This Easy Donut Cake is perfect for birthday celebrations, holidays, or just because! Topped with a delicious Chocolate Ganache frosting and REAL donuts, this cake is absolutely one-of-a-kind.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 8” round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line the inside bottom of each pan with parchment paper. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside for now. In a separate bowl, using the paddle attachment, beat together granulated sugar, melted butter and vegetable oil together on high speed until light in color and well combined (about 1 minute).
Beat eggs and vanilla extract into the wet mixture until light & fluffy (about 1 minute).
On low speed, beat half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients mixture. Beat just until you no longer see streaks of white flour in the cake batter. Do not overmix.
On low speed, beat in all of the buttermilk just until mixed. Be careful not to overmix your cake mix – just mix until the buttermilk is combined with the other ingredients.
Beat in the remaining dry ingredients on low speed. Again, do not overmix or the cake will bake up dry.
Pour batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Try to get the same amount in each pan so that they bake at the same speed and bake up to the same size (height). Bake cake in oven for 28 to 30 minutes until golden brown, or until toothpick inserted in middle of cakes comes out clean.
Remove cakes from oven and let cakes cool in their pans for 15 minutes before removing cakes from pans. Place them a on wire rack or cooling rack to finish cooling. Once cakes have completely cooled to room temperature, cover each cooled cake completely in food-safe plastic wrap (wrap each cake separately so they don’t stick together) and refrigerate for two hours. This step is important because you’ll want the cakes to be firm before frosting. If they are too soft when you start frosting, the cakes may crumble and break apart during the decorating process. Remove cakes from fridge and use a large serrated knife to cut the dome tops off all cake layers so they all have a flat top. These cakes don’t rise a lot so there won’t be much of a dome top to cut off.
Frosting Instructions:
In a large bowl, beat the confectioners’ sugar, butter and vanilla extract on high speed until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). The frosting should be firm enough to hold its shape while piping with an icing tip, but soft enough that it can be frosted onto the cake smoothly. If you want the frosting between the layers to be colored, you can add in your food coloring now to get your desired color scheme.
Place a thin layer of frosting (about 2 tablespoons) in the middle of a cake board or cake plate then place one cake (cut side facing up) on top of that frosting. This is meant to secure the bottom half of the cake to the cake board or cake plate so it doesn’t slide around during decorating.
Add a generous layer of frosting on top of that first layer of cake, smoothing it out evenly. Place the second layer of cake (cut side facing up again) on top of the first layer.
Add a generous layer of frosting on top of that second layer of cake, smoothing it out evenly, then place the third layer of cake (bottom side facing up) on top of that frosted second layer.
Frost a thin layer of frosting around the top and sides of the cake. This first thin layer of frosting (called a crumb coat) is meant to secure all the crumbs to the cake so you don’t get crumbs into the final layer of frosting. To make the layers of frosting smooth, use a smooth edged tool, like a cake scraper, to smooth the icing out.Place the lightly frosted (crumb coated) cake in the freezer for 10 minutes so the crumb coat hardens up a bit before frosting the next layer. Remove cake from the freezer to apply the final layer of frosting on the sides of the cake. If you want the final layer of frosting colored, add the desired food coloring now. Spread the frosting as smoothly as you can using the cake scraper tool. Optional: Add sprinkles to the bottom border of the cake while the frosting is still soft enough. Place the cake back into the freezer for about 5 minutes.
Chocolate Ganache Instructions:
For the chocolate ganache, using a microwave-safe small bowl, place the heavy cream in the microwave until it starts to simmer (about 1 minute).
Immediately pour hot heavy cream over the chocolate chips and let sit for 5 minutes before stirring.
After 5 minutes, stir until well mixed and smooth.
Use a spoon to gently spoon chocolate ganache over the top of the chilled cake and let it drip a bit down the sides of the cake. Optional: add sprinkles if desired.
Add donuts to the top of the cake while the chocolate is still wet. You can use toothpicks to stand up each real donut on the cake, if needed.