Cinnamon Bun Cake (Guest Blog)

Cinnamon Bun Cake (Guest blog by my wonderful sister, Amanda Wright)

Cake:

3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder

¾ cup milk

¾  cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Cinnamon filling:

4 T butter, melted
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 T flour
1 T cinnamon
2/3 cups nuts (optional)

Frosting:

2 T cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

Cinnamon rolls: what’s not to love about them?  The worst part about making cinnamon rolls is the wait.  After the dough has been stretched and the yeast has been activated, you have to wait hours before you can shape your rolls.  Some recipes even make you wait doubly long—once shaped, the rolls will need to rise again.  This recipe breaks all the rules.

Originally, the recipe calls for 1 ½ cups milk.  I had buttermilk in the fridge, so I used ¾ cup buttermilk and ¾ cup milk.  It adds depth of flavor but you won’t be missing out if you use milk.  (The second time I made this recipe, I didn’t have buttermilk on hand…so I used 1 cup of milk, ½ cup of cream and a dash of lemon juice.)

In a bowl, sift flour, salt and baking powder together.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs and sugar together.  Mix in melted butter and vanilla extract.  Fold flour mixture into wet mixture, alternating flour and milk.  A little  bit of flour, a stir, a little bit of milk, stir. Don’t over mix!  Pour batter into a greased 13x9’’ Pyrex dish.  I used a slightly smaller dish (11x7’’), so my cake came out thicker.

 

In a separate bowl, combine the ooey gooey cinnamon mixture: 1 cup softened butter, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon (I used 2 because I can’t get enough cinnamon).  I used a potato masher to combine these ingredients because the butter wasn’t soft enough to use a wooden spoon.  That worked well and it was oh so tempting to lick when I was finished.  You’ll have a thick paste-like consistency.  If you’re adding nuts, add them into the cinnamon paste now.  The first time I made this recipe, I added in toasted French walnuts.  They came from a friend’s walnut tree in France.  They added a nice crunch to the cake, but if you don’t like nuts or don’t have any (or don’t feel like cracking and toasting them) the end result will be equally delicious, just less crunchy.

This is the fun part: drop spoonfuls of the mixture on top of the batter.  Don’t worry about spacing them evenly, just make sure you place some in each corner.  Corner pieces are the best and you’ll want to make sure there’s luxurious cinnamon in every bite.  Take a knife and swirl the paste into the batter.  Don’t be afraid to over swirl!

Place the dish in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes for a 13x9’’.  I baked mine for 40 minutes.  The cake will rise quickly because of the baking powder, but you need to make sure the center is cooked.  Let the top get a dark golden brown.  Don’t worry about having a dry cake: the inside will be rich and moist.

 

While the cake is in the oven, I combined 2 tablespoons of cream cheese with the powdered sugar into a bowl.  I used ¾ cup of powdered sugar and ¼ cup of vanilla sugar because I like the flavor of the vanilla sugar—vanilla extract would make the frosting too runny.  Mix until well blended.  Use full fat cream cheese, you might as well!  It will taste better, and you won’t use that much because the cake is tasty enough on its own.  Put the mixture into a resealable plastic container; you can add a dollop (do a dollop do do a dollop…) whenever you cut a piece.  The cake won’t get soggy and you can reheat the cake without cooking the frosting.

It’s up to you whether you let the cake cool or not… I’d wait 10 minutes so it slices better.  Cut yourself a generous slice, top with a spoonful of frosting, serve with coffee or tea and ENJOY!