The delightful flavors of cinnamon rolls, but in a lovely buttery cake form! It starts with a simple made-from-scratch yellow cake batter, then you combine softened butter, sugar, and cinnamon and swirl that into the cake. The final step is to bake, drizzle with glaze and enjoy!
My youngest asked for a cinnamon swirl cake for her birthday this year. For birthdays, we often buy a cake. But then we are limited to store-bought flavors, and if you want a specific flavor they don’t have, well, then, it’s time to break out the mixing bowl! When my little one (btw, she’s not little at all anymore … she’s taller than I am and legally an adult who’s old enough to drink) made this request, I had to think. I KNEW I’d seen such a thing, but hmmm …. where? And then it came to me! My good friend Mary from Cooking with Mary and Friends had posted a cinnamon roll cake and I thought it looked pretty dang amazing. I showed a picture to my little one and she said YES, that is EXACTLY what she wanted.
Everything Mary makes looks delicious … I’ve tried a few of her recipes in the past and always loved the results, so I was pretty sure this one would be a winner. I told the birthday person if it didn’t work out, we could always go buy a cake, right?
I cut Mary’s recipe in half because we only have three eaters in this house, but otherwise followed her directions. So if you HAVEN’T visited Mary, I recommend a trip to her blog. Mary is all about eating local and farm fresh. She has lots of great recipes for preserving the harvest as well. And yes, some pretty stellar cakes.
Tips for Success
Although we thought the cake was delightful and my baby was super happy, I want to share some tips for making the best cinnamon swirl cake. I am always thinking what could I have done better and totally found a lesson on this one. I think I should have swirled the cinnamon sugar “goop” more into the cake. See that big mound of brown in the middle there? What happened when I baked it, was over-concentrated spots like that made big gaping holes in the cake.
Like this: see the gaping chasm there?
All the outer edges of the cake were perfect, but the inner piece, which WAS actually done, was over-saturated with the cinnamon sugar and butter, so it was kind of soggy. I thought perhaps you could also reserve a bit of the cake batter to add in, you know, just in case you end up with too much cinnamon sugary stuff in one place.
So I present to you: an outer edge piece. How beautiful is that? Don’t you just want to dive right in?
I”m not including the nutrition info on this one. It’s not healthy, guys, and it’s SO full of sugar! But sometimes, like on birthdays, you deserve a special treat. Enjoy and savor the moment; share with friends and family. Even on a healthy living diet, it’s absolutely okay to have a treat every now and then, and in fact, I don’t recommend depriving yourself of occasional splurges because that’s the path to unhealthy eating habits. Healthy eating needs to be a lifestyle choice, not a temporary thing. There’s a reason that most diets fail. They’re just not sustainable.
For now, though, let’s have a piece of cake. And maybe a salad later … 😉
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Mary’s Cinnamon Roll Cake
Description
A delightful buttery cake with all the cozy flavors of a cinnamon roll!
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
For the cinnamon roll topping:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
For the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 – 2 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9x9x2 inch square pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder, then stir in the milk, egg and vanilla until well mixed. Slowly add the melted butter, stirring after each addition. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- In a small mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon until well mixed. Plop by spoonfuls all over the cake batter, then use a knife to swirl it into the cake batter. Try not to leave any spots without the cinnamon and not to over-concentrate it in any one spot.
- Bake at 350 F. for 35 – 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Stir together the glaze ingredients until smooth, then drizzle all over the warm cake.
Notes
Recipe adapted just slightly from Cooking with Mary and Friends
© Copyright 2021, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. I love it when you share, but please do not use my images on your own site/page without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. Sharing, pinning, and tweeting is always appreciated as long as the shares and pins link back to here for the recipe. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Looking for more cake recipes?
I can’t share a cake recipe without telling you about some of my other faves:
- Bailey’s Chocolate Poke Cake
- Spiced Plum Cobbler Cake
- Aztec Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Raspberry Sauce
- Gluten Free Berry Rum Cake
- Flourless Black Forest Brownie Cake (gluten free)
- Rhubarb Almond Cake (gluten free)
1 comment
Thanks Ann! You’re the best!