This homemade Honey Bun Cake recipe is a deliciously rich and moist cake that’s loaded with brown sugar and cinnamon flavor. Topped with a sweet and sticky vanilla glaze, this cake is the perfect combination of a cinnamon swirl cake and classic poke cake!

slice of cake with white frosting and a bite taken out

Honey Bun Cake Recipe

If you love the flavors of honey buns, you’re going to love this recipe because it has all those same flavors but in cake form. Perfect served as a coffee cake with a hot cup of coffee for brunch or with a glass of warm milk for dessert, this recipe will definitely become a family favorite!

And the best part is this Honey Bun Cake is one of those recipes that’s an absolutely amazing semi-made dessert that starts with a cake mix but will taste just like you made it from scratch!

If you love the warm and comforting flavors of cinnamon, you should also try these recipes for Dollywood Cinnamon Bread, Cinnamon Sugar Muffins and Cinnamon Roll French Toast! They won’t disappoint!

Why We Love this Recipe

Cake-mix hack: This delicious cake is made with a boxed cake mix and just a few other simple ingredients you probably already have on hand.
Layers of flavor: A sweet cinnamon-sugar mixture bakes between layers of light and fluffy cake. Then a simple vanilla glaze is poured over the top of the cake for the perfect finishing touch! It has layers of yummy goodness!
Always a crowd pleaser: This cake is awesome any time of year and for just about any occasion. Whether it’s dessert for a backyard BBQ or served as a sweet treat during the holiday seasons, this is one everyone will rave over.

Tools Needed:

Large mixing bowl
Electric mixer
Baking pan
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

What’s Needed to Make a Delicious Honey Bun Cake

Ingredients of Honey Bun Cake. These are the following: eggs, flour, yellow cake mix. chopped pecans, confectioner's sugar, milk, vanilla extract, sour cream. brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Yellow cake mix-you can use a homemade yellow cake recipe if you prefer
Oil-use a light tasting oil like canola oil
Eggs-we use large eggs for this recipe
Sour cream- full fat sour works best
Brown sugar-we use light brown, but you can use dark if that’s what you have on hand
Pecans-chopped then measured
Ground cinnamon
Powdered sugar
Milk-whole milk is preferred
Vanilla extract-use a good quality, real extract

How to Make Honeybun Cake

Step One: Prepare the cake batter

A mixture of ingredients in a bowl for Honey Bun Cake.

Heat oven to 350°F and spray a 9×13 baking dish or cake pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, combine the box of yellow cake mix, 2/3 cup vegetable oil, eggs and sour cream then mix until combined.

Step Two: Create first layer

Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking dish. Set aside.

Step Three: Make cinnamon sugar layer

Honey Bun Cake mixture with pecans on a tray

In small bowl, stir together the cup of brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans until combined.
Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top of the batter that’s in the dish, covering the entire layer of batter.
Pour rest of the cake batter on top of the brown sugar cinnamon mixture. Spread to cover the top.
Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.
While the honey bun cake is baking, make the frosting. Using an electric mixer combine confectioner’s sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth.

Step Four: Finishing the cake

Once cake is out of the oven, make holes in the top of the hot cake with the tines of a fork or the back of a wooden spoon.

Spread vanilla glaze frosting over warm cake and let set. Serve and enjoy!
Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.

Add-ins and Variations

Cake mix: Yellow cake box mix will give you the closest flavors of a honey bun, but you can use white cake mix or even a spice cake mix.

Sugar glaze: This cake has an icing that is a cross between a heavy glaze and a frosting. The warm cake makes the icing seep in more like a glaze. If you want more of a frosting, just allow the cake to cool completely without poking holes in it. You can also use a cream cheese or butter cream frosting for this cake.

Extracts: You can use any of your favorite extracts. We used vanilla, but you can use a little bit of butter or almond extract.

Nuts: Actual honey buns don’t have pecans in them. But we love the added texture they provide this cake. You can use walnuts instead of pecans or even omit them if you prefer.

Tips for Making the Best Honey Bun Cake

Always start with room temperature ingredients. It helps the cake batter blend to a smoother consistency.
To ensure you have a light and fluffy cake, avoid over mixing. Over mixing will cause the cake to be denser.
If your cakes tend to make unevenly, try rotating them halfway through baking. Just be careful but to bump it while moving it.
This cake tends to be even better the next day after making it. This allows times for the glaze and other flavors to really seep into the cake. Making it the night before would be a great idea if you have the time to plan ahead.

Can I Freeze this Cake?

You sure can! You’ll want to make sure the whole cake, or individual cake slices, are wrapped well with plastic wrap before placing them in the freezer. For best results the cake should be eaten within 3 months from freezing. To thaw, allow it to sit overnight in the fridge.

Can I Make this Cake in a Bundt Pan?

Yes, you sure can! You’ll need a 10” bundt pan. The cooking time will vary but check for doneness when an inserted toothpick in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

You can also make this recipe into cupcakes, by layering the batter just like you do when making the full-size cake.

More Recipes for Cake Mix Cakes?

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Honey Bun Cake

Honey Bun Cake Recipe

Why We Love this Recipe

Tools Needed:

What’s Needed to Make a Delicious Honey Bun Cake