Cinnamon roll cake

For that thing you have to bake for.

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• Best for: snack or breakfast, serves 12-15

• Difficulty: easy

• Time: 10 minutes prep, 35-40 minutes in oven

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This coffee-cake-ish recipe involves cheating, because it calls for cake mix. It's doctored up to taste (thankfully) not like boxed cake mix but a rich, buttery bakery cake. I made this one for of my best friend's birthdays, and she still likes me. This is perfect for anything you have to bake for, and who doesn't love cinnamon sugar?

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2-3 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons milk

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First...

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Coat a 9×13 pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

Combine the cake mix, eggs, oil, vanilla and sour cream. Mix on low for 30 seconds and then raise the speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. (If you don't have a stand mixer or handheld mixer, doing this manually is fine.

Then...

Spread the cake batter into your prepared pan, preferably glass. In a medium bowl whisk together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle this evenly on top of your cake.

Using a butter knife gently swirl the cinnamon sugar into the cake batter. See the photo above for reference. Don’t over-swirl, as you want ribbons of the mixture throughout the cake.

Finally...

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool cake for 15-20 minutes.

In a medium bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and milk, adding sugar or milk as needed to reach perfect consistency. Pour this over the slightly warm cake (optional: poke holes about an inch into the cake's surface for the icing to drip down into the cake. It won't look as pretty, but it will taste great.)

Allow the icing to set, or eat right away!