I’ve been seeing recipes for Honey Bun Cake floating around for years and somehow I’d never tried making one myself. I decided to remedy that situation when I was recently in need of a dessert for family dinner. If you’re not familiar with this cake, it’s made using a yellow cake mix with a cinnamon sugar swirl run through the batter. It’s baked to perfection and then drizzled with a simple vanilla icing. Easy to make and even easier to indulge in!
Starting with a cake mix makes this recipe super simple to throw together. Add oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla to the cake mix and stir until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom. You’ll pour half of the cake batter into a prepared baking dish and then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top. Using a knife, run through the batter in a zig zag pattern to create a marbled look and incorporate the sugar mixture into the cake. Top it off with the rest of the cake batter and it’s ready for the oven!
The cake will need to bake for about 40 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Whip together the icing as the cake bakes and then pour it over the top while the cake is still warm. Make it for your next special occasion or whip one up just for fun, we all deserve a sweet treat. I hope your family loves it as much as mine does!
Honey Bun Cake
Ingredients
- 15 oz yellow cake mix
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom or nutmeg
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla until well combined.
- Pour about half of the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread into and even layer.
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg or cardamom, then sprinkle this mixture over the layer of cake batter.
- Pour the rest of the cake batter over the brown sugar layer, then use a knife to swirl the layered together into a marbled pattern.
- Bake cake for 38-42 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- As the cake bakes, mix together icing ingredients.
- Pour icing over the warm cake and then allow it to cool for 20 minutes before slicing.
Recipe adapted from iheartrecipes.com
