Raspberry Cheesecake Donut Cake

Our friends all know how much Sue and I love to bake and cook and experiment with food. If one of them finds a cool new kitchen gadget or baking accessory or recipe they say “Hey, you guys should try this!” I love that. I love that we pop into their thoughts when they see these things.

The other day my friend, Marina, got a new cake pan that she so very generously let me try out first. Who let’s someone else be the first to try out their NEW cake pan?? My wonderful friends, of course! It was from Avon, I believe. A donut cake pan made out of silicone. I don’t usually like to bake in the silicone molds but I have to say that this pan was pretty cool. The cake cooked evenly and popped right out after cooling for 5 minutes. I decided to make a “Homer Simpson” looking pink donut with sprinkles.

Raspberry Cheesecake Donut Cake

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup sour cream

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup water

2 eggs

½ cup raspberry jam

4 oz cream cheese, cut into small cubes

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray donut pans with cooking spray. Place pans on cookie sheet.

In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, sour cream, oil, water, and eggs until well blended. Batter will be thick. Using only half of the batter, cover the bottom of both pans. Spoon the jam evenly into both cakes – only down the middle of the cakes so it doesn’t show through after cooking. Sprinkle cream cheese cubes evenly over both cakes, again – only down the middle. (See photo below)

Top with remaining cake batter

Bake at 350 for 30 – 40 minutes. Cakes are done when toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean and cakes are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool in pans for 5 minutes. Invert onto cooling rack and let cool completely before icing.

I made a pink cream cheese frosting and added sprinkles because I was going for the “Homer Simpson” donut look. My recipe is a little sketchy because I tend to kind-of “wing it” when it comes to some icing. I wanted it fairly runny so it would drip off the sides... You may have to tweak this if you decide to use it.

Pink Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

4 oz cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

2 – 4 cups icing sugar (I didn’t really measure – just dumped a little in at a

time)

1 Tbsp Maraschino cherry juice

Red food coloring

Milk

Directions

Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla. Beat in 1 cup of icing sugar. Add cherry juice and a few drops of red food coloring. Slowly blend in another cup or so of icing sugar until you get the spreading texture you are looking for. If it gets too thick, add more cherry juice or a bit of milk –

about a tsp at a time.

(I was looking for a glossy, glazed look so I actually microwaved my icing for about 10 seconds and then slowly drizzled it on the cake. Just a warning if you decide to try this though: too long in the microwave makes your icing way too runny so watch it carefully!)

I then sprinkled generously with multicoloured sprinkles. Voila! The cutest donut cake ever.

I will be delivering this cake to Marina as a thank you for letting me experiment with her new cake pan. I love our friends! Keep those cool and interesting gadgets headed this way guys...