Honeybun Cake

This easy sheet cake tastes like a honeybun – full of cinnamon and pecan and brown sugar goodness. Make some honeybun cake for YOUR honeybun today!

Why we love this recipe

This easy cake recipe is a conglomeration of some simple ingredients…yellow cake with a sugared nut filling and a vanilla glaze, and is about 1,000,000 times easier than making actually honeybuns. But the flavors in this cake make it taste just like one. Or a cinnamon roll. How fabulous is that?

It’s also made in a 13×9 inch pan…no cake layers, no elaborate frosting…it’s a stress-free easy sheet cake.

You take a regular box of yellow cake mix and fancy it up with room temperature butter and eggs and sour cream, and the filling is a mixture of cinnamon, brown sugar, a little of the cake mix and chopped pecans.

So if you have a honeybun of your own who might like a slice or two of this, this honey bun cake recipe is the kind of treat you can whip up on a lazy weekend afternoon just because. No reason other than you love them.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.

Ingredients you need

Ingredient notes and substitutions

• Cake mix: You can use any brand you like as long as it is a 15.2 ounce package
• Sour Cream: Full fat or low fat are both fine
• Nuts: Don’t like pecans? You can swap in walnuts or even chopped macadamia nuts
• Powdered Sugar: This is also known as confectioner’s sugar and you can find this super fine sugar in the baking aisle.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.

How to make this recipe

STEP 1: Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

STEP 2: Put 1/2 cup of cake mix into a small bowl.

STEP 3: Put the rest of the cake mix into a large bowl with the butter, eggs and sour cream. Beat with a mixer for 2 minutes.

STEP 4: Add the brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon to the reserved 1/2 cup of cake mix and stir.

STEP 5: Spread half of the cake batter in the pan. Sprinkle with the pecan mixture.

STEP 6: Drop the rest of the batter in spoonfuls over the top of the pecan filling, and then smooth the spoonfuls together until they cover the filling.

STEP 7: Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. The cake should spring back when you touch it with your finger. Let the cake cool before you glaze it (usually for about 2 hours).

STEP 8: Mix confectioner’s sugar, milk and vanilla together. The glaze should be pourable – if it’s not, add more milk by teaspoonfuls until it is.

STEP 9: Pour the glaze over the cake and spread quickly with a spatula.

STEP 10: Cool for one more hour and then it is ready to be cut into squares and served to your honeybun, with a kiss!

What to serve with this recipe

We are all about having the perfect beverage to serve to our honeybun with this cake! When the weather is warm we love a glass of strawberry lemonade or lemonade mint iced tea. And if it is chilly outside, try a cup of fresh mint tea or (our favorite!) red wine hot chocolate!

Other easy sheet cake recipes we love!

We want to know what you think! 🤔

If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section below the recipe.

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Honeybun Cake

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It’s a cake that tastes like a honeybun – full of cinnamon and pecan and brown sugar goodness. Make some honeybun cake for YOUR honeybun today!

• Author: Kate Morgan Jackson
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cooling Time: 3 hours
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
• Yield: 12 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• One 15.2 ounce package yellow cake mix
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans 
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk (more if needed to make the glaze)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.
2. Put 1/2 cup of cake mix into a small bowl.
3. Put the rest of the cake mix into a large bowl with the butter, eggs and sour cream. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add the brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon to the reserved 1/2 cup of cake mix and stir.
5. Spread half of the cake batter in the pan. Sprinkle with the pecan mixture. Drop the rest of the batter in spoonfuls over the top of the pecan filling, and then smooth the spoonfuls together until they cover the filling.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. The cake should spring back when you touch it with your finger.  Let it cool for 2 hours.
7. Mix powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together. The glaze should be pourable – if it’s not, add more milk by teaspoonfuls until it is. 
8. Pour the glaze over the cake and spread quickly with a spatula. Cool for one hour and then it is ready to be cut into squares and served to your honeybun, with a kiss!

Notes

• Cake mix: You can use any brand you like as long as it is a 15.2 ounce package
• Sour Cream: Full fat or low fat are both fine
• Nuts: Don’t like pecans? You can swap in walnuts or even chopped macadamia nuts
• Powdered Sugar: This is also known as confectioner’s sugar and you can find this super fine sugar in the baking aisle.