This Homemade Cinnamon Roll Cake dessert has all the flavor of a cinnamon roll but in an easy cake with a vanilla icing drizzled on top!
A CINNAMON ROLL IN CAKE FORM
Are you one of those folks whose eyes glaze over when you see a recipe that has more than 5 ingredients? You completely lose interest and skip on to the next one. Yeah, I know the feeling. It's kinda how I felt about this one when I first saw this recipe for Cinnamon Roll Cake. But then I heard all the great reviews everyone was giving it and I knew I had to make it!
CAN I SUBSTITUTE WITH A BOXED CAKE MIX?
Yes you could. You could use a vanilla cake mix and then just make the cinnamon roll filling and swirl it around. Then continue with the rest of the baking instructions. I think a butter pecan, white and yellow boxed cake mixes would all work as well.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- all-purpose flour
- white granulated sugar
- baking powder
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- milk
- salted butter
- light brown sugar
- ground cinnamon
- powdered sugar
HOW TO MAKE CINNAMON ROLL CAKE:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (I like the kind that has flour in it.) In a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), combine ingredients for cake (except melted butter.)
While your mixer is running, slowly add the ½ cup melted butter. Mix just until combined - overmixing flour in baked goods can make it tough and rubbery. Spread this batter evenly into your baking dish.
Now to make the filling. In a small bowl, combine all your filling ingredients: softened butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon.
Stir until combined well.
Drop the cinnamon filling by spoonfuls onto the cake batter.
Now the artistic part. Take a butter knife and make swirly, marble-effect patterns all around the cake. Drag the knife through both the cinnamon and cake batter.
Bake the cake for about 35-40 minutes (it took about 40 minutes in my oven), until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, make the glaze. Whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in small bowl. Pour the glaze over the warm cake.
The glaze is gonna settle into all those nooks and crannies.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES? GIVE THESE A TRY!
Homemade Cinnamon Roll Cake (+Video)
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
FOR THE CINNAMON FILLING:
- ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) salted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
FOR THE GLAZE:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 5 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE:
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (I like the kind that has flour in it.) In a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), combine ingredients for cake (except melted butter).
- While your mixer is running, slowly add the ½ cup melted butter. Mix just until combined (overmixing flour in baked goods can make it tough and rubbery.)
- Spread this batter evenly into your baking dish.
FOR THE FILLING:
- In a small bowl, combine all your filling ingredients: softened butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Stir until combined well.
- Drop the cinnamon filling by spoonfuls onto the cake batter.
- Take a butter knife and make swirly, marble-effect patterns all around the cake. Drag the knife through both the cinnamon and cake batter.
- Bake the cake for about 35-40 minutes (it took about 40 minutes in my oven), until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
FOR THE GLAZE:
- Whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in small bowl.
- Pour the glaze over the warm cake.
Video
Notes
- I think you could get away with only using one stick of butter in the cinnamon/sugar filling mixture. I think two sticks of butter makes this filling a tad heavy and therefore, it likes to sink to the bottom a bit while baking.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: March 2012
Updated & republished: March 2020
Carol blanchette
I would love the honey bun cake recipe
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Hi Carol, here is the link: https://www.thecountrycook.net/honey-bun-cake/
Mary
This cinnamon roll cake is just delicious! I have made it lots of times. I backed off on the sugar and butter after the first time. It’s plenty sweet. Yummmy
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and leave a comment Mary!
Jade
Does anyone know what these measurements would be if converted into grams as when I google it it seems like a lot !!
Marcella
Thank you it's a great recipe. I stuck with the 1 1/2 sticks of butter for the swirling. The only thing I did differently was that I put 1/2 of the batter in the pan first, then swirled some of the butter cinnamon mixture through and then put the rest of the batter on top. I found this gave me a nice mix all the way through.
Again, great recipe. Really moist cake.
Dawn
This was easy to follow and came out wonderful. I used the 1 stick of butter for the topping as mentioned. This will be a go to favorite. It taste like a cinnamon roll and much easier and less time consuming to make.
Jessica Randall
I made this yesterday for the family during one of our snow storms here in Iowa. It was a hit. Too much for the three of us, so I took it to work. I received great reviews from my coworkers. It was gone in the first half hour. I will be making this receipe again! Super easy to make as well.
Felicia Morton
Good but extremely sweet. Next time I make this I will not use as much of the glaze.
kelli newton
Absolutely delicious!!
violet
Can you freeze this cake?
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Absolutely! Just make sure you wrap it well and put in an airtight container so it doesn't get freezer burn. 🙂
Gayl
I've made it 3 times now. LOL My fiance loves it! I use a little less flour and butter, that's the only difference.
Ya gotta try this! It will be a hit!
Beatrice
How do I save favorites? Do I have to subscribe
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Hi Beatrice! I don't have any kind of subscription service or a service that allows you to save a recipe within my site. I'm sorry! If you'd like you can pin my recipes onto Pinterest and it would save all of your favorites. 🙂
Taylor
I made these and they were delicious and a hit!! A tad too sweet but soo delicious
Kate
My husband loved it. The cake itself was nice and fluffy and everything tasted delicious.
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Love hearing that! Thanks so much Kate!
Rebecca
I made this Christmas morning and my family loved it!!!!! This will be a family tradition for many Christmas mornings to come.
Cathy
Baking took seven minutes longer, but the finished product smells awesome!!❤️
I can’t wait till dessert!
Karen
I made this for the first time using a vanilla cake mix. It looks delicious. It’s for Christmas tomorrow so hopefully it tastes as good as it looks
Kasey
Do you have at tips for prepping this in advance? I’d like to have it Christmas morning but it will be too hectic to make entirely at the time?
Candace
This is easy to put together but no way did I get a batter where the topping swirled into the cake because the batter was so thick. I only hand stirred to combine so it wasn’t over mixed. I ended up with more of a streusel topping with a little swirling. The number of pop ups made it hard to follow but overall this is easy to make and sure makes your house smell wonderful in the morning!
Jojo
Easy to make and it was a hit! I doubled the cinnamon and instead of vanilla and milk separately, I used a vanilla coffee creamer instead. One of the people I was serving is lactose intolerant.
Ashley
I'm going to halve this recipe and bake in an 8x8 pan. How long would you suggest baking it for?
Brandi C
Wow! First time baking from scratch EVER and this turned out so good. My boyfriend is a huge fan of cinnamon rolls and he says this tasted like the center part aka the best part of a cinnamon roll! Thank you for the in depth details, I will be making time and time again!
Ann Lionel
Can I swap butter for oil? I can't take diary.
Love this version of cinnamon sheet cake.
Brandie @ The Country Cook
I haven't tested it that way yet. You could certainly try!
Debbie
Maybe a nondairy vegan butter would taste better than oil.
Morgan
yummm
Kathleen
Loved loved loved this cake. Will make it again. It certainly didn’t last long in my house. Thanks for a great recipe.
Jon
Made it today for dessert, it was a big hit in our home!