Cinnamon Snack Cake
This simple recipe for a warm and buttery cinnamon snack cake is the perfect sweet and easy baked treat!
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🔎 A quick look at this recipe
- What It Is: A simple cozy cake that combines warm cinnamon flavor, brown sugar sweetness, and a buttery crumb topping into a quick one-pan recipe.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Servings: 8
- Calories: 215
- Cook Method: Oven
- Good For: An after school snack, an easy brunch treat and a perfect dessert to take to a potluck party.
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🌟 Why this recipe works
Here comes a recipe for cinnamon sugar snack cake that is not only warm and buttery and cinnamon-y, but is also easy. This recipe is essentially a cross between a coffee cake, a cinnamon crumb cake and a simple buttery snack cake.
It has a soft, tender interior laced with cinnamon and brown sugar flavor and a crumbly cinnamon-sugar topping that is baked right onto the top of the cake.
And! It takes about 15 minutes to put together and 30 minutes in the oven, so you are less than an hour from some cinnamon cake deliciousness.
🧈 Ingredients you need
📝 Ingredient notes
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is fermented dairy product with a tangy, slightly sour flavor and a thicker consistency than regular milk. It adds both moisture and texture to this cake (and if you have leftover buttermilk, make these buttermilk cornmeal pancakes!).
- Brown Sugar: Either light or dark brown sugar will work for this recipe.
💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
Missing something or want to swap in something different? Check out the links below to find more ingredient substitution ideas. 👇🏻
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.
👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350°
STEP 2: Spray an 8 inch cake pan with cooking spray. (I like to use a springform pan if you have one.)
STEP 3: Put some flour, sugar and cinnamon, a heat processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add some butter and pulse until the mixture looks like sand. Scoop out 1/3 cup and set aside.
STEP 4: Transfer the flour mixture to a mixing bowl and add baking powder, baking soda, buttermilk, vanilla, and egg and mix until combined.
STEP 5: Transfer the batter to your cake pan and smooth out the top to the pan edges with a spatula. Sprinkle on the saved 1/3 cup of the flour mixture.
STEP 6: Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
STEP 7: Cool, cut into wedges and serve…maybe with a scoop of ice cream on top? 😁
And then maybe take a nap? Sweet cinnamon dreams, my friends!
🧐 Recipe FAQs
Buttermilk is a thick, tangy, slightly sour fermented dairy product that gives your baked goods an extra fluffiness and tenderness. Look for it in the dairy aisle of your supermarket.
A springform pan is a round baking pan with removable sides and a separate bottom that are held together by a tight-locking clasp that opens and closes. It lets you get the cake out of the pan by simply unclipping that side clasp.
Like all baked goods, this cake is at its best the very first day, but it will keep for several days in an air-tight container.
Pop your question in the Comments section under the recipe card and I will answer pronto!
😍 Other scrumptious snack cakes 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 card.
Cinnamon Sugar Cake
This simple recipe for a warm and buttery cinnamon sugar snack cake is the perfect sweet and easy baked treat!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons butter, diced
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and spray an 8 inch cake pan (I used a springform) with cooking spray.
- Put the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks like sand. Scoop out 1/3 cup and set aside.
- Transfer the flour mixture to a mixing bowl and add the baking powder, baking soda, buttermilk, vanilla and egg and mix until combined.
- Transfer the batter to your cake pan and smooth out the top to the edges of the pan with a spatula. Sprinkle on the saved 1/3 cup of the flour mixture.
- Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool, cut into wedges and serve (maybe with a scoop of ice cream on top?)
Notes
-
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is fermented dairy product with a tangy, slightly sour flavor and a thicker consistency than regular milk. It adds both moisture and texture to this cake (and if you have leftover buttermilk, make these buttermilk cornmeal pancakes!).
-
- Brown Sugar: Either light or dark brown sugar will work for this recipe.
This lovely little cake reminds me of a coffee cake my grandmother made all the time. I believe her used Bisquick and had a thick layer of brown sugar streusel on top that cracked and crumbled on the plate when you put a fork to it. Food memories are some of the best! Thanks for bringing that memory back to me. Definitely will be making this soon to start some new memories for my family.
Ah Bisquick, the gift that keeps on giving! I recently ran out and Wegmans didn’t have any, and I had a mild panic attack – luckily Harris Teeter came through for me! :)