Cinnamon Roll Cake

Are you one of those folks whose eyes glaze over when you see a recipe that has more than 5 ingredients? 

You completely lose interest and skip on to the next one.

Yeah, I know the feeling.

It's kinda how I felt about this one when I first saw the recipe.
But then I heard all the great reviews everyone was giving it. 

This little cake was generating quite the buzz over on Pinterest so I knew I would have to 

set aside some time to give it the good ole college try.

Now, if you've already scrolled down and gotten ahead of yourself and have decided this recipe has one too many ingredients 

for your liking (yes, I'm talking to you),  I'm now going to direct you to my Honey Bun Cake recipe.

 It starts off with a boxed cake mix and is hard to mess up and is very similar in flavor.

It's alright, go ahead and go. I understand.

But, if you find yourself with a little time on your hands and don't mind making a cake from scratch, this recipe is definitely one to try.  It is incredibly moist and flavorful. It is worth the effort, and honestly, it really isn't hard at all.

 It just takes a little time.

Ingredients:

CAKE:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. iodized salt

1 cup white granulated sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

CINNAMON FILLING: (see notes below)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temp.

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

GLAZE:

2 cups powdered sugar

5 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees

Spray 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (I like the kind that has flour in it).

In a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), combine ingredients for cake (except melted butter). 

Don't overmix, just stir until combined.

While your mixer is running, slowly add the 1/2 cup melted butter. 

Mix just until combined (overmixing flour in baked goods can make it tough and rubbery).

Spread this batter evenly into your baking dish.

Now to make the filling. 

In a small bowl, combine all your filling ingredients: softened butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. 

Stir until combined well.

Drop the cinnamon filling by spoonfuls onto the cake batter.

Now the artistic part.

Take a butter knife and make swirly, marble-effect patterns all around the cake. 

Drag the knife through both the cinnamon and cake batter.

Bake the cake for about 35-40 minutes (it took about 40 minutes in my oven), until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, make the glaze.

Whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in small bowl.

Pour the glaze over the warm cake.  

The glaze is gonna settle into all those nooks and crannies.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cook's Note: I would like to mention that some of my cinnamon/brown sugar mixture went straight to the bottom of the dish. Not sure if it was something I did in the swirling process that made that happen but thought I should mention it. It doesn't affect the taste at all, it can just make it a little tricky to scoop a piece out. But ya know, maybe it was just me that this happened to when baking. 
I think next time I may just try one stick of butter in the filling mixture. 
I'm thinking it was that second stick of butter that might be the culprit.

Also, I thought the slices were really delicious when reheated slightly in the microwave for a few seconds.

Enjoy!

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Recipe Source: Picky Palate