Description
Forget lining your pan with parchment paper - line it with cinnamon sugar! This technique takes a basic butter cake and turns it into the most amazing Donut Cake. The cake is light and fluffy, and surrounded on all sides by a delicious layer of cinnamon sugar. You'll be eating this straight from the pan warm - it's that good!
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar
- 60g raw / turbinado sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Donut Cake
- 150g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 320g granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 large eggs (about 110g, not including the shell), at room temperature
- 165g sour cream, at room temperature
- 250g all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt (use less if you are using table salt or salted butter)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 330°f / 165°c. Combine the raw sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Grease an 8" (20cm) square baking pan well with butter. Dust the pan with cinnamon sugar, making sure that you get a generous coating on every side of the pan. Shake the remaining cinnamon sugar back into the bowl - this will be used to top the cake with. Place the pan in the fridge until you are ready to fill it - this lets the butter set and helps to prevent it from coming off as much when you are adding the batter.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium to high speed until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to combine between each, then beat the mix for a further 2-3 minutes on high speed until it has thickened up, and is very light.
- Measure out the sour cream into a small bowl. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- Alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream, starting and ending with the flour - add the flour in three additions and the sour cream in two, and briefly mix between additions. Switch to a spatula and give the mixture a few turns to ensure that it is evenly mixed.
- Transfer the mix to the prepared pan and smooth down with a spatula or the back of a spoon, making sure that there are no large air bubbles in the mixture.
- Sprinkle the top of the cake with the remaining cinnamon sugar.
- Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, until the middle springs back when lightly pressed with a finger, and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.
- Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the pan. Slice into pieces using a plastic knife or scraper (if you are using a non-stick pan).
- Store the cake at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days. I like to microwave the cake if it is past the day that I made it to re-warm and freshen up the cake.
Notes
I used a non-stick USA pan brand cake pan. I have not tested this recipe in a pan that is not non-stick or a glass pan.
To add jam - I left out the cinnamon in the sugar coating and also in the batter. Once the batter is in the pan, create little divots in the batter with a teaspoon and fill them with jam. Gently try to cover with the batter. Top with the sugar. I used 150g raspberry fruit preserve which has a lower sugar content than regular jam as these were already quite sweet!