Powdered Donut Cake

 I confess. I am a bit of an old fashioned girl.  I am not a huge fan of bells and whistles. I have always thought that if something isn't broken, why fix it.  I am like that with most things in life.  
I like simple and uncomplicated things and I love good old fashioned powdered donuts.  The cake type of donuts. not the yeast ones.  Heavily flavored with nutmeg and drenched in powdered sugar. 

So much powdered sugar that it is almost a health hazard to breathe around it.  This Powdered Donut Cake is all that and more.  
The main bonus of this cake is that there is no deep frying involved. You end up with a cake that tastes just like a donut, but without any of the fuss and faff surrounding making donuts.  I am all for that.
 Not a donut, but a delicious snacking cake, adapted from a recipe I found in a book entitled "Snacking Cakes," by Yossy Arefi.   Every cake I have made from this book has been a huge success, and this one was no different.
Easy to make, quick to bake and deliciously easy to eat.  This would make a great snack cake to put into the kids lunches, or to serve as a simple weeknight or weekend dessert, with ice cream.
 We never had yeasted donuts when we were growing up. Only cake donuts.  And they were a real treat. My Aunt Orabelle used to make donuts from scratch. 
They were lovely, big and puffy and covered with cinnamon sugar.  You can  find my recipe for Old Fashioned Doughnuts here.  These are the cake kind of donuts.
 I have also shared my recipe for Old Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts on here.  They are equally as delicious and again a cake style of donut.
But, fried.  Most donuts are fried.  They had little donut shops all over the UK on most High Streets, which is what they call the main shopping thoroughfares of towns and cities. There was one in Chester just below the Victoria clock.  The smell of the donuts cooking was always really tantalizing.
 When I was a child sometimes as a treat mom would pick up a bag of cake type of donuts at the grocery store.  She would only get the plain ones. They did not have any kind of sugar on them, in her attempt to make us eat healthier.
She would pop them into a paper bag and warm them up for us in a slow oven.  Oh boy but they were some good.   We always enjoyed them very much.
 This delicious snacking cake very much mimics the flavors of a good old fashioned cake donut.   Heavily flavored with fresh grated nutmeg and moist from the use of sour cream, it is a buttery dense cake.
The icing sugar topping is perfect as is.  Thick and heavy, it will give you an icing sugar moustache, but that is what you expect when you eat something like this.
 It is buttery and old fashioned and perfect just as it is.  Do make sure you use full fat sour cream. I don't think you would get quite as dense and rich a batter if you were to use lower fat sour cream. 
Baked in an 8-inch square pan, this cake can also be baked in a loaf tin.  You will need a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf tin.  It will take slightly longer to bake due to the shape and density of the pan. 40 to 50 minutes will do it.
 You can also bake it in a 9-inch round pan if desired.  It will take the same amount of time as the 8-inch square cake, 25 to 35 minutes.
Apparently you can also double the recipe and bake it in a Bundt tin.  In this cake it will take about 50 to 60 minutes.  
In all cases the finished warm cake is brushed with melted butter and drenched in a thick layer of icing sugar.
 If you are not a fan of powdered sugar you could brush the finished cake with the melted butter and then drench the top in a mix of cinnamon sugar. 2 TBS of sugar and 2 tsp of ground cinnamon works well.
You can also glaze it rather than drench it, with a sweet icing glaze.  A lemon glaze would go wonderfully with the flavor of the nutmeg.  Just whisk about 1 1/2 cups (190g) of icing sugar with some lemon juice until you get a thick glaze icing and then spoon this over the cooled cake.
  
This cake cuts into 9 perfect squares.  Perfect for eating out of hand, sturdy enough to do so quite easily.  This is not a fragile cake.
That makes it perfect for lunch boxes, because you know it will not be falling apart in transit.  It also makes an excellent dessert cut into squares and served with a scoop of ice cream and perhaps some berries or other fruit on the side. 
 Eileen and Tim came over for supper on Monday and this is what we had for dessert.  Squares of this cake along with some ice cream.  Tim and Eileen each had chocolate sauce drizzled over theirs.
I was happy with it just as is. Old fashioned girl that I am.
 
Eileen's comment, "This really does taste just like a donut!"  High praise indeed.  Do be warned however, you do need to like the flavor of nutmeg as it is rather predominant.
That was not a problem with me as I love nutmeg, so much so that I named one of my cats Nutmeg.   

Oh but he is such a little dear.  Love him to bits.  He's 9 weeks old now and as cute as a button, and pretty mischievous as well. 

Much more active than his sister Cinnamon. Altogether, they both keep me on my toes. I am so happy with their company.  They are growing into a lovely pair of cats with endearingly sweet dispositions and personalities. 
They are quite simply wonderful company. They are always at my feet while I am writing.  I will not ever be alone or lonely so long as they are around!
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Powdered Donut Cake

Yield: 9Author: Marie RaynerPrep time: 10 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 45 MinThis buttery cake with its heavily powdered top and nutmeg flavored batter tastes just like an old fashioned donut, with none of the faff or fuss of frying.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 2 large free range eggs
• 1 cup (120g) dairy sour cream
• 1/2 cup (115g) butter, melted
• 1 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups (210g) plain all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

To finish:

• 1 TBS butter, melted
• 3 TBS sifted icing sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4.  Butter an 8-inch square baking tin really well and line the bottom of the tin with baking paper.
2. Sift together the flour, soda and baking powder. Set aside.
3. Whisk the sugar and eggs together until foamy and pale in color.  Whisk in the sour cream, butter, nutmeg, vanilla and salt. 
4. Stir in the flour mixture until everything is well combined and you have a smooth batter.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Tap the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes until risen and golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.  Set on a wire rack to cook for 15 minutes before carefully tipping out onto the wire rack to cool completely. 
6. When the cake is still slightly warm to the touch, brush the top with melted butter and then dust with the icing sugar. You should have a lovely thick layer of sugar.  
7. Cut into squares to serve.  
8. Store, covered tightly, for up to three days. It will probably absorb the sugar on top so you may need to redust it.

All nutritional data is calculated by the recipe card program and may not be entirely accurate.

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