Grandma’s Cinnamon Swirl Cake
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ve probably read about my Grandma before. I spent a lot of time with her when I was young and I learned a lot sitting on a stool in her kitchen.
Grandma loved to cook and bake and she was really good at it. She made things from scratch, used local, mostly homegrown ingredients, but she also knew how to whip up an amazing cake using a mix from the store.
One of my favorite recipes of her’s was always her cinnamon swirl bundt cake. It used a yellow cake mix with a few added ingredients, including butter extract, which I used to think was very, very odd. But that cake was oh, so good!
Fast forward to my family’s gluten free and mostly paleo days and my trying to create a really fast, but still really yummy dessert for a potluck. When I’m out shopping, I will pick up gluten free baking mixes when I find them on sale because I use them for kids parties, school events, etc. and so I almost always have some sort of mix on hand. The day I came up with this recipe, I found that I had several yellow cake mixes and so decided to try to fancy up one of those.
As things started to come together, I didn’t think one bit about Grandma’s bundt cake, but when I took that first bite, it took me straight back to her kitchen. This cake tastes just like the one she used to make.
This cake is fast and easy to make, will wow your crowd, and is perfect for all those spring and summer picnics coming up. This would be lovely on a cake stand for your Easter brunch as well! I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.
Grandma’s Cinnamon Swirl Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Box Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix I prefer King Arthur Brand
- 1 cup milk – almond or cow
- 3/4 cup avocado oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. butter extract
- 3/4 cup brown sugar can substitute maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (use whatever gluten free flour you have on hand) either a 9×13 baking pan or a bundt pan. The bundt pan will look fancier, but either will work just fine.
- Beat eggs, oil, milk, vanilla and butter flavorings until well mixed. Add the cake mix and stir until all ingredients are well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Pour half of cake batter into prepared baking pan. Evenly sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over batter. Swirl the cinnamon mixture into the batter. Pour on the rest of the cake batter. Using a knife, swirl the cinnamon around, but don't completely mix it in. Just do a good swirl. It should look about like this picture when you're finished swirling. If too much sugar/cinnamon is on top of the batter (not swirled in), it will burn during baking and just flake off. You don't want to lose any of that goodness!
- Bake approximately 40 minutes for a 9×13 pan and up to 1 hour and 10-15 minutes for a bundt pan. Depending on your altitude, choice of baking pan and oven, baking times will vary. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely before cutting. If you used a bundt pan, allow the cake to cool 15-20 minutes before removing it from the pan. (With these gluten free cake mixes, I always err a little on the side of baking longer, not shorter. If you think you might see a tiny bit of moisture on that toothpick, bake a few more minutes.)
- If you want a pretty glaze on the cake, mix about one cup of powdered sugar with a couple teaspoons of water or milk until you achieve the consistency you prefer. In my opinion, this cake is sweet enough that it doesn't need the glaze, but it does look pretty.