Cinnamon Roll Cake is the recipe that Teresa makes for every Cinco de Mayo brunch and every gathering where she wants something warm and deeply comforting that smells so completely extraordinary from the very first moment of baking that every person in the house appears in the kitchen before the timer has even gone off.
She prepares the simplest vanilla cake batter, spreads it into the most generous and even layer in a 9 by 13-inch pan, drops spoonfuls of the most fragrant cinnamon and brown sugar butter filling across the entire surface, drags a butter knife through both batters in the most beautiful swirling and marbling pattern that is simultaneously artful and effortless, bakes until the most golden and fragrant result possible, and then drizzles the warm vanilla glaze over the entire surface while still hot so it sinks into every swirl and nook and crevice of the most warm and completely irresistible cinnamon roll cake. Every Cinco de Mayo gathering has never been more beautifully scented.
Cinnamon Roll Cake is the most warm and completely comforting Cinco de Mayo celebration cake made with a simple vanilla cake batter marbled with a swirled brown sugar cinnamon butter filling baked at 350°F in a 9 by 13-inch pan and finished with a warm vanilla glaze drizzle for the most completely irresistible and deeply fragrant cinnamon roll experience in the most easy and crowd-feeding sheet cake format. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful Cinco de Mayo recipes and warm celebration baking favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
This Cinnamon Roll Cake recipe is the Cinco de Mayo brunch and dessert bake that captures every beloved quality of a classic cinnamon roll in a format that is so completely easy and so thoroughly unfussy that even the most nervous home baker can produce it successfully every single time. No yeast. No rising time. No rolling dough. No complicated technique of any kind. Just mix, swirl, bake, and glaze.
The swirling technique is the artistic and most completely satisfying moment in the entire recipe. Dropping spoonfuls of the brown sugar cinnamon butter filling across the batter and then dragging a butter knife in figure-eight patterns through both produces the most beautiful marbled and swirled effect that looks genuinely professional and impressively decorated from the very first attempt. Every Cinco de Mayo gathering is made more beautiful and more warm-scented by this cake on the table. Our Churro Cake makes a beautifully equally cinnamon-forward and equally Cinco de Mayo-festive companion for a complete and vibrant Mexican-inspired celebration cake collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
For the Vanilla Cake:
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Granulated White Sugar
- 4 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1½ cups Whole Milk
- ½ cup (1 stick) Salted Butter, melted and slightly cooled
For the Cinnamon Filling:
- ¾ cup Salted Butter, softened to room temperature (1½ sticks)
- 1 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
For the Vanilla Glaze:
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 5 tbsp Whole Milk
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
How to Make This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. With the mixer running, slowly add the melted and slightly cooled salted butter. Mix only until just combined. Overmixing flour in baked goods makes the crumb tough and rubbery rather than the most tender and beautiful cake texture the recipe produces, cara mia.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.
For the cinnamon filling, combine the softened room-temperature salted butter, packed light brown sugar, flour, and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir together until completely and thoroughly combined.
Drop the cinnamon filling by generous spoonfuls across the entire surface of the cake batter, distributing evenly from edge to edge.
Take a butter knife and drag it through both the cinnamon filling and the cake batter in long sweeping swirling strokes across the entire surface. Create a beautiful marble effect by dragging in multiple directions. This is the most completely satisfying and artistically joyful step in the entire recipe.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. The most beautifully swirled and golden cinnamon roll cake is ready.
While the cake bakes, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract for the glaze until completely smooth. Pour the glaze over the warm cake immediately upon removing from the oven. The warm cake allows the glaze to flow into every swirl and channel and nook of the surface for the most deeply glazed and completely extraordinary result.
Serve warm for the most genuinely extraordinary eating experience or allow to cool to room temperature for the cleanest and most beautiful slicing.
How to Serve This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Serve warm from the pan for the most completely extraordinary and deeply satisfying Cinco de Mayo brunch or dessert experience. The combination of the warm cinnamon swirl and the vanilla glaze drizzled into every crevice while still hot is genuinely one of the most completely irresistible warm cake serving moments in all of celebration baking.
Cut into 12 even squares and serve directly from the baking dish for the most completely effortless and genuinely crowd-pleasing presentation. Pair with a strong coffee or a glass of cold milk for the most completely perfect and deeply satisfying Cinco de Mayo cinnamon roll cake moment. Our Air Fryer Churro Bites make a beautifully cinnamon-forward and equally warm Cinco de Mayo companion for a complete and wonderful Mexican-inspired celebration dessert spread.
How to Store This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Store covered at room temperature for up to 2 days. Do not refrigerate as refrigeration dries out the crumb and compromises the most warm and tender texture that makes this cake so completely extraordinary. Freeze covered portions for up to 3 months and thaw at room temperature or warm briefly in a low oven at 300°F for 10 minutes before serving.
Tips to Make This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Add the melted butter slowly with the mixer running rather than all at once. This gradual addition ensures the butter is most evenly distributed throughout the batter without creating pockets of unemulsified fat.
Measure the flour correctly by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling with a knife rather than scooping. Packed flour produces a dry and dense cake rather than the most tender and airy result. The flour measurement precision makes the most significant difference in the finished texture of this Cinco de Mayo cinnamon roll cake.
