What Exactly Is A Honey Bun Cake?

If you're at all in tune with baking trends, you've likely heard about honey bun cake. This baked dessert has become popular thanks to viral recipes and videos demonstrating its gooey texture. But just what exactly is honey bun cake? The ingredient list might surprise you, as honey itself isn't actually included in this treat.

Honey bun cake is inspired by honey buns — those packaged pastries you can get at the convenience store. It's a warm, comforting cake with vanilla glaze and a swirl of brown sugar and cinnamon in the middle, similar to the glaze and cinnamon featured in this classic pastry. It, therefore, resembles a honey bun not only in appearance when cut into but also in taste.

In addition, honey bun cake is unbelievably moist and relatively easy to make. The secret to its dewy texture? Sour cream. With its sweet appeal and low-effort preparation, it's no wonder this creation has taken the internet by storm.

Honey buns date back earlier than you might expect. According to the University of North Carolina Media Hub, honey buns were invented in 1954 by Howard Griffin, owner of the Griffin Pie Company, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Essentially, they're fried sweet rolls that include honey as an ingredient, hence the name. The dough is sprinkled with cinnamon, then rolled up like cinnamon rolls, fried until golden, and dredged in glaze. The result is a sticky treat that is individually packaged and sold.

While honey buns are delicious, times have certainly changed since 1954, and it's no wonder internet users wanted an alternative version they could make themselves. One Little Debbie honey bun has a whopping 30 grams of sugar and 12 grams of saturated fat — 60% of the recommended daily value. There's no doubt that buying a honey bun is more convenient than making this richly sweet and spiced dish. However, baking it yourself allows you to control exactly what goes into it, and you can more easily control the fat and sugar content. Hence, honey bun cake may serve as an appealing alternative for those seeking a less processed dessert.

Today, there is an abundance of recipes online for honey bun cake and plenty of social media users posting how-tos. These videos have left commenters drooling. "I know what I'm making tomorrow," quipped one TikToker in response to a tantalizing honey bun cake recipe. Others chimed in with their own takes on the dessert as well as preparation tips, proving the popularity of this baked good.

Honey bun cake is surprisingly easy to make. It is made from a box of yellow cake mix plus several common household ingredients such as eggs, oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, and sour cream. If desired, many videos demonstrate how to make it in a bundt pan. While some TikTokers use cream cheese in place of sour cream, cream cheese needs to soften and is more difficult to work with; opting for sour cream makes for easier preparation. In addition, the homemade glaze is the key to that sweet, sticky texture, and many users demonstrated poking holes in the cake to allow the glaze to seep through. Whatever tricks and hacks you choose to incorporate when making this recipe, this sweet, moist cake might prove difficult to resist.