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This CINNAMON ROLL CAKE RECIPE does double duty in my house – the kids love it for both breakfast or dessert! The sweet swirls of cinnamon and sugar get crackly on top and add the perfect contrast of texture to this moist cake. We top it off with a simple vanilla glaze.
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Ah, cake.
It’s the main reason I love birthdays, if we’re being honest.
I don’t make a lot of cake for non-birthday events, but lately we’ve been on a major cinnamon roll cake kick.
It’s pretty perfect, because I let the kids eat it for breakfast (yes, it’s cake, but it can not be worse than an actual cinnamon roll, my friends) but they’ll happily turn around and eat it for dessert too!
Two birds, one cake. That’s how the saying goes, right?
We also make this eclair cake (it’s no bake!) and buttermilk chocolate cake when we’re craving cake. So good!
I first stumbled across this recipe on the allrecipes website, but I tweaked the cake batter a little to make it even tastier (if I do say so myself) and totally changed up the topping to be a little more simple.
Cinnamon Roll Cake Ingredients:
Flour
Sugars – White, brown, and powdered sugars.
Cinnamon
Baking Powder
Salt
Milk
Eggs
Vanilla
Butter
How To Make Cinnamon Roll Cake Batter:
Make the Cake Batter: This homemade cake batter comes together super easily! You’ll add your dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisk them well to combine.
Pour some melted butter over the top and stir together until the cake batter is just combined. Don’t overmix your cake batter or you’ll end up with a tougher cake.
Helpful Tip!
Kitchen Hack
Start with a cake mix and prepare according to the package directions! I think my homemade version is nearly as easy, but if you don’t have the ingredients or really want a shortcut, a cake mix will work just fine!
Pour your cake batter into a greased 9×13 baking dish and get ready for the good part.
Make the Cinnamon Swirls: Whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon to combine and then just sprinkle it over the cake. It’ll look like a lot, but that’s a good thing because we love cinnamon sugar, right?
Use a butter knife to swirl the sugar through the cake. Be sure to leave plenty of that brown sugar mixture on the top of the cake batter, because it’s going to add the perfect texture to the top of the cake as it bakes. But, also don’t be shy about swirling it all in to the cake.
Your batter should look like the above photo when you’re done swirling.
Don’t you just want to dive face first into that pan?!
Bake: Pop the pan in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes.
You’ll want to let it cool just a bit before we pour on the glaze.
Glaze the Cake: Just whisk together powdered sugar and milk to make a simple, sweet glaze. You could add in vanilla, almond, or maple extract here if you wanted to get fancy, but we keep things simple in our house.
Pour the glaze over the cake and get ready to dig in!
This cake + a cup of coffee = heaven. I seriously can’t stop with this one!
Variations:
We love playing around with this cinnamon roll cake and even made a blueberry cinnamon roll cake. Same thing, but with blueberries in the mix!
Chocolate chip cinnamon roll cake has a nice ring to it as well!
Swap out the glaze for a cream cheese version instead! I recommend the cream cheese glaze in this recipe for pumpkin bundt cake!
If you make any other variations to this cinnamon roll cake recipe, let me know! Leave a comment below – I love hearing from you!
More breakfast recipes:
- Blueberry Banana Bread
- Baked Scrambled Eggs
- Blueberry Biscuits
- Sausage Gravy
- Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
- Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
Cinnamon Roll Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 cups flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup butter melted
For topping:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
For the glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk or more
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray.
- Add all of the ingredients except for the butter to a mixing bowl and whisk well to combine.
- Pour in the melted butter and use an electric mixer on low speed, mixing the batter until it’s just combined. Do not overmix.
- Pour batter into the prepared baking dish.
- To make the topping, whisk together the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Sprinkle the topping over the top of the cake and use a butter knife to swirl the topping into the batter.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes before whisking together the powdered sugar and milk to make the glaze. Add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time to reach the consistency you prefer. Pour the glaze over the warm cake.
- Let glaze set before slicing and serving.
Diana Spickard says
I made this cake on N.Y.E at 11:30 pm, and it is already gone!! It was so good, my husband loved it. I can already see that I will be making this a lot. FYI-Every time you cut a piece, heat is in the microwave for about 30 seconds, and it taste just like it came out of the oven.
Karly says
Thanks, Diana! Glad this was such a hit!
Em says
Can you use yellow cake mix and follow the directions on it would it do the same thing?
Karly says
Hi Em! Yes, I think if you make the cake batter as directed and then swirl in the cinnamon mixture it would be fine.