Helpful Notes for This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Use a 9 by 13-inch baking dish rather than a Bundt pan or cupcake tin for this recipe. The swirled cinnamon filling is too heavy for a Bundt format and can sink during baking, and the individual cupcake format does not allow for the most beautiful and dramatic marble pattern that makes this cake so completely visually extraordinary. The sheet cake format is the most ideal in every respect.
The vanilla glaze should be poured over the warm cake rather than the cooled cake. Glaze poured over a warm surface thins slightly from the heat and flows into every swirl and channel and nook of the cake surface for the most deeply glazed and beautifully coated result. Glaze poured over a cool cake sits primarily on the flat surface rather than flowing into the decorative patterns.
Variation of This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Maria made a version adding a cup of finely chopped toasted walnuts to the cinnamon filling mixture for a cinnamon walnut roll cake with the most beautifully nutty and fragrant filling that was completely extraordinary for her Cinco de Mayo brunch gathering. Teresa tried making the glaze with cream cheese by beating 2 ounces of softened cream cheese into the powdered sugar and milk mixture for the most luxuriously creamy and deeply satisfying cream cheese glaze that made the whole cake taste even more genuinely like a cinnamon roll.
For a lemon cinnamon version, add the zest of one lemon to the vanilla cake batter and substitute fresh lemon juice for half of the milk in the glaze for the most beautifully bright and fragrant lemon cinnamon roll cake that is completely extraordinary at any spring or Cinco de Mayo celebration gathering. Our Churro Cheesecake Bars make a beautifully equally cinnamon-indulgent and equally Cinco de Mayo-festive companion for a complete and wonderful Mexican-inspired celebration dessert spread.
FAQs About This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Can I use a boxed cake mix as the base for this cinnamon roll cake?
Technically yes but it is not recommended for the best results. Boxed cake mixes tend to have a softer and less structurally stable crumb than this homemade batter and the heavier cinnamon filling may sink straight through to the bottom rather than swirling beautifully through the cake. This homemade batter produces the most reliably beautiful and perfectly swirled result every time.
How do I know when the cinnamon roll cake is done?
Insert a knife or thin skewer into the very center of the cake. It should come out completely clean with no raw or wet batter attached. The cinnamon filling itself will look molten and bubbly when done but the cake crumb surrounding it should be fully set and clean on the tester.
Can I halve this recipe?
Yes. Halve all ingredient quantities and bake in a single 8 by 8-inch or 9 by 9-inch pan. The baking time will be slightly shorter so begin checking at 25 minutes. Alternatively make the full recipe and share one pan with a neighbor or friend, which is one of the most genuinely warm and completely generous things a home baker can do.
Conclusion
This Cinnamon Roll Cake is the most completely warm and deeply comforting Cinco de Mayo celebration bake that fills every kitchen with the most irresistible cinnamon fragrance and makes every person who receives a swirl-glazed square feel genuinely and completely nourished and deeply happy in the most simple and completely beautiful warm celebration way imaginable. We hope it brings the same deeply fragrant Cinco de Mayo warmth and the same completely satisfied gathering to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
Cinnamon Roll Cake The Most Easy Cinco de Mayo Swirled Cinnamon Cake You Will Bake
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most warm and easy Cinnamon Roll Cake perfect for Cinco de Mayo made with a simple vanilla batter of flour sugar baking powder eggs vanilla milk and melted salted butter spread in a 9×13-inch pan with spoonfuls of a brown sugar cinnamon butter filling swirled through with a knife and baked at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes finished with a warm vanilla glaze of powdered sugar milk and vanilla poured over immediately after baking. A completely irresistible Cinco de Mayo cinnamon celebration cake recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Granulated White Sugar
4 tsp Baking Powder
2 large Eggs
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 cups Whole Milk
1/2 cup 1 stick Salted Butter melted and slightly cooled
3/4 cup Salted Butter softened 1 1/2 sticks for filling
1 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
2 tbsp All-Purpose Flour for filling
1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
2 cups Powdered Sugar for glaze
5 tbsp Whole Milk for glaze
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for glaze
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, vanilla, and milk in large bowl.
3. With mixer running slowly add melted butter. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
4. Spread batter evenly into prepared dish.
5. Combine softened butter, brown sugar, 2 tbsp flour, and cinnamon. Stir well.
6. Drop cinnamon filling by spoonfuls across entire batter surface evenly.
7. Drag butter knife through filling and batter in swirling patterns to create marble effect.
8. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until knife in center comes out clean.
9. Whisk powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth for glaze.
10. Pour glaze over warm cake immediately upon removing from oven.
11. Serve warm or allow to cool to room temperature before slicing.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake, Brunch
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 538
- Sugar: 56g
- Sodium: 203mg
- Fat: 21g
- Saturated Fat: 13g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 82g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 5g
- Cholesterol: 75mg
Keywords: cinnamon roll cake, Cinco de Mayo cinnamon roll cake recipe, easy swirled cinnamon roll cake with glaze, warm cinnamon cake Cinco de Mayo brunch
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