Winter Cleaning and Baking a STUNNING Honey Bun Cake!

[Music] hello everyone I am so happy to see you again I have some post Christmas cleanup to do today and I hope you will hang out with me as I go about that job and as a reward for the work we are going to make a honey bun cake now this recipe comes from Southern Living magazine and well it's an interesting recipe the first thing I need to do is spray my 12 cup bump pan here with baking spray baking spray contains flour now I think this cake is supposed to replicate one of those little honey bun snacks that we could buy at bodegas and convenience stores years and years ago or maybe they still make them and it begins with believe it or not not boxed yellow cake mix and this is a 15.25 Oz or 432 G package we can throw this right into our mixing bowl packaged cake mix is not something that I ordinarily really ever buy but this week I de decided to make the exception then I need 34 cup or about 177 mil of oil this is avocado oil for large room temperature eggs now you use room temperature eggs when making a cake because cold eggs just don't incorporate into batters very readily 1 cup or 240 G of sour cream and one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract this is the extract that you and I made together then I'm going to mix all of these ingredients together until they are well Incorporated in the the directions say to do this at high [Music] speed we are all mixed here now this cake has a cinnamon and brown sugar center that is swirled into the batter and what we need for that is a half cup or 100 G of brown sugar to teaspoons of ground cinnamon I always remove the little sprinkle cap from my jars cuz I like to use measuring spoon one two we also need a/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and then we can mix these ingredients together now we can spoon half of this batter into the prepared bunt pan and we can sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon [Music] mixture and the recipe said to keep the cinnamon mixture about a/4 in from the edges of the pan I've already failed in that regard and then we top this off with the remaining [Music] batter then we take a butter knife and we swirl the cinnamon mixture into the batter [Music] when I worked at Third Street Music School in Manhattan there was a bodega located near my subway station and I used to stop there on my way to Third Street Music School to buy a honey bun I think the Buns were made by a company called little dubbies they were wrapped in cell F they were very sticky they had a beautiful white glaze on them and they were totally delicious not particularly healthy but totally delicious and I think this cake is supposed to replicate those snacking buns now my oven has preheated to 350° F or 180° C this cake is ready for the oven it's going to take take 40 to 45 minutes going to clean up here and then we can get started on the post Christmas cleanup job I need to tackle both The Parlor and the dining room this is the mantle garland that you and I made together from Evergreen boughs and real fruit none of this material will be wasted I will compost The Greenery and give the fruit to the wildlife that visits my property [Music] now we can remove all of the ornaments from the Christmas tree this is the 9 ft tall balsom fur that you and I selected together in late November the tree has held up beautifully once I have helped removing the tree from the house it will be turned into wood chips that I can use in the [Music] [Music] garden this cake smells just in incredible looks pretty too I need to let this cake sit in its pan for 10 minutes before we can unmold it so let's continue with our cleanup I need to tackle the staircase [Music] even these green sweepings will become rich compost compost is essential for all of my Gardens here at Clover [Music] Hill I want to thank you for hanging out with me while I clean the house your companionship means the world to [Music] me well cleanup is coming along very smooth but we need to unmold this cake say a prayer it works ah beautiful it smells just wonderful we need to let this cool completely and then we can give it a beautiful glaze now we need to to head into the dining room I've got some Cleanup in there this is the pair of boxwood trees that you and I made together in early December all of the boxwood stems will be turned into compost and the decorations will be put away until they are needed for Christmas in 2025 [Music] I'm happy to report that the command hook that held the boxwood Reef on the 19th century mirror did not leave any residue behind the command Hook is my new favorite thing [Music] I love this wooden tray this is the tray that my contractor made for me and I finished it in a mahogany stain and although I used it for Christmas I will probably use it for Springtime as well I could put two lips in here or something [Music] [Music] I love using real decorations for the Christmas holidays and it may seem like a lot of work to clean up the mess afterwards but I can assure you it took far longer to set up the decorations than it did to remove them it's not that much of a mess [Music] Cleaning This Old House is great exercise for me I won't feel any guilt when we tuck into the honey bun cake that awaits us [Music] [Music] let's bring this basket of fruit outdoors I know that deer will eat the apples I know that squirrels will eat the pineapple and I'm not sure who will eat the pomegranates and the grapes and the oranges but they will be available for the Wildlife [Music] I'm tossing the fruit in an area of my garden where I regularly see wildlife I think they will enjoy the bounty [Music] [Music] before we glaze our cake I wanted to show you what I found in my post office box this morning these are microfiber towels from viewer Donna so this is Avery imprinted on this towel and this is Miss Binky I love these and thank you so much Donna I'm afraid to use them they're too beautiful so this is just a simple confectioner sugar glaze that we're going to drizzle over the cake so I need around two or maybe 2 and 1/2 cups of confectioner sugar I'm just going to eyeball this a splash of vanilla and then we need just enough milk to make a pourable glaze [Music] this looks about right I've decided that I should put some kout strips of parchment under this cake so that I don't make a mess on the cake stand and away we go with the [Music] glaze going to let this glaze set up meantime let's light a fire in the dining room [Music] well in spite of our efforts with the parchment I still managed to make a mess on this cake stand but I don't mind and I've brewed some coffee this is the well this is my names sake coffee that I know many of you bought over the holidays from Tiara Farm it's really excellent coffee but unfortunately for me and fortunately for Tiara Farm they sold out they sold out of all the coffee I mean oh my this is a gorgeous looking cake I love the swirl in the center I have my coffee ready let's head into the dining room many of you have asked me about Christmas Day and what I did for it and well you and I made that wonderful Christmas dinner a few days before Christmas and we certainly enjoyed that and then for Christmas day we went to my friends Vicki and albin's place they only live 3 minutes away from us and Vicki has two pianos just as I do so we played our two piano work by Cecil shamad plus we played some Two Piano versions of some Christmas carols we had a great time and Vicki and Albin prepared a wonderful dinner so now let's try this cake as soon as I have some coffee in my cup some cafeo creme this cake I can already tell is very very moist oh my oh my oh my this is not just a cake it's an experience Sweet Sticky super moist I love the cinnamon and the brown sugar swirls this is an amazing cake my friends I can't say that it replicates the little honey buns that I used to buy at the bodega but it comes very close to it actually this is uniquely wonderful all on its own thank you so much for spending time with me today as we tidied up both The Parlor and the dining room after Christmas and I just want to remind remind you that it was much easier to take down the decorations than it was to set them up and I love Christmas but when Christmas is over it's over in the comments let me know if you remember the little snack cake called honey bun again I think it was made by a company called little dubbies our next video will air on Friday I'm planning to do a massive meal prep to bring in the New Year and I hope you will watch I also hope you will subscribe and be sure to tap the little bell icon to receive notifications every time I upload a new video and I can put a couple of my other videos at the end of this one that you can enjoy between now and my next upload and until then my friends please treat yourself very very well try this cake I will put the recipe in the description below and I will see you in the next episode bye for now [Music]