This Old-School Duncan Hines Cake Was A Huge Hit Back In The '70s

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What's your favorite vintage dessert from the 1970s? That might be a tough question, as the decade was big on fun desserts. Some of them have been lost to time (and many contemporary Americans aren't necessarily yearning for the ones made from Jell-O or instant pudding), but one old-school dessert that has resurfaced in recent years is Sock It to Me cake. The name came from the expression "sock it to me," which basically meant the same thing as "lay it on me." The expression was popular in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s; you may remember it from Aretha Franklin's song, "Respect." The recipe was first published on the back of a Duncan Hines boxed cake mix in the 1970s and it quickly became a hit.

So what is Sock It to Me cake? Featuring a warm, spiced flavor, Sock It to Me cake is baked in a Bundt pan and made by adding other ingredients to a boxed cake mix. Bakers would start with a box of Duncan Hines Classic Butter Golden Cake Mix and add brown sugar, cinnamon, finely chopped pecans, and sour cream. If you like coffee cake, you'd probably like Sock It to Me cake.

Some modern bakers have come up with from-scratch recipes for Sock It to Me cake. However, the traditional method is to start with the box mix. "Semi-homemade" cakes like this were popular at the time, as they maintained some of the appeal of a homemade cake while cutting the work in half. Whichever method you use, make sure you bake your cake in a Bundt pan, as the shape is crucial to a Sock It to Me cake. You can use Duncan Hines Classic Butter Golden Cake Mix, which the original recipe called for, or substitute a box of yellow cake mix. From there, follow the Duncan Hines recipe. You'll add brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans to the dry ingredients, as well as sour cream to the wet ingredients. And of course, don't forget the pecan mixture on top.

Interestingly, it's difficult to find any variations on Sock It to Me cake around the internet. It's possible that people don't feel the need to improve upon a nostalgic classic. But if you like the flavor profile of cinnamon and brown sugar, there are lots of other great cakes to bake. Bisquick's streusel coffee cake is similar to the Sock It to Me treat in both taste and method: start with a box of Bisquick and add butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. At the end of the day, who can resist a semi-homemade cake brimming with the taste of cinnamon?