Donut Loaf

I stared glumly at the smoking wreckage of my kitchen. Homemade doughnuts had seemed like the perfect dessert for this evening’s Chanukah dinner party. Drawn in by the three page color spread in Gourmet magazine, the yeasty scent of freshly fried doughnuts beckoned. Maybe this would become a cherished annual family activity. Eight hours later, every surface in the kitchen was covered with flour, a slick sheen of oil covered the stove top and a dozen limp doughnuts graced the dessert tray.

Donut Loaf

I presented my grand finale with a flourish and waited for delighted accolades from the gathered family and guests. I practised looking down modestly. Two bites into my greasy oeuvre, I knew that no compliments would be forthcoming. The doughnuts were raw in the middle – all of them. My husband Stephen and the children assured me that the edges of the doughnuts were delicious. Small consolation. At that moment I decided that this was my first and last foray into making these deep-fried delicacies. But the following recipe for a “donut loaf” by Shauna Sever in her award winning cookbook Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland, is an entirely different matter.

This easily prepared loaf cake tastes like a giant powdered sugar doughnut. Don’t underestimate the importance of the nutmeg in this recipe. It’s the secret ingredient that imparts that copycat grocery store doughnut flavor. Use freshly grated nutmeg if you can. It makes a difference.

Assemble your ingredients. Spray a 9X5″ loaf pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. The crosswise piece should be long enough to come up and over the sides of the pan. This piece will serve as handles when you want to remove the cake from the pan. Grate the nutmeg using a microplane grater (if using fresh nutmeg). I recommend fresh nutmeg for this recipe if you’re able to obtain it. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients and the nutmeg. If you are using buttermilk, more power to you. I used almond milk that I combined with a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Allow the almond milk or fresh milk that has been combined with the lemon juice to rest for a minute or two until it begins to curdle.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. In the bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter or margarine on medium-high speed until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in 1/4 cup of the flour mixture. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the flour mixture alternating with the curdled milk, or buttermilk, for a total of 5 additions, 3 additions of the dry ingredients and 2 additions of the soured milk or buttermilk. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Scrape the bowl with a spatula to make sure that all the ingredients are incorporated well. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60-75 minutes. The cake should be golden and have a couple of cracks on top. Allow the cake to cool for at least 30 minutes. Using the parchment paper handles, lift the cake out of the pan. Peel the parchment paper from the cake.

When the loaf is cool and firm enough to handle, but still slightly warm, sift the icing sugar over a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cradling the cake with your forearm, using a pastry brush, spread melted butter or margarine, on the bottom of the cake. Dip the cake into icing sugar. Continue brushing butter or margarine on the long  sides of the loaf and dipping each side into the icing sugar so that it becomes completely covered with the sugar. Do the same for the short sides of the cake. And finally, pick up the remaining sugar from the pan and sift it over the top of the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before slicing and serving. You can touch up the loaf with sifted icing sugar as necessary.

When researching the recipe for this cake I came across an almost identical recipe for an Old-Fashioned Doughnut Bundt Cake, by pastry chef, recipe developer and cookbook author, Erin Jeanne McDowell. The recipe for the cake is quite similar to Shauna Sever’s recipe but instead of icing sugar, Erin Jeanne McDowell coats the cake with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar after brushing it with butter. Two doughnuts for the price of one?

Print Recipe

Donut Loaf

Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Desserts

By Shauna Sever, Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland – Serves: 8-10

Prep Time: 10 minutes + 5 minutes – Cooking Time: 60 minutes – Total Time: 75 minutes

A moist pound cake with a hint of nutmeg, covered in icing sugar. This cake tastes like a giant powdered sugar donut.

Ingredients

• CAKE
• Nonstick cooking spray for the pan
• 2¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk, at room temperature or, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and, regular milk or non-dairy milk, added to the 1 cup mark of your measuring cup
• FINISHING
• 1 cup icing sugar (confectioners sugar), sifted, plus more as needed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, melted

Instructions

For the cake:

1

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9X5" loaf pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. The crosswise piece should be long enough to come up and over the sides of the pan. This piece will serve as handles when you want to remove the cake from the pan.

2

Grate the nutmeg using a microplane grater (if using fresh nutmeg). I recommend fresh nutmeg for this recipe if you're able to obtain it.

3

If using regular milk or non-dairy milk, measure 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into a 1-cup measuring cup. Fill the cup with regular milk or non-dairy milk to the 1-cup mark. Allow the milk and lemon juice to sit for a couple of minutes. It will curdle a bit. That's great.

4

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

5

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter or margarine on medium-high speed until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in 1/4 cup of the flour mixture. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

6

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the flour mixture alternating with the curdled milk or buttermilk, for a total of 5 additions, 3 additions of the dry ingredients and 2 additions of the soured milk or buttermilk. Begin and end with the flour mixture.

7

Finish folding the batter by hand to make sure everything is incorporated.

8

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60-75 minutes. The cake should be golden and have a couple of cracks on top when done. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should emerge with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Use the parchment paper handles to lift the cake out of the pan. Allow the cake to continue cooling for another 30 minutes.

To finish:

9

When the loaf is cool and firm enough to handle, but still slightly warm, sift the icing sugar over a parchment lined baking sheet. Peel the parchment paper from the cake.

10

Cradling the cake with your hand and forearm, using a pastry brush, spread melted butter or margarine on the bottom of the cake. Dip the cake into the icing sugar. Continue brushing butter or margarine on the long sides of the loaf and dipping each side into the powdered sugar so that it becomes completely covered with the sugar. Do the same for the short sides of the cake. And finally, pick up the remaining sugar from the pan and sift it over the top of the cake.

11

Allow the cake to cool completely before slicing and serving. You can touch up the loaf with sifted icing sugar as necessary.

Notes

This cake freezes very well. Touch up the icing sugar as necessary before serving. We left nothing to chance in testing this recipe and actual did side by side tastings with the powdered sugar donuts in the picture. The cake was moister and even tastier than the donuts.