Honey Bun Coffee Cake

Have you ever had a Honey Bun? It's kind of like a cross between a cinnamon roll and a glazed doughnut. It's got the cinnamon and spiral design of a cinnamon roll, but it's fried and glazed like a doughnut. They're usually sold as an individually wrapped grab-and-go sort of a treat that you can have with your morning coffee. Delish! You can find them just about anywhere in convenience stores and vending machines, but have you ever made them at home?
 My friend Linda recently posted this on Facebook, and I immediately knew I wanted to try it. Since my family always does a fabulous brunch for Easter, I always like to post brunch recipes around Easter and Mother's Day. This is just exactly the type of thing I wanted! So, thank you Linda, for sharing this, and also a big thank you to Mom's Pantry Blog for posting it in the first place. Oh btw,  your whole house will smell HEAVENLY while it's baking. Just sayin.

1 box yellow cake mix
8 ounce tub sour cream
4 eggs
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
2 c. powdered sugar
4 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan. (Or spray with no stick spray for baking).
In large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and sour cream. Stir by hand until large lumps are gone. There will still be some lumps but that's okay.
Pour half the batter into the pan.
Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix well. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture all over the batter in the cake pan, making sure you cover the entire surface, right to the edges.
Now carefully spread the other half of the batter on top. The mixture will combine with the topping, so don't worry that you're doing it wrong.
Once it's all spread around, take a butter knife and twirl it all through the batter.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Just when it's about done baking, mix together your powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Use a fork, and be sure all the little clumps get broken up.
Once the cake comes out of the oven, pour the powdered sugar mixture over the warm cake. As the cake cools, the honey bun crackle topping will appear. Wait at least 15 minutes to serve.


Tips:
 Yes, I know it's called a honey bun cake and there's no honey in it. Go fig!
The key to making this taste just like a honey bun is the glaze. Be sure to include it!
I used a white cake mix instead of a yellow cake mix, just because it's what I happened to have on hand, and it worked perfectly. I'm sure the end result was ever so slightly different, but just as delish!
As I was making it, I wondered what kind of variations I could do. Yes, I know that strays from being exactly like a honey bun, but wouldn't it be awesome to add a layer of thinly sliced apples or peaches before adding the second layer of batter? You could also add a sprinkling of chopped pecans, coconut, or even chocolate chips.....hmm...I just might have to try that!! 

oh....and yes...I know there are other meanings for "honey bun" but we're not going there.... !