31 Appetizing Donut Cakes You Will Love

Everyone loves donuts, so you should try one of these donut cake recipes on our list. We have all the ideas to inspire you.

A Few Words About Donut Cake

You’ll always need more donut cake recipes if you are a fan like us. Donut is one of the world’s most popular desserts or snacks, with over 10 billion consumed yearly in the U.S. The delectable fried dough was invented by a teenage Sailor named Hanson Gregory to feed hungry sailors bread when they’re out at sea. From being an obscure Sailor’s meal to a go-to bite, there’s a lot to love about donuts.

We have three different recipe groups on this list: cake donut recipes, donut cake ideas, and donut-shaped cake recipes. So whether you’re after a cake donut to make this afternoon, rustic donut wedding cake ideas, or a giant donut cake, we have it all!

See the best selection of Cake Donut Recipes

Get ready to bake because these mouthwatering cake donut recipes will leave you wanting more. Get some ideas and customize your cake donut with glaze and toppings!

1

2-Ingredients Baked Cake Donut Recipes

Do you like recipes requiring you to get so many different things? Then you’ll love this simple two-ingredient baked cake donut by The BakerMama; it’s easy and takes less than 30 minutes to make!

The secret ingredient to this easy recipe is cake mix. You must mix a box cake with your favorite flavors, such as mashed bananas, cinnamon applesauce, or pure pumpkin.

Then get a container of ready-to-use frosting, and you’re done! The maker of this recipe decided to use all three for her family; this way, everyone can You can easily do that by separating the cake mix into three different batches, and you’ve got creative birthday donut cake ideas!

Total preparation time: 22 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

2

Chocolate Glaze Cake Donut Recipes

Everybody loves chocolate, and this cake donut recipe with chocolate gaze by Simply Stacie will satisfy all your cravings.

These golden brown donuts have a delicate and light texture, coupled with the homemade chocolate glaze. What’s even better about these donuts is that they can hold up to about three months inside the freezer!

The secret to this recipe is the buttermilk which gives the donuts their moisture and texture.

Calories per Serving: 224
Total preparation time: 29 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

3

Chocolate Cake Donut Recipes

This is another delicious chocolate cake donut you can devour; the difference is this recipe by One Sweet Appetite has double the chocolate. The base cake donut is laced with chocolate and then dipped in chocolate ganache.

If you want to go all the way, you can top that off with some chocolate sprinkles and make this a triple-threat recipe! To make these chocolate donuts, you’ll incorporate dark cocoa powder into the batter and semi-sweet chocolate chips into your chocolate ganache.

That way, every bite will be filled with chocolate. Your family will love these cake donuts, and we guarantee they’ll go for seconds.

Calories per Serving: 383
Total preparation time: 35 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

4

Coca-Cola Cake Donut Recipes

You might be wondering whether you read the recipe title right. Can Coca-Cola make cake donuts delicious?

The soda in Coca-Cola is an excellent leavening agent, which could give the cake donuts a fluffy texture and moisture. The extra ingredients in this recipe are only Coca-Cola, which will substitute milk and buttermilk.

That’s why you’ll include some Canola oil into the mix so that you’ll have the fat to give the cake donut a better texture.

Total preparation time: 30 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

5

Homemade Glazed Cake Donut Recipes

Who doesn’t know about glazed donuts? Every donut chain in the world will always have this staple variety on its menu.

Its simplicity and flavor will take you back to the old days when your mom used to bake you donuts after school. Glazed donuts are light enough that you won’t feel guilty after a few.

They use plain glaze for their donuts, but if you like chocolate, they also give you a recipe for the chocolate glaze.

Calories per Serving: 191
Total preparation time: 24 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

6

Classic Cake Donut Recipes

The following recipe by Sugar Geek Show will show you how to make your own classic fried cake donuts. The ingredients are similar to other cake donut recipes, but you’ll add some lard and nutmeg.

The fat will give you a flaky texture outside, while the nutmeg adds depth to the cake donut. Consider using lard in your other baking goods if you’re an avid baker.

The tutorial says it leaves no water or dairy product behind, giving you the crispiest baked goods you’ll ever have.

Calories per Serving: 342
Total preparation time: 30 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

7

Fast and Easy Cake Donut Recipes

The following recipe by Preppy Kitchen will show you how you can make old-fashioned donuts. Like any other cake donuts, these are made without any yeast, so they’re quick and easy to make.

