Sock It To Me Cake is a blast from my past.  Anyone remember the TV show Laugh in from the 1970s? Sock It To Me was a famous phrase from this show. This cake is an easy bundt cake made with a yellow cake mix and then doctored up with sour cream, butter, a little extra sugar and a cinnamon brown sugar nut filling.

My sister would make Sock It To Me Cake all the time when we were younger.  It is a quick dessert with an elegant element with the cinnamon brown sugar nut swirl in the middle.  Top it off with a delicious powdered sugar icing that has a touch of vanilla.

How To Make Sock It To Me Cake

1.  Grease and Flour the Bundt Pan. Place about 2 tablespoons of  butter or shortening on a folded paper towel.  Use the grease to cover the entire inside of the pan and the tube that juts up in the middle.  Go over all the fluted parts of the pan several times. Sometimes I struggle to get every part of the pan covered in grease.  You will see the parts you missed as soon as you do the next step.

Pour about 1/4 cup of flour into the pan and turn the pan as the flour moves over the greased areas and begins to stick.  This is an important step if you want the cake to come out in one piece.  Be sure and get the inside of the tube covered in flour as well.

If you find there is spot you missed, just dip your finger in the butter or grease and wipe it over the spots.  Spread the flour over these spots again.

Do you have a favorite packaged cake mix? 

Leave me a comment below.

2.  Buy a yellow cake.  Some people are team Betty Crocker and some people are team Duncan Hines.  I would love to hear from you in the comments below.  Let me know which cake mix is your favorite.

3.  Melt butter in small bowl.  I have found keeping the butter in the paper when melting it in a microwave keeps the butter from popping and making a mess.

4.  Dump cake mix in a large bowl.   Add the melted butter, sour cream and milk.  Mix a little and then add all four eggs.  Mix with a wire whisk until blended.  

5.  Over mixing a dry cake mix can make it dense and heavy.  Mix until you cannot see any more flour, then stop.

6.  Pour the cake batter into the greased and floured bundt pan.  This can be made in a 13 x 9 pan as well.  

7.  Chop the nuts.  You can use any nut you like.  I love walnuts in this cake, but many people just cannot eat them.  I understand!  Use pecans, pistachios or anything else you love.

The best part of Sock It To Me Cake is the cinnamon, brown sugar, nut mixture in the middle!

8.  Mix the brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon together.  Spoon this onto the batter around the tube.  While baking, the cake will rise up and cover the nut mixture.  The nut mixture is heavy and will actually sink to the bottom of the pan.  This is why using a bundt pan is desirable.  When you turn the pan upside down there is a ribbon of brown sugar and nuts near the top of the cake.  

If you make this cake in a 13 x 9 pan, you will not be turning it upside down. So the ribbon of brown sugar and nuts will be on the bottom of the cake.

9.  Bake the cake at 375° for 50-55 minutes.  This is a long time at a higher temperature. Probably more than you are used to, but it ensures the cake gets baked all the way through with no doughy parts in the middle.

If you feel the cake is browning too fast, cover the top of the cake with a piece of tin foil.  Leave the tin foil loose over the top.  This will stop the browning process but the cake will continue to bake.

10.  Once the cake is done, place it on a cooling rack for 15 minutes.  Once the timer goes off, use a flat, thin spatula to loosen the cake away from the sides of the pan.  I always go around the cake 2 – 3 times loosening the edge.  Try to stick the spatula deeper inside the pan each pass you make.  Do not forget to loosen around the tube in the middle of the pan.

11.  Place a plate or cake stand over the cake and turn upside down.  Hopefully, the cake will drop down and it will be beautiful.   Some times a small piece of cake sticks to the cake pan and I scrape it off and gently place it back on the cake.  Once you drizzle the icing on, you cannot see where it is.

To measure powdered sugar, weighing is the easiest method.

12.  Make the icing.  Place the powdered sugar in a bowl or in a plastic bag. Add the milk and vanilla. I used clear vanilla to keep the icing nice and white. If you use brown vanilla, just be prepared for a tint in the color.  Mix well and then drizzle back and forth over the warm cake.

If you make the icing in a plastic bag, you can cut off a corner on the bottom of the bag.  Make the cut small so you get delicate strings of icing.  Go back and forth over the cake until you get the desired pattern you want.

I find weighing my powdered sugar is much easier than using a measuring cup.  Four ounces of powdered sugar is one cup.  Eight ounces is two cups and one pound is four cups.

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