Whenever I watch Zootopia, it makes me crave donuts. Specifically one that looks like “The Big Donut” donut that Judy catches to prevent a tragedy. I decided to recreate this exact sweet treat… in cake form. This one makes a great Zootopia themed birthday cake or addition to the food spread at any Zootopia inspired movie night! Ready to make the world a better place? 

Contents

• The Bake
• Top Tips
• The Recipe
• The Film
• Recipe Card

The Bake

I say it pretty often on Flavour of the Film, but I really do love a Disney film. Zootopia – or Zootropolis to my fellow Brits – is one I keep returning to. When I keep going back to a movie, I know I have to create a recipe in its honour.

I have a growing collection of Disney inspired recipes like my Aladdin cake, my Big Hero 6 inspired melon pan and my Encanto inspired Arepas con Queso!

Originally, I was actually going to make this a recipe for one big donut. An actual donut to recreate the promotional donut in the movie. 

However, to make an actual donut (baked, not fried) of this size would require a similar process as making bread. Whilst I love making bread, it’s not usually a quick process.

Thus, to make this bake more accessible and far less time consuming, I switched out the dough element for cake.

It’s super quick to make and can be customised to suit your tastes! All you need is a 9 inch donut cake tin to bake it in. I used the same tin that I used for my The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring One Ring cake – which is silicone – and it works a treat.

To recreate The Big Donut in Zootopia, I made sure to keep the donut base simple by flavouring it with vanilla. If you look closely in the scene, the donut is a pale beige colour as most donuts usually are.

You can, however, swap out the vanilla for a different extract, or zest of your favourite citrus fruit. As long as it’s a flavour that you find compliments chocolate, you’re good to go.

To decorate my version of The Big Donut in Zootopia, I made a chocolate glaze that is typically used on donuts.

I adapted this recipe for chocolate glaze by Emma J. Watling to suit the needs of my The Big Donut cake.

The glaze gives it that more authentic donut look and taste, despite the base being cake. It also means it’s quick to decorate! Just whisk up and pour over. Easy. Trust me on this one, friends. It’s scrumptious.

To finish, I lightly sprinkled over some multi-coloured sprinkles; The Big Donut in Zootopia isn’t absolutely covered in them! Then, the final touch was the lettering.

“The Big Donut” of Zootopia spelt out in big, beautiful pink letters.

The Big Donut is obviously not an edible donut, but a way of promoting a business. As the lettering looks to be painted on in the movie, I thought it easiest to simply cut the lettering out of some pink fondant icing and press it into the glaze for my edible version.

If, like me, you can’t get your hands on pink fondant for any reason, you can buy white sugar paste or fondant and paint it using pink food colouring. This may be the better option if you are getting your ingredients from a supermarket, rather than a specialist baking store.

This donut cake is so quick to make that it kind of surprised me while I was baking. It’s honestly perfect for a Zootopia movie night or themed party. Even more so if you like cake but aren’t super keen on frosting!

Top Tips

• You’ll need a 9 inch donut shaped cake tin for this cake! I used a silicone one, but metal works, too.
• Make sure your self-raising flour is within its best before date!
• With any cake batter, you want to avoid over mixing in order to achieve the lightest and softest texture.
• Weight out your eggs and get as close to 200g as possible, allowing 20g either way. In this case, it’s better to be slightly under 200g than slightly over. Doing this allows you to achieve the best cake texture.
• You can swap out the vanilla extract for any other extract or zest that you like paired with chocolate. I would recommend sticking with an extract or zest (avoid juice to maintain the texture of the cake) because they won’t drastically change the colour of the sponge.
• The chocolate glaze is incredibly easy to make, but don’t be tempted to add more milk to make it thinner. You could risk more of it running off the cake than staying on! Trust the process.
• The sprinkles can be added as the glaze is setting – they won’t run off so long as you don’t add to many.
• If you can’t find pink fondant or sugar paste, get yourself white instead and paint it with liquid pink food colouring. It’s still edible if you do this as long as your ingredients are in date.
• If you have letter stamps and would like to use them, feel free! I used a sharp knife to cut out my letters freehand because I wanted to get as accurate as I could to the font used on The Big Donut in Zootopia.

This The Big Donut in Zootopia cake is light, fluffy and more donut-like than you may realise! That chocolate glaze makes all the difference. It’s a quick and easy one; perfect for your Zootopia movie night or themed party. I hope you have as much fun baking it as I did. Enjoy!

