Sock It to Me Cake
Sock It to Me Cake is a doctored up cake recipe that starts with a box of cake mix and ends up as a delicious cinnamon sugar bundt cake packed with pecans and brown sugar.
I found this Duncan Hines sock it to me cake recipe in my grandma’s recipe box year’s ago and like her recipe for the best coconut cake you’ll ever make it starts with a box of cake mix.
It’s a cool, retro recipe that combines yellow cake with cinnamon, brown sugar, and pecans to create an irresistible bundt cake. It’s a doctored up cake mix recipe and the added ingredients create an extra moist treat that tastes subtly like fall and the holiday season.
You know we love easy recipes and if you like simplified cake and cupcake recipes that start with a box of cake mix make sure you try our triple chocolate cupcakes, pumpkin bundt cake, carrot cake mix cookies, and pistachio cake too!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need for this groovy cake:
- Duncan Hines Classic Butter Golden Cake Mix – You can make your own following our recipe for yellow butter cake or use your preferred box mix. No matter what you use, make sure to set ¼ cup of the dry cake mix to the side to mix into the nuts and brown sugar.
- Sugars – You’ll need white, brown, and powdered sugar.
- Eggs – This recipe uses more eggs than most cake mixes call for.
- Vegetable oil – You can use another lighter tasting oil if you have them on hand.
- Water
- Sour Cream – This helps make the cake moist and rich.
- Ground Cinnamon – This helps add extra flavor and is part of what makes this cake so amazing.
- Pecans – Pecans are traditional, but almonds or walnuts could also work.
- Milk – You can use whatever milk you have on hand.
What you will need to make Sock it to Me Cake:
- Bundt Pan – I went with a traditional bundt pan because I like the simple look of it but you can get this fancy bundt pan.
- Cake Carrier – You’re going to want to take this to all of your parties!
You know what else makes an awesome cake? A box of brownie mix! You’ve got to try out brownie chocolate chip cookie dough cake and turtle brownie cake!
Instructions
Step 1 – Make the batter. Well, before you do that, you need to preheat your oven to 375 degree F. Once you get the oven heating, add the cake mix (set ¼ cup of the mix to the side), sugar, eggs, oil, water, and sour cream to your stand mixer’s bowl. Use the paddle attachment to mix all of the ingredients together until they are thoroughly combined, scraping the sides as you go.
Step 2 – Make the nut filling. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ¼ cup of cake mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Set it aside.
Step 3 – Pour in the batter. In a greased and floured bundt pan, pour in 1/2 of the cake batter and then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar pecans over the batter, making sure to leave a little space between the inner and outer cake pan and the cinnamon sugar pecan mixture. Once the pecans are in place, gently spoon on the remaining cake batter on top so it is evenly distributed.
Step 4 – Bake the cake. Place the bundt pan in the oven and bake at 375 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the center of the cake comes out clean. Carefully remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping it out and placing it on a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely.
Step 5 – Make the icing. Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl and mix in 1 teaspoon of milk one at a time until you reach a consistency where it is thick but still pour-able. You may not need all of the milk. Once the cake is cool, drizzle the icing over the top.
Once the icing is in place, cut the cake, serve, and enjoy!
Why Do They Call It Sock It To Me Cake?
Sock it to me cake is a traditional (old school) yellow cake recipe. It originated in the 1970s and used yellow cake, sour cream, extra eggs, cinnamon, brown sugar, and nuts to bring it to the next level.
The cake gets its name from the once popular phrase, “Sock it to me!”
What Kind of Cake Mix Is Best?
My grandma’s recipe said to use Duncan Hines Butter Golden Cake Mix, so that’s what I’ve always done. Of course, you can use any yellow cake mix and your results will still be delicious. You can also make this cake from scratch (see below!).
Can I Make Sock It To Me Cake From Scratch?
Yes! If you want to make this cake from scratch, you can use our Yellow Butter Cake recipe.
Make the Yellow Butter Cake batter following our yellow butter cake recipe and the ingredients listed there (don’t bake!) and then continue with the sock it to me cake recipe at instruction #3 in the recipe card.
Don’t forget to reserve 1/4 cup of the mixed together dry ingredients to add to the cinnamon sugar pecan mixture!
How to Make it Ahead of Time
To make ahead, bake the cake and let it cool completely before adding the icing. Place the cake in an airtight container to store for up to 1 week.
This cake goes great with a cup of coffee in the morning… if you don’t tell, we certainly won’t!
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Sock it to Me Cake
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounce Duncan Hines Classic Butter Golden Cake Mix, set ¼ cup of cake mix to the side
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 4 large Eggs
- ⅓ cup Vegetable oil
- ¼ cup Water
- 1 cup Sour Cream
- 3 tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
- 1 cup Pecans, finely chopped
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons Milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degree F.
- In the bowl of your mixer combine cake mix (set ¼ cup of the mix to the side), sugar, eggs, oil, water, and sour cream. Using the paddle attachment mix until all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined, scraping the sides as you go.
- In a small bowl combine the remaining ¼ cup of cake mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans.
- In a greased and floured bundt pan pour in 1/2 of the cake batter.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar pecans over the batter making sure to leave a little space between the inner and outer cake pan and the cinnamon sugar pecan mixture.
- Gently spoon the remaining cake batter over the cinnamon sugar pecan mixture making sure to distribute it evenly.
- Place bundt pan in the oven and bake at 375 degrees F for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Once baked let the cake cool for 10 minutes then flip it out of the bundt pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
- Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl and add the milk one teaspoon at a time until you reach a consistency where it is thick but pour-able. This may not require all of the milk.
- When the cake is cooled completely drizzle the icing over the top of the cake.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
My Family Loved ❤️ The Sock-It-To-Me Cake!
I’m so glad you liked it!!
I love this cake recipe. I can remember being a little girl and my grandmother would make a sock it to me cake. I now bake this cake in a 9x 13 pan. It turns out a lot more moist.
thank you for the tip,
This was so easy and absolutely amazing to taste!
We made this today, and it is way better than the store bought version we recently tried. Followed the recipe to the letter, except I don’t have a bundt pan so we used two medium sized loaf pans. I wouldn’t change a thing! Thanks fo r the great recipe.
Thank you for the kind words! This is such a simple recipe but totally delicious 🙂