Easy Snickerdoodle Cake

Ingredient Notes

These are the ingredients you’ll need to make this snickerdoodle cake recipe and brown sugar frosting. I’ve included notes below. Scroll down to the printable ingredients list for the full amounts and step-by-step recipe instructions.

• Vanilla Cake Mix – Choose your favorite brand of store-bought cake mix, like Duncan Hines or similar.
• Instant Vanilla Pudding – This adds moisture to the batter and fluffiness to the cake while enhancing its vanilla flavor.
• Eggs – You’ll need 3 full eggs plus an additional egg white. The extra yolk can be discarded.
• Buttermilk – You can make your own buttermilk substitute by combining a cup of milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar. It’s best to bring the milk to room temperature before doing so.
• Vegetable Oil – Or canola oil.
• Light Sour Cream – To ensure a soft and fluffy cake. Greek yogurt is a good substitute.

Cinnamon Sugar Streusel

• Brown Sugar and Cinnamon – Combined with all-purpose flour and melted butter to create the cinnamon streusel.
• All-Purpose Flour – Fill your measuring cup by fluffing up the flour and spooning it in a little bit at a time, then leveling it off at the top with a butter knife. Otherwise, you will pack it into the cup and use too much. See how to measure flour correctly.

 Cinnamon Brown Sugar Frosting

• Unsalted Butter – Bring the butter to room-temperature. To do this quickly, you can warm the butter for a few seconds in the microwave, but don’t melt it completely. This way, it’ll be easier to beat with the powdered sugar in the recipe.
• Heavy Cream –  Keep the heavy cream cold until you’re ready to use it.
• Cinnamon – For flavor. You could also use nutmeg, or pumpkin pie spice.
• Snickerdoodles – For garnish. Feel free to use store-bought cookies if you’re in a pinch.

How to Make Snickerdoodle Cake

Even with the streusel and the frosting, this cake is not overly sweet. It has a nicely balanced flavor profile that allows you to enjoy that classic snickerdoodle taste without feeling like you’re biting into a sugar bomb. Here’s how to bring it to life:

Bake the Cake

1. Prepare for baking. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch pans.
2. Combine the cake mix and pudding. Combine the vanilla cake mix with the vanilla pudding.
3. Add the remaining ingredients. Add the eggs and egg white, followed by the buttermilk, oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract.
4. Mix the batter. Beat the batter on medium speed until all of the ingredients are well combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and turn the batter over from the bottom to ensure it’s well mixed. Set the batter aside while you prepare the streusel.

Make the Streusel

1. Combine the dry ingredients. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Add melted butter. Melt the butter in a separate bowl. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and use a pastry cutter or a fork to blend it in, creating a crumbly mixture.
3. Swirl the streusel with the cake batter. Layer the cake batter and the streusel into each pan, swirling them together with a knife. Sprinkle any remaining streusel overtop each layer.
4. Bake. Bake the cake layers for 35-38 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each layer comes out clean.
5. Cool and level the cake layers. Allow the cake layers to cool completely, then “tort” the tops, cutting off the domes so they are completely flat. Then cut each layer in half.

Make the Frosting

1. Beat the butter. Allow the butter to come to room temperature so that it’s soft but not melted. Beat it in a mixer on medium speed until it’s smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
2. Add brown sugar. Add the brown sugar and continue mixing for another 2 minutes.
3. Slowly add powdered sugar. Slowly add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time while continuing to beat on medium speed.
4. Add cinnamon. Mix the cinnamon into the frosting.
5. Add vanilla and heavy cream. As the frosting starts to thicken, alternate adding the vanilla extract and heavy whipping cream. Increase the mixer speed to high and whip the frosting for another 3 minutes, until it’s smooth and creamy.

Assemble the Cake

1. Frost the first layer. Place a dollop of frosting onto your cake plate and put the bottom layer of cake on top. The frosting helps prevent the cake from sliding. Use your piping bag to pipe frosting from the outside edge into the center of the cake. Gently spread the frosting with an offset spatula to fill in the gaps.
2. Continue layering. Place the next layer of cake on top and repeat the above instructions to add the next layer of frosting. Repeat the process a third time. Place the top layer of cake upside-down so that the bottom of the cake is on top, creating a nice and smooth surface. For more tips on stacking cake layers, see my in-depth tutorial on how to make a layer cake.
3. Add a crumb coat. Create a crumb coat by adding a cup of frosting onto the top of the cake and gently spreading it out to the edges and down the sides. Use additional frosting to fill in any cracks between the layers. Use an offset spatula or an icing smoother to wipe away excess frosting, leaving just enough to coat the outside of the cake. Do not mix your crumb-coat frosting back into your icing if it has cake debris in it.
4. Chill the cake. Refrigerate the cake for 15-20 minutes to allow the crumb coat to harden.
5. Finish frosting. Remove your cake from the refrigerator and spread the remaining frosting onto its exterior. To get a nice smooth edge, use your offset spatula and an icing smoother to wipe away excess frosting.
6. Add snickerdoodle crumbs. Once you’re satisfied with the frosting of the cake, crush 5 Snickerdoodle cookies into crumbs and press them around the bottom of the cake, then sprinkle the remaining cookie crumbs on top. You can also decorate your cake with mini cookies in favor of crumbling up full-sized ones. Enjoy! Slice and serve the cake immediately or keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.

Tips for a Perfect Snickerdoodle Cake

Let’s talk about some simple tips and tricks that will help you make a faultless snickerdoodle cake. Anybody can do it!

• Sprinkle the streusel evenly. In addition to swirling the streusel into your cake batter, I highly recommend saving some streusel to sprinkle over the top of each layer. This ensures that every single bite has streusel in it!
• Pipe the frosting. I find it super helpful to pipe on each layer of frosting before I spread it out with an offset spatula. I use a piping bag fitted with an open round tip, but you could simply cut the end off of a resealable plastic bag and use that instead.
• Use a lazy Susan. I love utilizing a lazy Susan when I’m frosting and decorating cakes. It’s such a huge help to be able to rotate the cake as you work!
• Use mini cookies to decorate. Instead of crumbled full-sized snickerdoodle cookies, you can decorate your cake with mini cookies by portioning your favorite snickerdoodle cookie dough into smaller balls.

Storage Instructions

• Refrigerate. This snickerdoodle cake will last for up to a week in the fridge. Place it in an airtight container and chill it. You can bring your cake to room temperature before enjoying it if desired. I like to store my layer cakes in a cake carrier to protect the frosting and decorations.
• Freeze. Place the entire cake or individual slices into a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 4 months. Thaw out the frozen cake in the fridge before enjoying it.

More Layer Cake Recipes

• Yellow Layer Cake
• Red Velvet Layer Cake
• Strawberry Margarita Cake
• Chocolate Mocha Cake
• Salted Caramel Butterscotch Cake
• Confetti Cake