Happy baking, happy eating!

The Recipe

Ingredients

The Big Donut cake:

• 200g [7 oz] unsalted butter   room temperature or slightly softened
• 200g [1 cup] caster sugar
• 200g eggs (around 3 large eggs)
• 200g [1¼ cups] self-raising flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate glaze:

• 200g [1¼ cup + 2 tbsp] icing [confectioners] sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 4 tbsp milk of your choice

Decoration:

• 1 pack pink fondant or sugar paste
• Multi-coloured sprinkles

Serves: 8+

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 25 – 30 minutes

Decorating time: 20 minutes

Method

The Big Donut cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C [325°F ] or 160°C fan and generously grease a 9 inch donut shaped cake tin with butter. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in well in between until fully incorporated.
4. Spoon in the vanilla and beat in.
5. Sieve in the flour and beat in just until you can no longer see flour in the batter. Be mindful not to overmix here.
6. Spoon the batter into the greased donut shaped tin and gently spread the batter evenly in the tin.
7. Place the tin on a baking tray and bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until baked.
8. Your cake will be ready when it is risen and golden. A skewer/cocktail stick should come out clean when tested, the surface should spring back when gently pressed on and you should hear little to no bubbling/crackling when you listen to the cake.
9. Once baked, leave your cake in the tin for around 10 minutes, then place upside down on a wire rack to cool. Once it is completely cool, carefully loosen the sponge from the tin whilst still upside down and leave on the rack.

Chocolate glaze:

1. Whilst your cake is cooling, make your chocolate glaze. 
2. Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl and mix together. Add the milk and whisk by hand really well until smooth. The glaze should be thick and fall from the whisk in ribbons. Do not be tempted to add more milk as you could risk more glaze falling off the cake than desired!

Decoration:

1. Once your cake is completely cool, it’s time to decorate.
2. Keep the cake upside down on the wire rack (rounded side up). Place a large plate or dish under the rack: this will catch the glaze that drips off.
3. Pour the glaze over the cake, covering as much as possible. It doesn’t need to be perfect: you want it to look like a donut that has just been dipped!
4. Leave to drip for a minute or two, then sprinkle over a few multi-coloured sprinkles.
5. On a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, roll out your fondant/sugar paste. Using letter stamps or a sharp knife, cut out the letters needed to spell “The Big Donut”. 
6. If using white fondant, paint the letters with the liquid pink food colouring now, covering every side of each letter. 
7. Gently press the letters into the glaze on your donut cake.
8. Leave to set for at least 30 minutes, then dig in!

This scrumptious cake inspired by The Big Donut in Zootopia is best enjoyed on the day, but will last for around 3+ days if kept in an airtight container. It’s particularly nice when enjoyed with a glass of milk. An epic treat for a Zootopia movie night or themed party. Enjoy!

The Film

I’m going to say it: Zootopia is in my top five Disney films. It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy, no matter what time of year I watch it.

It’s also a fantastic concept for a movie. Not to mention visually stunning.

The story follows a tenacious bunny in an anthropomorphic world who sets out to become the first bunny police officer.

After graduating from the academy, Judy Hopps makes her way to the contrasting districts and towering skyscrapers of Zootopia.

Initially sidelined, Judy meets pessimistic con artist Nick Wilde. Together they delve deep into an unfolding conspiracy, proving all of the doubters wrong.

I love the multi-layered message of this movie: everyone is worthy of respect, no matter where they come from. We all have our own unique talents. Trusting one another will get us so much further in this world than putting up walls between each other based on presumptions and small-mindedness.

Above all: never give up on yourself or your dreams. What’s not to love about that?

Zootopia (2016) was written and directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jerard Bush.

The performers lending their voice acting talents to help bring the film’s wonderful characters to life include Ginnifer Goodwin (any Once Upon A Time fans here?!); Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, J.K. Simmons, Nate Torrence, Octavia Spencer, Tommy Chong, Raymond S. Persi and more.

In case anyone was wondering… yes. Alan Tudyk makes his usual voice appearance. At this point, it would be kind of weird if he didn’t, don’t you think?

Shakira also lends her voice, both speaking and singing.

I genuinely love this movie. The series of shorts are also great, so I recommend watching those if you haven’t already! Knowing that a second Zootopia is in the works is very exciting.

Recipe Card