What makes these donuts unique is the type of flour the maker uses. Instead of regular all-purpose flour, they use cake flour or all-purpose flour with cornstarch.

This gives the donuts a nice texture between bread and cake.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

8

Easy Baked Carrot Cake Donut Recipes

Are you ready for a brand new take on the cake donut? This recipe by Stress Baking will show you how to make a carrot cake-inspired donut.

They’re moist and chewy, perfectly spiced, and topped with plenty of cream cheese icing. These are more on the savory side of desserts. Another plus point of this recipe is that it’s ready in under 30 minutes.

This recipe is also perfect if you want to be sneaky and put vegetables into your kids’ desserts. If cream cheese is not your favorite, you can skip that and opt for some powdered sugar instead.

Customize this recipe to your taste, and you’ll be able to enjoy them while getting your vitamins. 

Calories per Serving: 303
Total preparation time: 25 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

See the best selection of Donut Cake Ideas

It’s time to inspire you with some donut cake ideas. You’ll see how these creative recipes vary from incorporating your donuts into a drip cake to wedding cakes.

1

Drip and Tie Dye Donut Cake

If you’re looking for creative donut theme birthday cake ideas, this drip tie-dye donut cake will delight you. The cake is a single-tier cake with beautiful tie-dye patterns on the outside.

This cake is then decorated with some colorful donuts. Grab some from the market instead if you think baking a cake and donuts on the same day is too much for you.

Customize this cake by using your favorite colors for your donut toppers and make this donut theme cake truly your own.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

2

Drip and Funfetti Donut Cake Ideas

The following tutorial by My Cupcake Addiction is the perfect donut birthday cake for your little girl. It has a feminine but energetic bright pink color with drippings of chocolate ganache on top.

They’re also adorned with strawberry flavors and funfetti. The maker uses strawberry frosting and a sponge cake base to take this cake to the next level. A good trick this tutorial shows you is they buy plain donuts instead of ones that already have glaze on them.

This way, you can control what colors you want to use as your donuts’ toppings. For this one, she sticks to the theme and uses chocolate ganache and pink buttercream, which is good since you don’t have to make another batch of ganache and buttercream!

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

3

Kawaii Donut Cake

Here’s an adorable donut-themed cake by the Scran Line. It’s called a kawaii donut cake which means cute in Japanese because the giant donut-shaped cake on top of this single-tier cake has an adorable face with a smile.

The base cake is made from the usual layers of sheet cakes; The giant donut on top of it is made by baking a round cake.

Decorate the giant donut with some strawberry chocolate drip and sprinkles. Put all the elements together, and you’ve got a kawaii pink donut birthday cake!

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

4

Funfetti Donut Cake

We’ll never have enough funfetti in our lives, so we included this funfetti donut-shaped cake. It’s a simple and down-to-earth donut-themed sheet cake, with a simple single-tier cake in the middle surrounded by mini donuts.

The maker of this recipe, The Little Epicurean, uses funfetti-laced vanilla sponge cakes as its base. Even more impressive is that she bakes her mini donuts with an original recipe.

If you want to cut short your cooking time, you have our permission to use store-bought donuts, although we read in this recipe that the taste of these mini donuts is fantastic and is one of the highlights of the cake.

The colors on this cake also make this a perfect first birthday donut theme cake if you have a little girl.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

5

Pink Yummy Donut Cake Recipe

The following tutorial by Easy Cake Bake has creative donut birthday cake ideas since it will show you several different desserts to prepare if you have a birthday party coming soon.

These donut-shaped cake ideas for birthdays consist of a single-tier cake adorned with pink donuts, a wonderful rainbow cake, and colorful cupcakes.

The donuts they use in this tutorial are yeast donuts. You can pick a different color and make them blue to make this donut theme birthday cake boy friendly!

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

6

Apple Cider Donut Cake

Who doesn’t love apple cider donut-shaped cakes? This cake comprises spiced apple cake layers, spiced cinnamon buttercream, and some baked apple cider donuts on top! Can you imagine how rich this cake is?

But it’s a small sacrifice to enjoy this delectable donut-shaped cake design. One of the tips she shares with you in this tutorial is to use frosting between your donuts as you stack them to ensure they stay in their place.  

