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Cinnamon Roll Cake is a cinnamon roll turned into an ooey-gooey, delicious cake! Swirled with buttery brown sugar cinnamon and topped with a sweet glaze… this is the BEST cake EVER!
We love all things cinnamon roll at our house! You should also try: Quick 45 minute Cinnamon Rolls, Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes, and Baked Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal!
The Best Cinnamon Roll Cake
This cinnamon roll cake first made its debut on the blog in 2012. One of the first and BEST recipes here on the blog. But the pictures just weren’t doing it any justice. A soft and gooey Cinnabon cinnamon roll turned into a cake!? You know this HAS to be good! The best part is every time I make it, I have all of the ingredients on hand, so there’s no grocery trip required.
This cake gets swirled with buttery cinnamon brown sugar and is baked to perfection. Once you pull it out of the oven, you add on the glaze and it just melts on top perfectly. I am telling you, this cake is to die for. It’s the perfect comfort dessert and great for any occasion! My kids beg me for it all of the time. Serve it fresh out of the oven and it will be gone in a matter of minutes!
Ingredients for Cinnamon Roll Cake
Together, these ingredients come together to create a delightful cinnamon roll cake that’s both comforting and delicious! I know your family will love it as much as mine does.
- Flour: Provides the base for the cake, giving it structure and texture.
- Salt: Enhances the overall flavor of the cake, balancing the sweetness.
- Sugar: Adds sweetness to the cake batter and the cinnamon filling.
- Baking Powder: Helps the cake rise and become light and fluffy.
- Milk: Adds moisture and richness to the batter, so you have an extra tender cake.
- Eggs: Contribute to the cake’s structure and also help bind the ingredients together.
- Vanilla: Infuses a warm, aromatic flavor into the cake, enhancing its taste.
- Butter (melted and softened): Melted butter in the batter adds richness, while softened butter in the filling creates a gooey texture.
- Brown Sugar: Creates a luscious, caramel-like filling with a hint of molasses flavor.
- Cinnamon: For that classic cinnamon roll taste.
- Nuts (optional): Adds crunch and a nutty flavor for those who enjoy extra texture.
For the Glaze:
- Powdered Sugar: Adds sweetness and also gives the glaze a smooth texture.
- Milk: To adjust the consistency.
- Vanilla Extract: For some extra delicious flavor!
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Cake
Grab all of your ingredients and get ready to make the most amazing cinnamony dessert! Cinnamon roll cake will have the whole family hooked after the first bite.
- Preheat Oven, Prepare Batter: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Then with an electric mixer or stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once that is combined, you slowly stir in 4 T melted butter. Pour the batter into a greased 9×13 inch pan.
- Brown Cinnamon Sugar Mixture: In a medium sized bowl, mix the softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts if you are using them. Then drop evenly over the cake better in your 9×13 inch pan. Use a knife to marble and swirl over the cake.
- Bake: Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center.
- Top With Glaze: Make the glaze by adding the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to a medium sized bowl. Then whisk until smooth and drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tips and Variations
Get ready to dive into the delicious world of cinnamon roll cakes. Even though this is a super simple recipe, a little insider knowledge can make all the difference. So, I’ve whipped up some handy tips and creative twists to help you create a cinnamon roll cake that you’ll absolutely love!
- Can I Add Nuts to My Cake? The recipe has an option to add nuts with the butter cinnamon brown sugar mixture. You can add chopped pecans or even walnuts for an even better cake!
- How Do I Tell if The Cake is Done? Stick a toothpick in the center and if it comes out clean it is done. The cinnamon roll cake will be slightly brown and the edges will slightly pull away from the sides.
- Even Spreading: When spreading the buttery cinnamon filling, try to distribute it as evenly as possible over the cake batter to ensure a consistent swirl throughout.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Ensure that ingredients like butter, eggs, and milk are at room temperature. This helps them mix together smoothly and evenly.
- Cream Cheese Filling: Mix softened cream cheese with the brown sugar and cinnamon for a tangy and creamy filling.
