This delicious Honey Bun Cake recipe is made using a boxed cake mix, Greek yogurt, apple sauce, and a few other staples. It’s so good everybody will be going back for seconds.
A humble sheet cake, there is no buttercream to refrigerate, no icing to melt, and it can be baked in a 9×13 Pyrex and topped with a lid.
The beauty of baking a Honey Bun Cake is that it’s imperfectly perfect. It is a warm, moist, assembly of cinnamon heaven, yet it can be thrown together with little effort and zero icing skills.
There’s no need to tell the masses that this cake has a healthy twist. This easy Easter dessert recipe has applesauce, half the usual oil, and the sour cream has been replaced by healthy Greek Non-Fat Plain Yogurt.
Serve with a cup of post-dinner coffee and you have dessert perfection!
Ingredients
For this doctored cake mix recipe, you need the following ingredients:
- 1 box of yellow cake mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup Greek non-fat plain yogurt
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Directions
To make honey bun cake, start by greasing a 9 x 13-inch cake pan and preheating the oven to 325 degrees.
Mix the cake mix, eggs, oil, yogurt, and applesauce in a large mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. If you have little ones, this is the perfect step to let them help with.
Use the back of a spoon to smooth out the lumps in the brown sugar.
Pour half the cake batter into the greased pan and top with half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Don’t worry if you don’t half the batter exactly, it’s ok if it’s imperfect (because this cake is meant to be yummy not pretty!)
Add the remaining batter and top with the remaining cinnamon and sugar. Bake your cake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Mix together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Poke holes into the cake and drizzle the icing over the top.
FAQ
No, it doesn’t. This makes it a perfect recipe to bring to an Easter potluck or serve away from home as a breakfast treat.
You can, but you’ll need to tweak the recipe, plus you’ll have the extra step of separating egg yolks. Check the back of the white cake mix box to know how many eggs and how much oil to use to compensate for the missing yolks.
Honey Bun Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup Greek non-fat plain yogurt
- ⅓ cup applesauce
- ⅓ cup oil
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Grease a 9 x 13-inch cake pan.
- Mix the cake mix, eggs, oil, yogurt, and applesauce in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Use the back of a spoon to smooth out the lumps in the brown sugar.
- Pour half the cake batter into the greased pan and top with half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
- Add the remaining batter and top with the remaining cinnamon and sugar.
- Bake your cake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Mix together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla.
- Poke holes into the cake and drizzle the icing over the top.
Have a sweet tooth? Be sure to check out these other tasty recipes at Sweet T Makes Three:
A web story version of this recipe can be found by clicking the link.