Think of this breakfast cake as an Instant Pot coffee cake made with pancake mix. While it might be tempting to make the cake the night before and save it for breakfast, the consistency turns gummy once the cake cools. (All that steam in the pot has to go somewhere — unfortunately, right into the cake’s crumb!)
We kept the cake from being cloying by letting the sugar in the pancake mix handle the sweetening. The cake slices can then handle a drizzle of maple syrup or a slather of strawberry jam.