Name: Make Chrissie Swan’s Cinnamon Donut Cake for afternoon tea
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 12-16
Ingredients: 250 g butter; 230 g (1 cup) caster sugar; 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste; 3 eggs; 450 g (3 cups) plain flour; 1 tablespoon baking powder; 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 500 ml (2 cups) milk; DONUT TOPPING; 100 g butter; 80 g (⅓ cup) caster sugar; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 tablespoon demerara sugar, to sprinkle

Make Chrissie Swan’s Cinnamon Donut Cake for afternoon tea

The flavours in this cake are warm and comforting.

Skip to Recipe

Serves 12-16

Prep

15M

Cook

50M

Total

1H 5M

“This one came about because my local trash and treasure market also happens to have the best cinnamon donut van in the known universe,” Chrissie Swan wrote in her book, The Shortcut Queen.

“I used to walk the kids down for a little paper bag of them some Sundays. But it gets cold in Melbourne. Bitterly so.

“One weekend, I frankly couldn’t be stuffed rugging up so many small arms and legs and heads. Even for a bag of steaming donuts! So, I stayed indoors and made this cake instead. A ring or bundt tin will work – but it MUST have a hole in the middle, or it’s not my donut cake!”

Ingredients

250 g butter

230 g (1 cup) caster sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

3 eggs

450 g (3 cups) plain flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

500 ml (2 cups) milk

DONUT TOPPING

100 g butter

80 g (⅓ cup) caster sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon demerara sugar, to sprinkle

Method

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan-forced. Grease a 2.5 litre (10-cup) capacity ring or bundt tin.

Step 2

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. I like to start this, then I get distracted and begin sorting drawers, then wonder, ‘What’s that sound?’ And I remember the mixer is going, beating the aforementioned butter and sugar. It’s usually about 6 minutes from forgetting to remembering.

Step 3

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition – just cos it’s fun to watch. It’s okay if the batter looks a bit how’s your father … it works out in the end.

Step 4

In a new bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon – don’t bother sifting.

Step 5

Add the milk to the batter, followed by the flour mixture, then mix slowly until combined, smooth and creamy.

Step 6

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

Step 7

While the cake is cooking, make the donut topping. Melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave, then whisk in the caster sugar and cinnamon until quite thick, shiny and brown.

Step 7

Put a plate on top of the still-warm cake in the tin, then flip it upside down onto the plate, then the right way up. Pour and brush the donut topping all over the delicious cake while it is still warm. Sprinkle with demerara sugar at the very end.

Find other recipes like this from The Shortcut Queen by Chrissie Swan.

New Idea Food

For more than 90 years, New Idea has inspired and delighted Australians of all ages with their trusty home-cooked ideas and helpful tips. Today, the talented team in the New Idea Test Kitchen still create the much-loved recipes, hacks, and know-how on everything food.