diff --git a/django/contrib/sessions/backends/base.py b/django/contrib/sessions/backends/base.py
index 10d564b752..a395b589b1 100644
--- a/django/contrib/sessions/backends/base.py
+++ b/django/contrib/sessions/backends/base.py
@@ -295,10 +295,7 @@ class SessionBase:
         """
         Create a new session key, while retaining the current session data.
         """
-        try:
-            data = self._session_cache
-        except AttributeError:
-            data = {}
+        data = self._session
         key = self.session_key
         self.create()
         self._session_cache = data
diff --git a/django/contrib/sessions/backends/signed_cookies.py b/django/contrib/sessions/backends/signed_cookies.py
index 6391b3ef3e..1ee7790b8e 100644
--- a/django/contrib/sessions/backends/signed_cookies.py
+++ b/django/contrib/sessions/backends/signed_cookies.py
@@ -71,9 +71,8 @@ class SessionStore(SessionBase):
         Instead of generating a random string, generate a secure url-safe
         base64-encoded string of data as our session key.
         """
-        session_cache = getattr(self, '_session_cache', {})
         return signing.dumps(
-            session_cache, compress=True,
+            self._session, compress=True,
             salt='django.contrib.sessions.backends.signed_cookies',
             serializer=self.serializer,
         )
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.11.1.txt b/docs/releases/1.11.1.txt
index 953a6e8889..41f82a0c63 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.11.1.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.11.1.txt
@@ -27,3 +27,6 @@ Bugfixes
 
 * Restored ``BoundField``\s without any ``choices`` evaluating to ``True``
   (:ticket:`28058`).
+
+* Prevented ``SessionBase.cycle_key()`` from losing session data if
+  ``_session_cache`` isn't populated (:ticket:`28066`).
diff --git a/tests/sessions_tests/tests.py b/tests/sessions_tests/tests.py
index 9654c7d9eb..bf1e05fbec 100644
--- a/tests/sessions_tests/tests.py
+++ b/tests/sessions_tests/tests.py
@@ -178,8 +178,13 @@ class SessionTestsMixin:
         self.assertEqual(list(self.session.items()), prev_data)
 
     def test_cycle_with_no_session_cache(self):
+        self.session['a'], self.session['b'] = 'c', 'd'
+        self.session.save()
+        prev_data = list(self.session.items())
+        self.session = self.backend(self.session.session_key)
         self.assertFalse(hasattr(self.session, '_session_cache'))
         self.session.cycle_key()
+        self.assertEqual(list(self.session.items()), prev_data)
 
     def test_save_doesnt_clear_data(self):
         self.session['a'] = 'b'