Storing Leftovers
Got some of that irresistible cinnamon roll cake left? No worries, it’s all about savoring the goodness later on! Once it’s cooled down, wrap it snugly in plastic wrap or foil and pop it in the fridge. It will stay good for 3-4 days. When you’re ready to indulge, a quick warm-up in the microwave or a gentle reheat in the oven will bring back that freshly baked magic.
More Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Recipes
Who doesn’t love cinnamon? It’s so delicious and you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert (at least I do)! Check out some more of my cinnamon favorites.
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Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1½ cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 4 T butter melted
- 2 sticks 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 T cinnamon
- ⅔ cups nuts optional
Glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 4-5 T milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer or stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once that is combined, you slowly stir in 4 T melted butter. Pour the batter into a greased 9×13 inch pan.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix the softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts if you are using them. Drop evenly over the cake better in your 9×13 inch pan. Use a knife to marble and swirl over the cake.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center.
- Make the glaze by adding the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to a medium sized bowl. Whisk until smooth and drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
so 4 tablespoons melted butter for the cake mixture and the 2 sticks are for the cinnamon mixture according to the measures on the stick of butter 1 stick is equivalent to 1 cup
1 stick of butter is equal to 1/2 cup, 2 sticks is 1 cup!
Making this right now. The batter is thick like a heavy pancake batter. I hope this is normal?
OMG!!!!!! this will be made. Thank You
Is the batter supposed to come out like a ball of dough! I thinned it to make it pourable. Haven’t tried it yet and it seems jiggly in the pan but tooth pick comes out clean.
Sounds great! Let me know how it turns out!
I have made this several times and it is ALWAYS a winner! I have also made it with gluten free flour and it is delicious! Still moist and you can hardly tell the difference between the 2. Great find!
Amazing!!! Made this with Cup4Cup gluten free flour (I have Celiac and can’t eat gluten) and it was so good! I was worried because my “cake batter” was much more like dough when I placed it in the pan. (Maybe a GF thing?) Half way through cooking it looked scary, but once fully cooked it looked amazing and tasted even better! I used a cream cheese frosting from another recipe (big cream cheese fan), and I also halved the recipe and used an 8×8 glass pan.
I made this cake just this week for the Chicago Bears…and it got rave reviews! I made two cakes – one exactly as this recipe states. For the 2nd cake, I decided to google “Cinnabun Frosting” and found a great copy cat cream cheese frosting. The cake that had the cream cheese frosting won by a landslide vs. the icing that is called for in this recipe. But both are DELICIOUS, so thank you very much for sharing this recipe!!
Delicious!!! I COMPLETELY forgot to add in the eggs but it turned out great anyway – so a little note: if you don’t have eggs, don’t let it stop you from making it!
Why does the brown sugar mixture sometimes drop to the bottom of the pan?
The dough may not be tight enough holding all of the cinnamon mixture.
This is so easy to make and so delicious. My family loved it!
Hello, thanks for the recipe. Want to make this for the weekend. Can I make it in a bundt pan? Thanks
Yes, that sounds great! Let me know what you think and how it turns out!
Can I make this the day before and then cook it day of?
Yes, that will still work great!
Hi Alyssa
I love all things cinnamon roll-y but don’t have the patience to work with yeast. I actually DID make this today (all those commenters who say “looks amazing – I’ll have to try it” drive me crazy. Make the recipe first, & THEN comment!!). OK – that’s my grouchy thought for the day ; )
It’s fabulous – lovely, gooey & cinnamon-y. It looked as good as your pictures & was deeeelicious. BTW – baking time was 35 minutes. Thanks for a great recipe.
Omg thank you i agree , MAKE the recipe 1st then comment !!!! Lol!
I made this recipe in a smaller pan and it’s taking a loooooong time to bake. Almost looks like it has too much butter ?? I’m praying this turns out!!!
I made this a brought it to work. It was a success! This is the best cinnamon “cake” I’ve ever made. It is an A+ keeper!
I can’t wait to try this!