Light and tender Cinnamon Roll Cake with cream cheese frosting. All of the flavors I love from a cinnamon roll, in a delicious, easy cake recipe.
This Cinnamon Roll Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is lick-your-plate, DELICIOUS. All of the warm, ooey gooey, cinnamon taste you love from a cinnamon roll, without any of the fuss. No rolling, rising, etc.
With just 15 minutes prep time, it’s SOO easy, and the end result is a delicious, moist, cinnamon roll cake that will make the people in your life very, very happy!
This simple cake starts with a basic cake batter recipe. Then you mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter and place spoonfuls all over the top of the batter. This delicious layer will act as the cinnamon filling we love inside a cinnamon roll.
Use a butter knife to weave the cinnamon roll filling back and forth down the pan, incorporating it into the batter in fun swirls.
Bake the cake and top the warm cake with cream cheese frosting. HEAVEN.
To apply the cream cheese frosting:
Spoon the frosting into a ziplock bag. Cut a hole in one of the corners of the bag, and squeeze the frosting through it as your drizzle it onto the cake.
To store this cinnamon roll cake:
Just like fresh baked cinnamon rolls, I think this cake is best enjoyed the same day it’s baked. The soft texture will dry out the longer it sits.
Cinnamon Roll Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Video
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup butter , melted
For the Cinnamon Swirl:
- 1/2 cup butter , softened
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons butter , softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8'' baking dish.
- In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, egg and vanilla. Stir in melted butter. Pour mixture into prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.
- Make the cinnamon swirl topping by combing all ingredients together until smooth.
- Drop small spoonfuls of the mixture evenly over the top of the cake batter. Use a knife to swirl through the cake and disperse the mixture throughout the cake batter.
- Bake 32-37 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Drizzle cream cheese frosting over warm cake. Serve warm.
- For the Cream Cheese Frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and enough milk to make a smooth, soft frosting. Drizzle frosting over the cake with a spoon (or use a ziplock bag like I did--just snip a hole out of one of the corners and add the frosting).
- This cake is best served the same day.
Notes
Nutrition
Larissa says
So good and so easy to make! My whole family raved about how delicious it was and I agree! It was gone within days.
Laurie says
I had so much trouble with this cake. The batter was way too thick, but I only had skim milk at home – I don’t know for sure because a liquid is a liquid. The cinnamon swirl was beyond thick – it did not swirl through the cake. I didn’t go as far as the icing and we just ate the cake as is because I didn’t want to invest anymore money into the cake. Could you tell me how to get the batter and cinnamon swirl into a thinner consistency. I’m great at making icing. I didn’t have any ideas how to thin both out and help would be greatly appreciated.
Ashley says
I made this exactly as the recipe said to and my batter was SO thick!! I had to add more butter vanilla and milk
Michelle says
Just made this and it turned out delicious. I incorporated a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the cinnamon swirl mixture for added flavor and texture. Will definitely make this again!
Barbara says
I would suggest adding raisins to the cinnamon swirl as it is what I am used to with a cinnamon bun. I made this gluten free by using Bob Mills 1 to 1 gluten free flour mix. Also agreed with others that the cinnamon swirl was very thick.
Note: Baked for 40 minutes until internal temperature was at 200 degrees fahrenheit. Recipe otherwise very good.
Brenda says
Turned out great! Fast and easy dessert on a cold snowy night.
Patricia says
Made it this morning, it came out great my family loves it. I also doubled the ingredients and it was fully cooked it 37 minutes. Bonus it made our apartment smell so good!
violet says
The cinnamon topping seemed to have exploded and spilled out from my pan while baking. any idea why this happened?should i add lesser cinnamon topping then?
Debby says
I made this cinnamon roll cake for the first time in 2018, for Christmas brunch with my family. It was a huge hit, even with my grown son, who doesn’t really like cake. Everyone agrees it tastes like Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. Needless to say, it’s now on the request list for almost every special occasion.
I usually double the recipe, & use a 9×13 baking dish. To save time, I also use canned cream cheese frosting. Thanks so much for this delicious recipe!
Ellie says
Could i substitute a cake mix for the cake portion?
Lauren Allen says
Sure! Although you’ll need a bigger pan, and then you may want to double the cinnamon swirl and frosting.
Jessica says
I also had a hard time with this. The cake was extremely thick and the cinnamon swirl was very runny. Perhaps I should have reversed the butter amounts. I ended up just mixing the cinnamon swirl through all the batter.