a circle out of the middle and placed it in the pan. Be sure to spray it with spray oil as well.
Be sure to coat the cake thoroughly with the glaze. To do this, drizzle the top of cake with the glaze while it sits on a wire rack over parchment or a sheet pan. Once you have drizzled the glaze, use an offset spatula to scrape up the glaze that has ended up below the cake and spread it over the sides of the cake.
You'll still have more glaze that has dripped below the cake. Gather it up and drizzle it over the cake once more. Don't waste it!
More Donut Recipes You May Also Enjoy:
And be sure to try Sourdough Tangerine Muffins!
Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving by Rebecca Firth. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!
Follow our Facebook and Instagram pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.
The Cake Slice Bakers also have a Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
- All That's Left Are The Crumbs
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Glazed Tangerine Donut Cake
Ingredients
- 141 grams (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 300 grams (1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup neutral ( I used grapeseed) oil
- 1 large egg plus 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 180 grams (3/4 cup) room temperature sour cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla estract
- 406 grams (3 1/4 cups) cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 300 grams (2 1/2 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 3 tablespoons tangerine juice
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 12-cup tube pan with spray oil. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and nutmeg on medium with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, until fluffy.
- Change the mixer speed to low and slowly add the oil. Mix for 2 minutes. Add the egg and beat on medium-low for about 5 minutes. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and beat until fully combined. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat for one minute on medium.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour in half of the butter mixture and mix until combined with a rubber spatula. Add the buttermilk and mix. Add the rest of the flour mixture and stir and fold until fully combined. The mixture might be a bit lumpy.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and tap the pan on your counter to break up any large bubbles. Smooth the top of the batter with a spoon to even it out.
- Bake the cake for 40 minutes. Let the cake cool on a rack in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn out the cake onto a wire rack and remove the parchment paper. Top the cake with another wire rack and flip the cake over so that the top of the cake is the "cracked" side. Let cool completely.
- Mix all of the glaze ingredients with a wire whisk. Pour the glaze over the cake, coating the top and sides.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
501Fat (grams)
19 gSat. Fat (grams)
9 gCarbs (grams)
79 gFiber (grams)
1 gNet carbs
78 gSugar (grams)
53 gProtein (grams)
5 gCholesterol (grams)
52 mg
We love donuts, so I can't wait to try this cake! And I love cajeta as well, so I am going to need to make a cheesecake too!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of cajeta before, but that cheesecake does look amazing.
DeleteI'm expecting to see a lot of citrus recipes coming my way from you. This was a great start.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is homemade tangelocello. So good!
DeleteIt was hard to decide between this and the cheesecake. I see this in my December choice future! Looks great.
ReplyDeleteYour cheesecake is simply gorgeous.
DeleteYour cake looks so enticing! It looks just like a large glazed cake donut.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely yes! I love tangerine, and this cake sounds divine. I can't wait to try it out.
ReplyDelete