Cake Mix Coffee Cake

🍯 Why This Recipe Works

1. It's simple and easy. Just mix some basic ingredients together and bake. This recipe is perfect for those wanting great taste with minimal effort.
2. It's great for breakfast and dessert. Serve this coffee cake up in the morning for an easy meal, or save it for dessert with a scoop of ice cream. Either way, it won't last long!
3. Perfect for any occasion. This cake is just as great on an early holiday morning as it is on the weekends. Serve it up whenever you want, or save it for those special days and make it a tradition.

📖 Variations

Cake mix. You can use any boxed cake mix (15.25 ounces) for this coffee cake but a yellow cake mix will give you a more traditional flavor for coffee cakes.

If you wanted to swap out the flavor for something else I'd recommend using either white cake mix or spiced cake mix as those can be modified for a nice seasonal coffee cake.

Pudding mix. You want to use a package of instant pudding, NOT the cooking pudding. This helps to add moisture and flavor to every slice and really makes a difference. By swapping out pudding flavors you can add even more flavor to your bundt cake.

🔪 Instructions

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 2: Spray the inside of your bundt cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and then dust with flour. This will help to prevent the cake from possibly sticking. Set aside.

Step 3: In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.

Step 4: In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cake mix pudding mix, Vegetable oil, and water until combined.

Step 5: Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Step 6: Pour in half of the batter.

Step 7: Sprinkle the sugar mixture into the bundt pan over the cake batter, and then use a fork or butter knife to swirl it around.

Step 8: Top with the remaining cake mix batter.

Step 9: Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.

Slice and serve warm.

🍰 How to Grease Your Bundt Pan

Greasing the bundt cake pan before use will help the cake to pop out once baked but adding a dusting of flour can help to prevent the cake from sticking even more so. I recommend using a combination of greasing the bundt pan and dusting it with a light coating of flour so that the cake pops out of the pan perfectly.

To prevent making a mess, I like to add a few tablespoons of flour to my bundt pan and shake it over the kitchen sink before flipping the pan upside down and tapping the bottom of it. All of the excess flour is released into the sink and not onto the floor or counters, making cleanup much easier.

Using Baker's Joy cooking spray (the spray with flour in it) can work in a pinch as well.

If using a chocolate-based cake mix, using cocoa powder instead of flour can help to prevent sticking without making the outside of your cake look too pale or splotchy with white areas.

🍴 Recipe Tips

Cake mix brands. Brands do not matter when it comes to this recipe so grab your Duncan Heins, Store brands, or Betty Crocker. This coffee cake made with yellow cake mix will taste great as long as you use your favorite cake mix brands.

Boxed pudding. Please make sure to only use the DRY mix inside of the package of pudding. You do not want to prepare the pudding. Also, double-check that the pudding is instant and not the cook and serve variety.