Calories per Serving: 355
Total preparation time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

7

Donut Wedding Cake Stand Tutorial

Have you ever wondered how to make a donut wedding cake? This tutorial by Bespoke Bride will show you an elegant donut wedding cake you can easily make at home.

All you need to make this cake is store-bought plain donuts, sugar glaze, sprinkles, flowers, and a cake stand.

You can customize this with the color scheme of the bride and groom. Then adjust the colors of your sprinkles and flowers to that, and your wedding donut-shaped cake is ready for the reception party.

One tip the maker advises you is to ensure you have enough donuts for everyone at the wedding.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

8

Three-Tier Donut Cake

Do you want to make an impressive donut first birthday cake? This amazing three-tier cake by Ms. Dreamcakes with donut-shaped cake toppers will leave everyone in awe.

The recipe maker uses fondant to create the donuts you’ll use to decorate this cake. But if you want to enjoy their cake and eat their donuts, you’re welcome to switch the fondant donuts with real ones.

With three tiers, this cake is a suitable party donut theme birthday cake.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

9

Super Easy Drip Donut Cake

If you’re looking for a super easy and beginner-friendly donut-themed birthday cake, this tutorial by The Coffee Mom will suit your needs perfectly.

This happy birthday donut theme birthday cake is a single-tier cake with colorful chocolate ganache dripping and sprinkles.

On top and the side of the cake are half donuts and donut holes. You can make this cake using some round sheet cake, then cover it with buttercream and chocolate drippings.

Total preparation time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

10

Drip Birthday Donut Cake

The following tutorial by Happy Baker Delights is also another super simple cake that beginner bakers can create.

This single-tier cake is decorated with chocolate ganache dripping and a colorful donut on top of it. You’ll be delighted to know that the maker uses store-bought donuts instead of making them themselves.

They use blue chocolate ganache in this tutorial, so they use other colors for their donuts. It’s a nice contrast, so that’s something that you can do too when you make this cake.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

11

Donut Cake Tower

Do you want to save money while you make your happy birthday donut cake? Here’s a simple tutorial for cakes and Cards that you can make with ingredients you already have at home.

After baking and glazing your donuts, stack them into a tower, then decorate with fresh strawberries in between.

Finish the cake with a homemade cake topper using paper and skewers, and your cheap and easy donut-shaped cake is ready to serve!

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

See the best selection of Donut-Shaped Cake

Who wouldn’t love a giant donut cake? These cakes will take your love of donuts even further with amazing donut-shaped cakes. Follow the tutorial and make your impressive donut-shaped cake!

1

Giant Donut Cake with Surprise Inside

The following tutorial by The Cake Blog will show you how to make an adorable, sprinkle-coated, giant pink donut-shaped cake – just like the one Homer Simpson eats!

The cake is just a simple round cake, but it is baked inside a giant donut-shaped cake tin. If you don’t have the cake tin, get creative and carve your sheet cakes instead.

The best part of this cake is it’s straightforward to customize too.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

2

Beautiful Giant Donut Cake

You’ll love this festive-looking giant donut-shaped cake by Georgia’s Cakes. The basic concept of this cake is the same as our last cake.

The maker uses a ring cake pan to make the donut shape, and the cake recipe is a simple vanilla one. This cake has a rustic feel since the maker uses a naked cake concept.

But it also looks modern because she uses chocolate ganache drip and monochrome color pastries on top. You can get the macarons and marshmallows from the shop and top the cake using them.

Make sure you stick with the color scheme so that the effect is similar to the one in this tutorial.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

3

Easiest Donut-Shaped Cake

If you’re after a simple and feminine donut-shaped cake idea, this donut-shaped cake tutorial by Julie Blanner will be one of your favorites on our list.

The cake is a simple donut-shaped cake with blush pink icing and pink sprinkles. The maker’s approach for this cake is similar to a naked cake, so you must ensure it has an elegant baking finish on the outside.

The recipe she uses for the cake is a pound cake.

Calories per Serving: 333
Total preparation time: 50 minutes

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

4

How to Make a Giant Donut Cake

Here’s a very creative donut cake idea by Cakes by Lynz. In this tutorial, she’ll show you how to make a cartoony-looking donut cake with neon pink icing and giant sprinkles.

She’s not using regular sprinkles to make this a big donut cake. All of the decorations on this cake are from fondant.

