Sock It To Me Cake #BundtBakers

A throw back to the ‘70s, Sock It To Me Cake is made with a simple cake batter, all fancied up inside by the addition of pecans and brown sugar, and outside with a little glaze. 

My mom says that my grandmother didn’t bake much when she was growing up. I guess my grandmother didn’t have much time for that sort of thing, working a full time job running the family and the family business next door to their home. She and my grandfather had their own store, selling major appliances like washers and dryers and refrigerators. Paw would take care of sales unless he was out on a service call or in his workshop making repairs. Mo answered the phone, did the bookkeeping and billing and handled the sales floor when my grandfather was out. She would nip home each morning and get lunch started on the stove, returning occasionally to check on the smothered round steak or simmering chicken stew. At least that’s how I remember it.

But some time in the 1970s, that began to change. Different desserts started to appear at Sunday dinner.  Banana Split Pie with a graham cracker crust, strawberry shortcake made with those little store bought sponge cakes with the indentation in the middle, some sort of “salad” with pistachios and green Jello (Yuck. I think it was called Watergate Salad. Just why?) and Sock It To Me Cake made with Duncan Hines cake mix. I loved Sock It To Me Cake because of the brown sugar and pecans in the middle. But more that that, I liked the name.

Sock It To Me, baby. And cut me another slice, please. In other news, it's entirely possible that I was an odd child.

This month my Bundt Bakers group is taking retro desserts and turning them into Bundt cakes. Very creative, right? But since my favorite retro dessert was already a Bundt cake, how could I not share it? I’m not much of one to use cake mixes, especially for simple yellow cake – not that I have anything against them – so I adapted the batter from my favorite yellow cake recipe in The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, 1980 edition. The filling is straight off the Duncan Hines site, adjusted for size (and the fact that I'm not using their cake mix), plus a pinch of salt. Nowadays, Duncan Hines wants you to warm some of their icing as glaze though. Just no.

Many thanks to our Bundt Bakers host this month, Felice from All That’s Left are the Crumbs. Make sure you scroll down to see all the other hip retro desserts made into Bundts at her instigation below.

This will bake you a smaller cake using a 6-cup Bundt pan.

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
1 1/8 cups or 140g flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/3 cup or 80g canola or other light vegetable oil
1/3 cup or 80ml sour cream
2 eggs

For the filling:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup or 65g finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt

For the glaze:
1/2 cup or  62g powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease and flour 6-cup Bundt pan. (Mine is called the 6-cup Anniversary Bundt pan by Nordic Ware, in case you are curious.)

In a small mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the filling.

In your large mixing bowl, whisk together your oil and sugar.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, whisking until light and creamy.

Add in the sour cream and whisk again.

Tip in the flour mixture and whisk one last time.

Pour two-thirds of the batter into your prepared Bundt pan.

Spoon in the filling mixture.

Pour the last third of the batter over to cover the filling.

Bake in your preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Leave to cool for about five minutes in the pan.

Run your toothpick around the edges of the cake to loosen, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool completely before drizzling on the glaze.

To make the glaze, mix the sugar and the vanilla. Add teaspoons of milk till you reach your desired consistency. Pour or drizzle over the cooled cake.

Enjoy!

What was your favorite retro dessert? Here are some of ours, either originally Bundts or Bundtified.

• Boston Cream Bundt by Andrea at Adventures in All Things Food
• Boston Cream Pie Bundt Cake by Mary at Los Chatos Chefs
• Campbell's Tomato Soup Cake by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Coca~Cola Bundt Cake by Mondo at I Bake He Shoots
• Hummingbird Bundt Cake by Teri at The Freshman Cook
• Inside-Out Ho Hos Lava Bundt Cake by Colleen at Faith, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Key Lime Bundt Cake by Sarah at The Chef Next Door
• Lemon Meringue Pie Bundt by Felice at All That's Left are the Crumbs
• New York Style Crumb Cake by Tammy at Living the Gourmet
• Nutella Chocolate MIlkshake Bundt Cake by Bea and Mara at I Love Bundt Cakes
• Orange Creamsicle Cake by Sue at Palatable Pastime
• Pantera Rosa Bundt Cake by Rocío at kidsandchic
• Root Beer Float Bundt Cake by Rebekah at Making Miracles
• Sock It To Me Cake by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Strawberry Milkshake Swirl Bundt Cake by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
• Tomato Soup Bundt Cake by Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
• Tunnel of Fudge Cake by Kelly at Passion Kneaded

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving Bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest Board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our homepage.

.