The Reddit-Famous Big Mama's Secret Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake Is So Good I Was Eating It Twice a Day
Cake for breakfast? Yes please.
Few baked goods are as gooey and delicious as homemade cinnamon rolls—they're beloved in my household. But we all know they can be a little on the tedious side with needing to be risen, shaped, and risen again all before baking. Most days, a simple poke cake is more my speed.
So imagine my delight when I came across a recipe going viral on Reddit for a cinnamon roll poke cake. My son, who has long proclaimed cinnamon rolls to be his favorite breakfast, was mind blown by seeing his favorite breakfast treat repurposed as a dessert and I knew I needed to try it as soon as possible.
What Is Big Mama’s Secret Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake?
Redditor r/HumawormDoc shared their grandmother’s cinnamon roll cake recipe to the r/Old-Recipes subreddit a few years ago and it’s continued to be a popular dessert recipe on Reddit ever since. “This is a cake my grandmother, Big Mama, used to make,” they wrote, “The basic cake part is what she used for all of her homemade poke cakes.”
Beyond the basic cake recipe—a mix of self-rising flour, eggs, shortening, sugar, milk, and vanilla—the cake has a cinnamon-brown-sugar filling and is iced with a warm mixture of powdered sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla. And there are even some Big Mama-approved variations on the dessert.
“She would make the cake and sometimes add a sliced banana or two on top then add the icing for a banana cake,” wrote HumawormDoc. “Or she would make a warm chocolate glaze with Hershey’s cocoa powder and pour on top for chocolate cake. She and my Big Daddy raised 5 children during the Depression and World War II. They had a farm and she could make delicious meals from seemingly nothing.”
How To Make Big Mama’s Secret Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake
I’m a sucker for a good family-loved cake recipe, so I tried Big Mama’s Cinnamon Roll Cake to take as dessert to a holiday dinner party. Beyond needing to buy self-rising flour—a combo of all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt—I had everything I needed to make this simple-but-decadent dessert in my pantry.
Big Mama’s cake was simple to make. All you do is mix flour, eggs, shortening, sugar, milk, and vanilla together to make a batter. Next, mix up the brown-sugar-cinnamon filling. Then, pour half the batter into a 9-by 13-inch pan, top it with the filling, and pour the remaining batter on top. The whole thing bakes for around 45 minutes at 350 degrees F, then comes out of the oven to cool.
After the cake cools, poke holes in it—I did this with a wooden chopstick I found in my kitchen drawer. Then heat the powdered sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla in a saucepan and pour the mixture over top of the cake. Watching the gooey, sugary icing mixture settle into each hole was delightful and I couldn’t wait to try it.
The full recipe reminded me of this Grandma's Honey Bun Cake recipe, which makes things even easier by using a boxed cake mix in place of the homemade batter.
Big Mama’s Secret Cinnamon Roll Cake Review
That night at my dinner party I reheated the cinnamon roll cake in the oven for a bit, then served each slice with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream. The cake was delicious—a perfect mix of a gooey poke cake and warm cinnamon rolls. Everyone at my dinner party loved how sweet, cinnamony, and gooey the cake tasted.
This recipe makes a thick, heavy, sugary 9-by 13-inch cake, so we also had plenty of leftovers. We snacked on the remainders for a day or two, adding more ice cream for evening desserts and warming a slice in the microwave to enjoy with our morning coffee. Big Mama was onto something with this delicious cake, made with the simplest ingredients.
Redditors who’ve tried Big Mama’s cinnamon roll cake love it, too. “Finally made this cake, after it popped up so many times in my feed,” wrote one. “Yum. I was craving sugar and this cake delivered.”
Big Mama’s Secret Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups self-rising flour
4 large eggs
½ cup Crisco
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup milk or buttermilk, or a mix of both
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9- by 13-inch baking pan.
With a hand-mixer or stand mixer, beat granulated sugar and Crisco until combined.
Add eggs and continue to mix.
Add flour, milk, and vanilla and beat for 1-2 minutes until fully combined.
Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan.
Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix.
Sprinkle cinnamon-brown-sugar mixture over the batter in the pan, then spread the remaining cake batter on top. Swirl with a knife.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake’s center comes out clean.
While the cake cools, combine milk, butter, sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan and heat until a gooey icing forms.
Poke holes in the cake with a fork and pour the warm icing over top.
Read the original article on ALLRECIPES
