This Cinnabon Cake mixes the best parts of a cinnamon roll and coffee cake for a delicious breakfast treat. The sweet vanilla icing is the perfect finishing touch!
If you love cinnamon, be sure to try this snickerdoodle banana bread, which doubles as a breakfast and a dessert. You’ll also love these snickerdoodle cookies and my honey bun cake recipe!
Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
I enjoy buying pumpkin scones or blueberry muffins from local bakeries, but I prefer to bake at home.
But I have one weakness when it comes to “fast food” baked goods: Cinnabon’s Cinnamon Rolls. Who can resist that alluring cinnamon aroma that stops you in your tracks when you’re hurrying through the airport or mall?
This Cinnabon Cake is a little bit like a giant cinnamon roll, but in the form of a sliceable coffee cake!
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- The recipe makes two cakes, so it’s perfect for holiday brunches and potlucks.
- Today’s easy cinnamon roll cake recipe is freezer-friendly. If you can’t finish both cakes right away, you can eat one now and freeze one for later.
- Although the flavor is cinnamon roll inspired, this is a cake, which means there’s no yeast and no wait time for the rolls to rise. Mix together a batter, bake, drizzle with icing and eat! From start to finish, this cake took well under an hour to be ready to eat.
- Top the Cinnabon cake with gooey vanilla icing, which takes it to the next level! (And unlike other cakes, you don’t even have to wait for it to cool before adding the icing.)
Important Ingredient Notes
- All-purpose flour – Be sure to measure the flour by lightly spooning it into the measuring cups, rather than scooping it. This ensures you don’t use more than you need. Use my guide on how to measure flour.
- Milk – Whole milk creates an extra-tender crumb, but any milk you have on hand will work.
- Eggs – Let these come to room temperature. They’ll mix more smoothly into the batter and hold more air when beaten, giving your cake a lighter texture.
- Unsalted butter – You’ll need melted butter for batter and softened butter for the cinnamon swirl.
- Cinnamon can lose flavor over time, so make sure it’s fresh and aromatic when you open the jar.
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Cake
Prepare: Preheat your oven to 350ºF and grease two 9-inch cake pans, then line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Make the Batter:
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, combine the batter.
- Divide the batter between the cake pans.
Make the Cinnamon Filling: In a large bowl, make the cinnamon filling.
Add the Swirl: Using two tablespoons, drop the butter mixture onto the top of the cake batter. Swirl it in with a butter knife.
Bake: Place the pans in the oven and bake the cakes for about 25-30 minutes.
Cool: Remove the pans from the oven and let the cakes cool for 10 minutes before turning them out onto serving plates.
Frost: Whisk the powdered sugar with the milk and vanilla extract. Drizzle the mixture over the Cinnabon cakes while they’re still warm.
Tips and Tricks
- It can be a pain to cut parchment paper to size for round pans, so I like to buy parchment rounds, which are the perfect size for the job.
- When you’re adding the cinnamon filling, don’t swirl too much. If you go overboard, you’ll end up mixing the cinnamon into the batter completely, which isn’t what we want! Go for elegant marbling here.
- If your powdered sugar is lumpy, sift it first to keep those lumps out of your icing.
- Once the cakes cool, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Homemade cinnamon roll cake tastes best when slightly warmed. If you have leftovers, just pop your slice of cake in the microwave for a few seconds to reheat.
- Make it even more authentic. Top this cake with homemade cream cheese frosting instead!
More Delicious Breakfast Recipes
- Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake
- Zucchini Bread Recipe
- Chocolate Chip Cake
- Blueberry Buckle Recipe
- Amish Friendship Bread
- Sour Cream Coffee Cake
- Crumb Cake
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Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cakes:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 Tablespoons divided
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ Tablespoons baking powder
- 1 ½ cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
For the Icing:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, lining the bottom with parchment paper.
- In mixer, blend 3 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, vanilla and 1/4 cup melted butter. Divide batter evenly between cake pans.
- In another mixing bowl, beat 3/4 cup butter with brown sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, and cinnamon. Continue to beat until fully blended and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Using two tablespoons, drop butter mixture onto cake batter. Use a knife to swirl.
- Bake cakes for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pans 10 minutes. Flip cakes out onto serving plates.
- For icing, whisk the powdered sugar with 1/4 cup milk and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Drizzle over warmed cakes. Enjoy!
