Easy Cinnamon Roll Cake is absolute perfection. It’s simple to make, crazy delicious loaded with cinnamon sugar and covered in sweet icing!
This cinnamon roll cake recipe is easily a favorite in my house. I actually thought I had shared the recipe for this cake a long time ago…turns out I didn’t. You see when you bake as often as I do things get jumbled. Maybe it’s all the sugar? Nah…
Anyhow, this is the world’s easiest cake. My kids even request it for their birthday cake which seems so weird to me…hello no buttercream…but we all know kids are weird. Or maybe they aren’t…this cake is that good.
Yes, my cake mix-phobic friends I short-cutted this. I know, I know, you are all probably so disappointed in me. I am always looking for doctored up yellow cake mix recipes, and this cinnamon roll cake is the perfect example of when it’s RIGHT to use a cake mix. But yes please, if you would like to use your own cake recipe please do so. Just start the recipe when you add cinnamon sugar…I’ll explain that in a minute.
But first let’s take a look…the gooey cake, the drippy icing, the swirly cinnamon.
Hold me.
How to make Easy Cinnamon Roll Cake
Like I said the cinnamon roll cake itself it super duper easy. You’re basically doctoring up a cake mix a little bit.
THEN you make a little (a lot) of cinnamon sugar.
You sprinkle that all over the top of the batter…
And gently swirl that in with a knife…
Don’t over swirl it though. You don’t want to mix it all in, you want gorgeous ribbons of cinnamon throughout.
Bake it up and it behold…
And then make a quick icing and behold again…
Your cake will be drowning in icing and loving every minute.
And if you can, wait until the icing sets up to cut it…
Or don’t. I get you.
Make it. Eat it. Love it.
This Easy Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe will quickly become a favorite in your house!
PrintEasy Cinnamon Roll Cake
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Prep Time: 10 minutes -
Cook Time: 20 minutes
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Total Time: 30 minutes
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Yield: serves 10 1x
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Category: Cake
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Method: Baking
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Cuisine: Dessert
Prep Time:
Yield:
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Print Recipe
PinDescription:
This recipe is one of the most requested cake recipes in my house. My family loves it!
Ingredients:
- 1 (15.25- ounce) box yellow cake mix
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sour cream (not light)
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Coat a 9×13 pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer combine the cake mix, eggs, oil, vanilla and sour cream. Mix on low for 30 seconds and then raise the speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Spread the cake batter into your prepared pan. In a medium bowl whisk together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle this evenly on top of your cake.
- Using a butter knife gently swirl the cinnamon sugar into the cake batter. Don’t over-swirl, as you want ribbons of the mixture throughout the cake.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool cake for 15-20 minutes.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and milk. Pour this over the slightly warm cake. Allow the icing to set, or eat right away!
Notes:
Store airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Keywords:: cake, yellow cake mix, cinnamon roll, breakfast
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Helpful tip… Out of sour cream? Here’s a sour cream substitute!
Hi! I’m Shelly and I’m an addict. Of the buttercream sort. I started this site a few years ago as a way to justify my sugary, buttery obsession with desserts. It has worked out well for me so far, because as it turns out you guys all love sugary, buttery desserts too! It feels good to know you're not alone, doesn’t it?
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Can I add pecans? If so, when?
I would add them on top!
So delicious!!! I was looking for something to do with a box of white cake mix in the pantry and this was perfect!!! Tasted just like cinnamon buns. It was a big hit with the whole family!!!!!
Didnt care for icing so I added about a â…“cup of cream cheese to it to make it better
I have this recipe saved as it is requested all the time in my house! Thank you so much for sharing this, I love easy ways to fancy up a cake mix!
★★★★★
In the oven now… I added raisins. Picture to follow.
Can’t wait to see it!
I have this in the oven and forgot the oil? Can it be saved?
Oh no! I imagine it will turn out a little dry without it, but if it’s already in the oven I can’t say there is much you can do at this point. Let me know how it came out!
Ok after I put the cake in the oven I realized I forgot the oil. Anyway to salvage this cake
I love this cake!!!!! It tasted so good
★★★★★
I found this cake to be very dry. We like a moist coffee cake and this cake didn’t quite have that. Maybe if extra sour cream and oil as well as some applesauce were used, it might be better. Sorry but we did not enjoy it.
Hi. can this cake be made ahead of time. and baked off the next morning? Thank You! Jean
I don’t recommend that, sorry!
Thank You!
What would happen if you used low fat sour cream?
It would be fine 🙂
Very good recipe, but I agree with some commenters that you could use much less brown sugar. Even if you swirl, there’s still a lot of brown sugar at the top. Some of it was tasty, but some of it was hard.
I think the brown sugar part tasted better when it was in a layer of cake batter. Next time I will try to pour some batter, add the brown sugar mixture, pour more batter and top with remaining sugar and swirl it together.
★★★★
So great! Thanks for the recipe! Tasty and creative way to turn around a boxed cake mix and a great excuse to eat cake for breakfast 🙂
I used a little less brown sugar and didn’t end up using too much of the icing as it was already pretty sweet.
★★★★★
I made this with strawberry cake mix and coconut oil as those are what I had on hand. Ummm. The kids couldn’t even contain themselves as this baked. It filled the house with THE most delicious aroma. Mmm. I added cream cheese to the frosting because I had a block of cream cheese in the fridge screaming my name. I will never make boring old cake again. This is what I will bring to parties from now on when I don’t have enough time to bake a cheesecake.
★★★★★
Hi, I’d like to make this cinnamon roll cake but I only have WHITE CAKE MIX. Can I use this instead?
Thank you,
Joan
Staten Island, NY
yes, that will work!