The base cake is also covered in fondant to have a smooth finish. It’s a straightforward cake to make because fondant is pliable.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

5

Fabulous Donut Shaped Cake

This is another tutorial to make a giant donut cake, but instead of using fondant like our last recipe, they use pink chocolate ganache dripping on the cake.

This makes the cake look authentic and an almost spot-on replica of an actual donut. The bakers in this recipe show you how to do each step carefully and are professional bakers.

You can easily switch the vanilla cake and pink ganache with something else.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

6

Beautiful Fruit Jelly Donut Shaped Cake

Do you want to go a different route? Here’s a beautiful tutorial by Boone Bake. Boone Bake is known for her signature jelly cakes, so she decided to create this tutorial for donut lovers.

This cake is a donut-shaped fruit jelly cake. The outside of the cake will be a layer of jelly with some fresh fruits, while the inside is a regular vanilla cake with lemon strawberry frosting.

The process may seem complicated, but we’ll help you by explaining it in three parts. Firstly, create the base cake first and chill it. Then you’ll stick the fresh fruits directly on the cake. Place the cake inside a slightly larger mold and pour your jelly.

Chill the cake for several hours and watch in wonder as you cut into the cake.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

7

Giant Oreo-Filled Birthday Donut Cake

Do you love donuts and Oreos? Well, we’ll show you a tutorial that lets you embrace both! This recipe by Kawaii Sweet World is a unique giant birthday cake Oreo that’s filled with donuts.

What you’ll need to make this cake is a base chocolate cake, Oreo cookies, and some buttercream to top it all off. First, you’ll bake the chocolate cake inside a ring pan, cut it in half, and fill the layer with cookies and buttercream.

And then, you’ll want to start covering the top half of the cake using pink buttercream. Lastly, top the cake with more Oreos and sprinkles, and your Oreo-filled donut cake is made!

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

8

Giant Donut Cakes with a Twist

Are you ready to be impressed? This tutorial by How to cake it Step by Step won’t just show you one giant donut cake, but you’ll have three different donut cakes!

First is the mega donut cakes, then giant donut cakes, and lastly, Butterfinger donuts. The mega donuts are huge cakes shaped like donuts and give you color options.

The next one is big donut cakes. These are simple single-tier cakes decorated with donuts and fresh fruits.

Lastly, the Butterfinger donuts. This is a huge donut-shaped cake that’s filled with Butterfinger candy bars. We’re betting that it will be the favorite of every caramel lover in your family.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

9

Delicious Apple Cider Bundt Donut Cake

The following tutorial by Cakes by Courtney is a simple and rustic apple cider donut bundt cake. It’s a tender and moist apple spice cake with simple cinnamon and sugar coating.

The recipe maker adjusted her pumpkin cake into apple cider by switching pumpkin puree with some apple sauce and apple cider. She also added some cinnamon and nutmeg because both match the flavor of the apple very well.

All you need to do is to bake the base cake, then coat the cake with butter.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

10

Six Different Giant Donut Cakes

They create six giant donut cakes, each with a particular theme. There’s some Oreo and mint chocolate giant donut cake, lemon meringue giant donut cake, popcorn giant donut cake, chocolate and nuts giant donut cake, and the iconic pink giant donut cake.

Because you’ll use the same vanilla cake recipe as your base cake if you bake multiple cakes, ensure you have enough cake tins!

Also, be prepared with all the toppings you need since you want your cakes to be present quickly. Why not go with our favorite, the popcorn donut cake?

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

11

Buttercream Donut Cake

You’ll love this buttercream donut cake tutorial if you’re not a big fan of fondant. What you’ll love even more is that the tutorial uses a regular round cake for its recipe!

Then the baker uses a cookie cutter and cuts out a hole in the middle so that the round cake emulates a giant donut.

And then, you’ll let the cake cool and paint it with brown edible paint to make it look baked.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe

12

Chocolate Giant Donut Shaped Cake

Here’s a plain cake by Clever Cooks. It’s a giant chocolate donut cake decorated with some chocolate ganache. In terms of simplicity and ease, this cake takes the crown.

The base cake is made from a moist chocolate cake baked inside a bundt cake tin. Then the chocolate ganache is from a mix of cream and chocolate.

The maker also uses pure melted chocolate drizzles on top of the ganache to give it more dimension.

Click here to see the instructions for the Recipe