Sock It To Me Cake
Part pound cake – part coffee cake, a Sock It To Me Cake is a delicious treat that can be served for dessert at night and brunch the next morning!
This post may contain paid links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.
It’s been 50 some-odd years since Judy Carne rose to fame as the “sock it to me girl” on the popular Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In tv show. The show itself debuted in the late 1960’s, and it was an American sketch comedy show. It was wildly popular at the time – indeed, TV Guide rated it as #42 on its list of 50 Greatest TV Shows. That show was before my time, but I still know the phrase Sock It To Me – primarily because of the cake with the same name.
Sock It To Me Cake
Sock It To Me CakeAlso a product of the 1960’s, the Sock It To Me Cake is a popular Southern dessert. This butter cake is essentially a pound cake with a ribbon of cinnamon-pecan streusel through the middle. At one point, Duncan Hines printed a Sock It To Me Cake recipe on the back of its’ boxes of yellow cake mix. That publicity certainly contributed to this cake’s fame. However, much like Laugh-In itself, the popularity of this cake seems to have faded over time.
It’s time to bring the Sock It To Me Cake back! I’ve always loved a good pound cake, and there are plenty of pound cake variations out there. This one deserves a spot in the list! This cake is essentially a vanilla pound cake combined with a cinnamon-pecan coffee cake – what’s not to love about that?? So pour yourself a mug of coffee, slice a piece of this cake and enjoy!
While the original 1960’s version of this cake used a box of cake mix, I prefer to bake from scratch. (Don’t get me wrong – there are definitely still times when I appreciate a good boxed cake mix!) This pound cake features both sour cream as well as vegetable oil. It’s a bit unusual to see both of these in the same recipe, but I’m a fan. The cake is moist and flavorful by itself – and that doesn’t even take into account the ribbon of cinnamon-pecans that runs through the middle!
At first glance, this cake looks like a fairly standard pound cake. It’s not until you slice into it that you see the cinnamon-pecan filling. Talk about a nice surprise there! And if you pop a slice of this cake in the microwave for about 15 seconds or so? You’ll be in for a real treat! This cake will taste like it just came out of the oven – and it’ll have you saying “Sock it to me!” (Ok, you probably won’t actually say that, but I couldn’t resist.) Either way, I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do! It’s the kind of cake that can be served for dessert at night and then again for brunch in the morning. Happy baking!
Did you bake this Sock It To Me Cake at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). I want to see the cinnamon-pecan streusel in your version!
Sock It To Me Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2½ cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sour cream
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
For the Pecan Swirl
- 1½ cups chopped pecans toasted
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
For the Glaze
- 2½ cups confectioner’s sugar
- 5 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Grease and flour (or spray with nonstick baking spray) a 14-16 cup Bundt pan; set pan aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy (~3-4 minutes on medium speed).
- Add eggs 1 at a time, stirring until well combined after each addition.
- Add salt and half of the flour; stir until well combined.
- Add sour cream; stir until well combined.
- Add remaining flour; stir until well combined.
- Add vegetable oil and vanilla extract; stir until well combined.
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.
- Using a small bowl, combine the toasted pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture evenly on top of batter. Spread remaining batter evenly on top of pecans.
- Bake for 85-90 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out mostly clean.
- Let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack until completely cool.
- Whisk confectioner’s sugar with milk and vanilla extract until smooth. Spoon glaze evenly over cake before serving.
Looking for more tasty pound cake recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
Cant wait to make this soon for me for the cake can i use vegan butter and coconut cream and glaze can i use almond milk i never had sock it to me cake before perfect for my after office snacks love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
I haven’t tried the vegan options myself, Ramya…but I suspect they would still work well here. This cake is fantastic, and I highly recommend it! 🙂
What a fun cake! Love the hybrid of coffee cake and pound cake — perfect for indecisive people like me! 😀
Haha – exactly! What’s not to love about a cake that can be served at breakfast and/or for dessert?? 🙂 Thanks, Michelle!
a pecan swirl AND icing?? Delicious stuff david.
Oh, this cake, Sherry. It’s fantastic. That ribbon of cinnamon pecans throughout the middle? Yum!!
I know you love your pound cakes David! And I love what you’ve done here. I’ve never heard of a “sock it to me cake” before but I have to say this looks utterly delicious and that cinnamon-pecan filling would be amazing to bite into.
Haha – you’ve known me long enough now to remember my love for pound cakes. 🙂 This version is absolutely delicious, and the “hidden” layer of cinnamon pecans in the middle makes this one especially fun to slice into and serve! Hope you guys have a great weekend over there!