Deanna says
Can you substitute the flour for a gluten free flower?
Karly says
You could try a cup for cup flour, though I haven’t tested it myself.
Elissa says
Do you think I could make it the day before? I am bringing it somewhere for Thanksgiving.
Karly says
Yep, that should be fine! Just keep it tightly covered so it stays fresh and moist. 🙂
Kara says
just discovered your website and am pinning so many recipes to try. they all look so good! for your cinnamon roll cake, have you ever assembled everything the night before and put in fridge to bake the next morning? Im sure I’d need to bring it to room temp before baking but wondered if you’ve tried and if so, same results?
Karly says
Hi Kara! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
You won’t want to make a cake without baking right away because the leavening agents will lose their reaction as they sit in the liquid batter overnight. You’d also lose any of the air you’d beaten into the batter when mixing. 🙂
Ada munden says
Cinnamon roll cake
Mary Ann says
I’ve made this cake 3 times within a month my family loves it
Karly says
Love to hear that!
Donna G says
Have you tried making cupcakes with this recipe?? Any recommendations on tweaking it for that purpose?? The cake looks scrumptious but I need to make cupcakes for a social distancing gathering this weekend! Thanks for any tips/advice! ?
Karly says
Hi Donna! I haven’t tried this one as cupcakes. I would just give it a try in advance to test it. You’ll probably want to bake for 15-20 minutes, but keep an eye on them.
Charles Hopper - says
Great ? Recipe!
Dawn-marie says
Hi
When it says flour what kind of flour is it please.Im in the uk so we have plain flour or self raising flour.
Dawn-marie says
Sorry only just realised you had answered before.Could have been baking this weeks ago tut tut wish it had let me know lol
Toni graham says
Can i use almond or coconut powder and substitute swerve confections and swerve brown sugar. My in laws are diabetic and I’m trying to cut carb
Mary Ann says
It was easy to make. It turned out pretty good. My youngest son wanted it for his 25th birthday. I was going to leave a pic but there was no section for it.
Karly says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Dawn-marie says
Hi
I want to try baking this at the weekend but I notice you don’t specify which flour I’m in the uk so there’s plain flour and self raising flour.If I use self raising flour do I leave the baking powder out n if I use plain do I put the baking powder in.Sorry but at the moment here it’s a normality to only get one or the other.So I never know which might be available if any.
Karly says
You would want to use plain flour. I haven’t tested this with self rising powder.
Barb says
Just made this- a winner for sure. FYI I halved the recipe, used a square pan and baked it for 18 minutes-perfect! I liked the texture of the scratch version. I think using a cake mix would give a very different result. JMO
Karly says
Hi Barb! So glad you enjoyed this! Good to know it’s easily halved as well. 🙂
Sabrina says
a great best of both recipe, cinnamon rolls are one of my favorites treats or a downfall, depending on your perspective, but a cake version is nice too since the sweetness is broken up a bit by the cake, not concertrated as it is in a cinnamon roll, thank you!
Heather LaBudde says
I just made this scrumptious cake! I baked it for slightly less time , cut a little sodium by using NO-SALT, and pinched back alittle on the baking powder as well. Finally, I only used 1/2cup powdered sugar for the glaze. Everyone LOVED it( even my diabetic husband who got a smidge). This recipe ( AND your Beer Bread) are fabulous! thank you!
Karly says
Thanks, Heather!! <3
Krista says
Not sure if maybe my sugar was bad but for the glaze are the measurements right? Mine came out super thick like a paste. I ended up using some cream cheese frosting instead so hopefully it turns out okay!
Karly says
Hi Krista! I should have added a note to the recipe to add more milk if needed. Powdered sugar is so easy to measure light or heavy that it’s hard to say the exact amount of liquid you’ll need and it’s easy to add more or less liquid to get the consistency you prefer. You could just add more milk to get it thinner, but I’m sure cream cheese frosting will be great!
Diana Spickard says
Hi Krista, I just made this a couple of days ago. Yes, the frosting does come out a little thick, you can add a little bit more milk, but you really don’t want too much because if it comes out to thin, all it will do is run off the cake. You do want it a little thick, just get a spatula and spread it out.
Bryn says
If I were to use a cake mix…do I still add the melted butter or is that specific to your homemade recipe? I’m going to let my girls make this, seems like something they can do on their own. Thank you!
Karly says
If you use a cake mix, I’d just follow the directions on the box for the cake batter and then top with the cinnamon and sugar and carry on from there. 🙂