Valentine's Day Breakfast: Simple Cinnamon Bun Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

I know that the 'thing' to bring to Superbowl parties is Meat Wrapped in Meat, but I wasn't really going to watch football, I was going to see Ash & Bloom do a live pre-superbowl and half-time show. So I just searched my Pinterest boards until I found something that looked too tasty to resist and that could be made in under 1 hour! (I may have put it off until late afternoon yesterday...) And let me say this: it was a HUGE hit. There were multiple requests for the recipe.

This Cinnamon Bun Cake is also a fantastic dish to make for breakfast/brunch/coffee time on Valentine's Day! It's easy, fast, and you can mix up the batter and get it ready to go in the evening, then bake in the morning. The delicious taste of cinnamon buns with about 1/4 of the work!

To dress it up a little more, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make your servings. No one has to know who ate the cut-off sections. ;)

Also, I know it looks a little complicated because you're making 3 different components, but trust me, it couldn't be easier. I only dirtied 1 mixing bowl and 1 large measuring cup, plus a few of the little utensils. 

Simple Cinnamon Bun Cake (Adapted from Cookin Up North)
Ingredients:
       Cake

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

     Topping

• 2/3 cup  melted butter
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

     Glaze

• 4oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Grease a 9x13 pan.
3. Measure all dry cake ingredients into large bowl & combine thoroughly. 
4. Beat milk, eggs, vanilla & almond extracts together in large measuring cup, then add to dry ingredients & mix well.
5. Slowly add melted butter to cake mixture.
6. Spread evenly in prepared pan. (Will be more like a dough than cake batter. Stretch it out evenly.)
7. Beat together all ingredients for topping until well combined. Pour over batter in pan.
8. Using a knife, swirl the topping into the batter - the deeper you swirl, the more delicious cinnamon gooeyness will be in the middle of the cake. Yum.
9. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
10. For glaze, beat the cream cheese with a mixer until creamy & smooth. Add icing sugar, milk, & vanilla. Mix on low for 2 minutes, then high until there are no lumps left. Drizzle over cake (while cake is warm) if serving in pan, or cut & prepare individual servings and drizzle while on plates. 

This dish is best served warm, but it doesn't matter if that's fresh from the oven or coming out of the microwave - I can attest that both taste scrumptious. :)