Cinnamon Roll Cake is a homemade butter cake topped with a rich cinnamon filling that bakes into gooey cinnamon roll pockets throughout the cake. Finished with a simple glaze, it’s an easy dessert that tastes like a delicious mashup of cinnamon rolls and cake.
If you love cinnamon rolls but want something easier to make, this cinnamon roll cake is the perfect solution. A simple homemade butter cake is topped with a rich cinnamon filling that bakes into gooey cinnamon roll-style pockets throughout the cake.
Once it comes out of the oven, the cake is finished with a sweet buttery glaze that melts right in, giving you all the flavors of cinnamon rolls in an easy cake.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Butter: If using unsalted butter, increase the salt in the cake to 1 teaspoon and add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the filling.
- Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a homemade buttermilk substitute with this recipe.
- Flour: Too much flour will give you heavy, dry cake. To properly measure the flour either weigh it (click “metric” just above the ingredients) or sift it, lightly spoon into the measuring cup, and level without packing.
How to make cinnamon roll cake
Here you’ll find instructions and step-by-step photos showing how to make this recipe. The full recipe, including ingredients, is given below.
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Grease 9×13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugars together until well combined.
Step 3: Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until combined.
Step 4: Add the buttermilk and whisk in until combined.
Step 5: Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt just until combined.
Step 6: Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.
Step 7: To make the filling, add butter, light brown sugar, all-purpose flour, and ground cinnamon to a medium bowl. Beat until well combined.
Step 8: Drop the cinnamon filling by small spoonfuls (teaspoon-sized scoops) over the cake batter. Do not swirl.
Step 9: Bake the cake for about 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Step 10: To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, melted butter, milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a bowl. To make it thicker, add more powdered sugar and to make it thinner, add more milk.
Step 11: Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake.
Recipe Tips!
- Filling: I don’t swirl the filling so that it creates little pockets of cinnamon roll filling.
- Glaze: For even more cinnamon flavor, you can add a pinch or two of ground cinnamon to the icing.
Storage
Store any leftover cinnamon roll cake in an airtight container at room temperature. They cake will keep for about 3 days when properly stored.
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Cinnamon Roll Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup salted butter melted and cooled slightly
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon filling
- ¾ cup salted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Grease 9×13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugars together until well combined.½ cup salted butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until combined.2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- Add the buttermilk and whisk in until combined.1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt just until combined.3 cups all-purpose flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.
- To make the filling, add butter, light brown sugar, all-purpose flour, and ground cinnamon to a medium bowl. Beat until well combined.¾ cup salted butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- Drop the cinnamon filling by small spoonfuls (teaspoon-sized scoops) over the cake batter. Do not swirl.
- Bake the cake for about 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, melted butter, milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a bowl. To make it thicker, add more powdered sugar and to make it thinner, add more milk.1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, 2-3 tablespoons milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake.
Notes
- Butter: If using unsalted butter, increase the salt in the cake to 1 teaspoon and add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the filling.
- Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a homemade buttermilk substitute with this recipe.
- Flour: Too much flour will give you heavy, dry cake. To properly measure the flour either weigh it (click “metric” just above the ingredients) or sift it, lightly spoon into the measuring cup, and level without packing.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Solange TESSIER Roy says
Recette simple a faire,avec un gout extraordinaires, presque au si bon qu une brioche qui est plus long a faire,ma famille a beaucoup aimé ce dessert merci pour cette recette solange
Nancy Harper says
Oh my goodness! What a wonderful ,buttery ,cinnamon cake! This cake tastes so good.
Thank you Kate!
Kate Dean says
Thank you!
Sherry says
Do you have any low sugar or no sugar recipes?
Kate Dean says
Hi! Are you looking for savory recipes like dinner recipes or low/no sugar dessert recipes?
Dawn says
Your recipe mentions baking soda but it’s missing measurements for baking soda. It also mentions using 4 teaspoons of baking powder but that seems like alot. Could you please verify/confirm how much baking powder and baking soda should be used. Thanks.
Kate Dean says
Thank you! I fixed that. It does seem like a lot, but the 4 teaspoons is correct.