Notes
- Storage: Store cooled cakes in airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Cinnamon Roll cake tastes best when slightly warmed. If you have leftovers, pop a slice in the microwave for 15 seconds to reheat.
- See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks.
So, the 1/4 melted butter is for the batter and the 3/4 is for the topping? Seems like it should be switched.
Just made this recipe and have to say it was not only easy to bake but just one made it to the freezer ready for Christmas Morning. My husband and I ate the other one. So yummy. Thank you xoxo
Hello Aimee
Just wondering if you have ever used half the ingredients and made 1 cake?
Yep, you can totally do that!
This was super tasty! My kids gobbled it up. I halved the recipe to make only one cake as it would have been too much for my family of 4. Might make the full recipe and freeze one next time!
Made it and is delicious. Will be making again.
If I did decide to go with the 9 x 13 pan, would the results be the same as baking in the 9″ pans? And approx how long would I have to bake it for?
Hey Aimee! I made this cake and absolutely loved it. I shared it with some grateful neighbors too. It has all the flavor of a cinnamon roll without all the work. And I love that there is so much goo – that’s the best part! I posted about it on my blog and would love if you’d check it out 🙂 http://piesandplots.net/cinnamon-roll-cake-giveaway/
I love this cake!! 😀
Ok, so today I baked a couple of them and I accidentally forgot the 2 tbsp. of flour in the brown sugar/butter mix! I remembered right after I popped them in the oven and stressed a little over how they might turn out. Well, to my surprise they turned out great! The brown stuff still came out crispy and dark brown! I actually like it without the flour, or next time I may just omit 1 tbsp. instead of 2 just to see the difference!! 😀
I love hearing back when people make my recipes!! Thanks for stopping over and sharing 🙂 Glad it turned out great with your twist on it!
I know this post is over 2 years old, but I just made this this morning for my family. I followed the recipe exactly except I had 9 inch cake pans, not 8. Baked for 32 min. Turned out wonderful, and delicious. I could have eaten one whole pan by myself. I could see it being gooey if you don’t bake it long enough, but I didn’t have that problem. Definitively will make again.
Whoohoo! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Just made this for breakfast! It’s delicious. Saw it last night on Pinterest and decided to make it this morning!!!
Sorry, taste good but was too gooey l think from too much butter with the cinnamon. I checked out basic coffee cake and theres is better.
I used two 8″ rounds. Took approximately 50 minutes to bake. Perhaps the 25-30 minute baking time applies to a 9×13″ pan? I added a little cinnamon to the cake batter and to the icing. Kids loved it!
I must have done something wrong with the butter/sugar/cinnamon thing. For some reason it seemed I had WAY too much to add to my cakes and it just ended up making a big gooey mess that never fully cooked. It also made a mess all over my oven. What did I do wrong?? Could you add some pics of you adding the butter/sugar and swirling it in? I would really appreciate it!
Hmmm, it is a little gooey, but not undercooked/raw. I’ll have to add photos next time I make it.
Thanks! I think I must have put too much of the butter/sugar/cinnamon in the middle so even after cooking an additional 10 min it was still undercooked. My kids still ate it and are begging me to make it again. =) Do you add the whole butter/sugar mixture? I also think I should try the 9×13 like you said some others do.
Thanks for replying!
Jeanne, I made my cake in a 9×13, and felt there was no way I could use all of the cinnamon mix either. I put the rest in a small bowl to use for cinnamon toast. The cake still seems to have plenty! Can’t wait to take this to work tomorrow!! I did try a small corner and an so eager to have a piece with coffee in the morning. Mmmmm….
First off, this is by far the BEST cake recipe EVER! I made this the other day and I can’t get over how good it is! I brought it in to work and all of my co-workers wanted the recipe. So very good! Making it again tonight and sharing with my parents and friends!
This was really good!!!!! Thank you for the recipe!
Would be nice if someone commented on this recipe and actually baked it first. Lots of yum yums. Hows the recipe??? This is the feed-back I need. I want to know if this recipe is indeed worth making,
Hi Trina. If you scroll above there are at least 6 or 7 readers who commented that they tried it. Some left their own tips, tricks, etc! And, as the blogger who wrote the post, I’ve personally made it half a dozen times and we love it 🙂
I just made this and it’s delicious!! My husband is not much of a person who eats sweets and he LOVED IT!!! It was quick and it looks and tasts like from a bakery!! Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
🙂