Oh, does this recipe bring back memories for me while growing up? My mom made a similar coffee/pound cake but I don’t remember if she called it “Sock It To Me.” You gotta love the name though. All of your pound cake recipe links here on this post look fantastic. I’m heading to check them out now.
Hey Kristy! I do love a good pound cake…and I do love a good coffee cake. (Truth be told, I have requested coffee cake instead of birthday cake in the past!) This version is basically a combination of both. It’s amazing! 🙂
I am embarrassed to admit that even though I have lived in the South for almost 30 years, this is my first time hearing of a “Sock it to me Cake!” And WOA – what a tasty concoction! I LOVE vanilla pound cake, throw in a cinnamon-pecan swirl and HEAVEN! So – any chance you have leftovers sitting around? 🙂
Don’t be embarrassed, Shashi! This cake has fallen out of favor…but I have no idea why. It’s amazing! You’ve got a pound cake combined with a coffee cake – it’s truly the best of both worlds. 🙂 And let me see about those leftovers…I might have a slice hanging around still!
Wow, David, I love the look of this cake. And it sounds delicious, too. Some internet streaming service – I can’t remember which one – had all of Laugh-In available, so I watch a ton of them. I think this must’ve been during the pandemic, because I rarely have that kind of time on my hands. Anyway, it was an awesome show in large part because of the cool 60’s, free-love vibe. I need to make this cake, and eat it while I see if I can catch some more of those reruns.
Oh, we all have those pandemic stories, Jeff. I haven’t actually watched Laugh-In, so I can’t speak to that…but this cake? Fantastic. I definitely think it would go well with reruns! 🙂
I’m not familiar with the Rowan & Martin’s Laugh show, but I’ve googled it quickly, and the cast appears to be quite famous. I will take a look on YouTube as I’m intrigued.
Now, I haven’t heard of the Sock It To Me Cake either, but it looks and sounds wonderful. Who can resist the combination of pecan, brown sugar, and cinnamon? That’s a perfect cake for autumn!
Yeah, if you’re sitting around bored sometime, look up some old clips of that show on YouTube. I’ve never watched an entire episode through myself, but I do know the show was well received and well liked. This cake? It was also well received and well liked! 🙂
I’ve never heard of that show before but have heard of that saying. What a fun cake with that cinnamon pecan centre! And I love that you made the cake from scratch versus using a boxed cake mix like the original. I bet it makes all the difference!! I would love to have a big piece of this in front of me right now (with a big cuppa coffee, of course). Heavenly!
To be honest, I’m not sure the saying and the cake are related…maybe so? The name of the cake is a bit odd! The taste though? Not odd at all. It’s amazing! Homemade is always (always!!) better than boxed stuff, and this cake was a huge hit in our house. I wish we still had some left….oops. 🙂
David, as one of your older readers I can proudly say I loved watching Laugh-In on Friday nights when it first began in 1968. I’ve also devoured many slices of this delight. But, I always thought the name came for Aretha Franklin’s recording of Otis Redding’s RESPECT. With “sock it to me” meaning “lay it on me”. Either way, it’s a wonderful cake and I like your take on the classic crowd-pleaser.
Oh man, I bet this post brought back some Laugh-In memories, Ron! You know, you might be right with the Aretha Franklin reference to the cake here. I honestly have no idea. But what I do know is this cake is absolutely delicious…even if the name is a bit confusing! 🙂
Pound cake with a ribbon of cinnamon-pecan streusel through the middle sounds really delcious, now my coffee feels lonely
Haha – well don’t let your coffee get lonely, Raymund. Bake up this cake so it has a friend!
I love old fashioned recipes and recreating them. This cake sounds like a winner! I love that layer of filling.
Some old-fashioned recipes need to be left in the past, but this one? It needs to make a comeback! That cinnamon pecan filling is absolutely delicious! 🙂
Hi David, I grew up eating the box mix version of this cake, as did my husband. I made it recently using boxed cake mix and it’s just as delicious as I remembered. I have a question about your version. When I bake from scratch I weigh my flour. Typically I use 120 grams for a cup of flour. Would this be an accurate measure for your recipe?
Hey Louanne! I like to bake by weight myself, but I’ve found that we are in the minority…so that’s why I post recipes by measurement instead. When it comes to converting between the two, I use King Arthur’s conversion chart: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart They also list 1 cup of all-purpose flour as 120 grams, so I’d say your number is an accurate one! I hope you enjoy this from-scratch version. Sometimes it’s hard to match the memories associated with a box cake mix! Happy baking!