5 Honey Bun Cake Recipes You Can Make Today

Honey bun cakes are plenty of people’s favorite baked good, and it is really easy to see why – they’re Uber moist, flavored with comforting and spicy cinnamon, choc a block full of molasses rich brown sugar, and smothered in a thick vanilla glaze.

They are just like a cinnamon roll, but with a fraction of the work, and zero proving time. 

They’re great for a special occasion, soothing afternoon snack, or even a breakfast treat. The recipes listed below have been tried and tested, and are some of the most delicious cakes you can ever bake at home.

Read on if you want some mouthwatering honey buns in your belly. 

Contents

1. The Cheat’s Honey Bun Cake
2. The Nutty Honey Bun Cake 
3. The Honey Honey Bun Cake.
4. The Citrus Vanilla Honey Bun Cake.
5. The Pumpkin Honey Bun Cake. 
6. Yellow Cake Mix Recipe. 

The Cheat’s Honey Bun Cake 

This cake uses cake mix, meaning that it’s very quick, easy and pretty cost-efficient too. If you don’t have much time to prep, this recipe is the one for you. 

Ingredients:

• 1 box of yellow cake mic (18.25 ounces)
• 4 medium free-range eggs
• 1 carton of sour cream (8 ounces)
• ¾ cup of vegetable oil
• ½ cup of water
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar 
• ¼ cup milk 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Step One = preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Grease a 9×13 inch cake pan. 

Step Two = in a mixing bowl, whisk together the cake mix, eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil and water to make a smooth, lump free batter. In a different bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Pour half of the batter into your prepared baking tin, and sprinkle the brown sugar-cinnamon mix. Pour the remaining batter in, and gently swirl the batter a few times with a blunt knife or toothpick, to make a lovely pattern. 

Step Three = bake the cake in your preheated oven until it turns light golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. This should take about 40 minutes. 

Step Four = stir together the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and milk together to form a smooth, runny icing. Pour the icing over the cake when it comes out of the oven and is still hot, but allow it to cool before serving. 

The Nutty Honey Bun Cake. 

This one has flavors of almond, pecan and walnut, making it seasonal and comforting in the chillier months. 

Ingredients for the cake:

• 1 box of yellow cake mix 
• 12 tablespoons or 1 ½ sticks of melted unsalted butter. 
• 4 free range medium eggs 
• 1 cup of buttermilk 
• 1 teaspoon of almond extract
• 1 cup of pecan or walnut pieces. 
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon 
• Cooking spray 

Ingredients for the icing:

• 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar 
• 4 or 5 tablespoons of whole milk 
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. 

Instructions:

Step One = combine the cake mix, melted butter, eggs, buttermilk and almond extract, and mix together. Spray your baking dish, (we recommend 9 x 13 inches) with your cooking spray, and pour in your cake batter. 

Step Two = combine the nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon together, and then sprinkle this over the top of the cake batter. Swirl this with a blunt knife or toothpick, to create a pattern. 

Step Three = bake your cake in an oven that you have preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for 30 to 40 minutes. Once you have removed it from the oven, let it cool. 

Step Four = mix together the ingredients for the icing (you can add more or less milk to the powdered sugar until you get the consistency you like for pouring). Drizzle over your cake and enjoy. 

The Honey Honey Bun Cake

Unlike other cakes on this list, this one actually includes its namesake ingredient – honey!

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) box of cake mix, either yellow or white. 
• 1 cup of light brown sugar. 
• 2 tsp of ground cinnamon. 
• 2 cups of powdered sugar. 
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract. 
• 4 medium eggs. 
• 1 tbsp of honey. 
• ¾ cups of vegetable oil. 
• 4 tbsp of milk
•  1 cup of sour cream.

Step One = combine the cake mix, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract together, mixing together until all ingredients are combines into a smooth batter. Pour this batter into a greased and lined cake pan. Bake this mixture at 180 degrees celsius for 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. 

Step Two = mix together the ingredients for the glaze – which is the powdered sugar, milk and honey. 

Step three = once the cake has been removed from the oven and cooled completely, you can smother the cake in the creamy frosting. 

The Citrus Vanilla Honey Bun Cake

This classic honey bun cake is rammed with childhood reminiscent flavors that all embers of your family are guaranteed to love. 

Ingredients for the cake:

• 1 packet of yellow caek mix. 
• ¾ cups of vegetable oil
• 4 eggs 
• 1 cup of room temperature sour cream 
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon of almond extract. 

 Ingredients for the cinnamon swirl:

• 1 cup of light brown sugar 
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• ½ a cup of chopped pecans (optional add in)

Ingredients for icing:

• 2 cups of powdered sugar 
• 3-4 tablespoons of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• 2 tbsp pf citrus juice (we recommend anything but lime!)

Ingredients:

Step One = preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line a 9 x 13 inch baking tray with parchment. 

Step Two = in a large bowl, beat together the cake mix, oil, eggs, sour cream, almond and vanilla extract until they form a smooth batter. 

Step Three = in a separate mixing bowl, stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans together. 

Step Four = pour the cake mix into your baking tin, and top with your cinnamon- sugar mixture. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Step Five = whilst the cake is baking, whisk the powdered sugar, citrus juice and vanilla extract together to form a nice, pourable icing. 

Step Six = once the cake has cooled down a little bit from being in the oven, pour the icing over the top. Slice it into squares, and serve it whilst it is still warm for the tastiest experience.  

Pumpkin Honey Bun Cake Recipe

This recipe combines all the best seasonal treats – pumpkin, cinnamon, walnuts and vanilla. This is great for those fall months when there is a nip in the air. 

Ingredients for the cake:

• Yellow cake mix 
• ½ a cup of vegetable oil
• 4 medium-sized free-range eggs
• ½ a cup of sour cream 
• ¾ a cup of canned pumpkin (just the plain pumpkin stuff, not pumpkin pie filling)
• 2 ½ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice
• ¾ a cup of brown sugar
• ½ cup of chopped walnuts

Ingredients for the glaze:

• 1 cup of powdered sugar 
• 2 tablespoons of milk 
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. 

Instructions: 

Step One = preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease your baking tray. 

Step Two = place the yellow cake mix, oil, eggs, sour cream, pumpkin and spice into a large bowl, and beat it with your electric mixer on medium speed until all the ingredients have been combined. 

Step Three = measure out two cups of batter, and pour this into your preprepared tin. 

Step Four = combine the walnuts and brown sugar, and then sprinkle this into your cake tin. Spoon the remaining batter over this filling, making sure you fill out til the edges of the pan. 

Step Five = bake your cake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. 

Step Six = make the glaze by putting the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a medium bowl. Whisk this to combine, and then pour the glaze over the top of the hot cake. Let the cake cool before serving. 

Yellow Cake Mix Recipe

You’ll have noticed that a lot of these recipes require you to use store bought yellow or white cake mix – but sometimes you have a craving for honey bun cakes and don’t have any ready cake mix.

Thankfully for you, we’ve got a recipe so that you can make your own yellow cake mix from scratch, and you can eat a comforting serving of honey bun cake regardless of what you have in the house.

Ingredients: 

• 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour 
• 2 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon of salt 
• 1 ½ cup of granulated sugar

You can keep this in your store cupboard just like you would any other dry baking ingredient. Just make sure you adapt the measurements and quantities to the recipe that you are using (e.g., if you have a recipe that requires a standard 18 ounce packet of cake mix, only use eighteen ounces rather than the full recipe!).