Giant Doughnut Cake (Or How to Make Your Own Cake Molds)

My roommate loves doughnuts, so I decided to make her the biggest one she had ever had. They sell doughnut cake molds, but I was on a budget and didn't know when I'd ever make another one, so I opted to make my own mold and here's the result!

I ended up making a two layer cake, but you can make a slightly smaller, single layer cake.

TOOLS
Electric Mixer
Large Mixing Bowl
Small Mixing Bowl
2 Medium Sauce Pans
2 Sheet Pans
Mixing Spoons
Wisk
Spatula
Extra wide heavy duty Aluminum Fool
Cooking Spray (Very Necessary)
Bread knife
Perforated cooling rack
Pajama Pants (Or whatever works. I'll explain in the next step.)

INGREDIENTS
Cake
2 boxes chocolate cake mix (Can be made with 1 if you want a slightly smaller, single layer doughnut cake)
The ingredients for 2(or 1) boxes of cake mix (oil, water, eggs, etc . . .)

Icing
1/4 cup milk (I used skim because it was all I had, but you're supposed to use Whole. The choice is yours)
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (Optional)

Chocolate Frosting
1 lb confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract

Colored Sprinkles!!! (Missing from photo)

Take a pair of pajama pants and close the end of one leg with string or fishing line. Next, fill same leg with other laundry till it is stuffed, but flexible. Then, curve leg into a circle and wrap the remaining leg around the end of the stuffed leg so that you get a large doughnuts shape. This doesn't need to be perfect. I know you're all very creative people, so if you can think of a more practical way to make a doughnut shape, more power to you.

Now take three large square sheets of aluminum fool, layer them on top of each other. Next place them on top of the fake doughnut you've shaped. Start by pushing in the middle, getting a solid dip, and then bend the rest of the foil over the doughnut. Now, gently lift the foil mold off your doughnut model You can use your hands to bend and sculpt the mold if it needs any correction.

Once you have an ideal mold, separate the inner layer of foil from the outer two. The outer two will be your cake mold. If you are making two layers, put the inner foil back on the model and place two more sheets of foil on the model and repeat what you just did. Trust me; you'll want each cake layer to have it's own mold.

Make a batter using the cake mix plus the required ingredients. Preheat oven for shiny pans.

Spray your mold(s) with cooking spray (be thorough), and set each on their own cookie sheet pan.

Pour almost half of the batter into each mold, or almost all of the batter if you're making a single layer cake. The cake will rise, so too much batter will complicate things*. When Pouring the batter, slowly let it fall into one side of the mold and let it fill in the rest (this will decrease bubbles). Once the molds are filled with batter, they'll be less sturdy, so move it in and out of the oven with the cookie sheets.

Bake each layer separately in the center of the oven so it bakes evenly. For the baking time, follow the instructions for a bunt cake (around 45min). Once the cake is done (toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cake), remove it and let a cool a few minutes before you try to separate it from the mold. While your second (or only) layer is baking move on to Step Five to make Icing!

*Using the excess batter, I made cup cakes.

Chocolate Icing
Star by melting the stick of butter with the stove, microwave, or oven, in the appropriate container. This time I used a saucepan over the stove. Sift sugar and cocoa, mix it into melted butter with wisk, and then add the milk and vanilla. Once thoroughly combined you should have a nice smooth icing (perfect for licking the spoon). Now put icing in Freezer until your ready to add it to the cake. If you're making a layer cake, you'll need the icing to be a little firm so you can spread it in between the two layers. With the single layer version you'll just be pouring over the cake and consistency isn't such an issue.

Regular Icing
In a saucepan, heat the 1/4 cup milk until it's warm, then sift in the two cups of confectioner's sugar. Slowly wish until completely combined.

This first photo show's what can happen if you use too much batter or the island in the middle of your cake mold isn't high enough. However, I am making a two layer cake so I just cut the top off both layers anyway, using the bread knife.

IMPORTANT NOTE! Be careful when moving the cake layers; they're a little flimsy and if you are not careful, they might break under the strain of their own weight. When flipping them, set a plate or cooling rack on top and sandwich them between the two plates as you turn them upside-down. I didn't have much trouble, but the risk is still there.

Place the bottom (or only) cake layer on a cooling rack  that's sitting on a cookie sheet or some other pan that can catch the run-off icing. Now that your Chocolate icing has cooled to a thicker consistency, spread no more than half of it over the flat top of your bottom cake layer. If you're not layering, you'll have more for the top. Set the top layer onto the bottom one with the sliced flat side down.

Next pour the simple doughnut icing over the cake, letting it dribble along the sides naturally. A lot of the icing will drip off the cake and onto the pan, so once you've poured it all, lift the cake off the pan using the cooling rack and dribble the excess icing on the cake a second time.

Once the white icing has cooled to a solid state (putting it in the freezer can accelerate this), pour the remaining chocolate icing over the cake. If you choose to add sprinkles, do it now. Now set the cake in the refrigerator to for at least an hour.

One hour later your cake should be ready to eat!