This Cinnamon Roll Cake is changing the cinnamon-roll game: no yeast, no rising time, and no hassle! This cake comes together quickly and bakes in a fraction of the time that cinnamon rolls take. Add a quick cream cheese frosting on top and be prepared to fall in love!
The Best Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Cinnamon Rolls are such an iconic dessert, but they also happen to be fairly time-consuming. When you consider waiting for the dough to rise (twice), coupled with preparing a dough, the filling, and a glaze — it can be a lot.
And while I spent months creating my ideal Easy Cinnamon Roll Recipe (which requires NO kneading, NO mixer needed, and the quickest possible dough preparation) — it still takes a fair amount of overall time to get from start to cinnamon rolls on the table.
So this Cinnamon Roll Cake recipe is truly the best — here’s why we think so:
- All the flavors you know, love, and expect from cinnamon rolls
- No kneading, no rising, no mixer needed. In fact, we don’t even make the dough thanks to a shortcut ingredient!
- This cake can be on the table in about 30 minutes. Seriously! The preparation is so quick and the bake time is pretty quick as well.
- It’s fun! Really, this cake is quite fun to assemble and even more fun to eat (obviously!).
The “Short-Cut”
So how do we get this cake finished so quickly? We use refrigerated buttermilk biscuits!
The biscuits are the perfect stand-in for cinnamon roll dough here and no one will be the wiser you’re using a store-bought shortcut because this cake is just that good!
I like to grab a 4-pack of buttermilk biscuits to make either a really large cinnamon roll cake or a couple of smaller cakes. If there are leftovers, we use them for a breakfast favorite — Biscuits and Gravy!
How To Make A Cinnamon Roll Cake
The full recipe is on the recipe card, but here’s a quick overview of the process:
- Using a rolling pin (or even your hands), flatten each biscuit as thin as possible.
- Dip the biscuit in some melted butter and then in cinnamon-sugar.
- Once the biscuit is well coated, roll it up tightly into a cylinder then place on the outer edge of the skillet or pie pan.
- Working around the pan in a spiral, place each biscuit next to each other, seam side down, until biscuits reach the center.
- While the Cinnamon Roll Cake is baking (and making your house smell like heaven on earth), whip the frosting together to spread over the warm cake — swoon!
What Pan To Use
This recipe is very forgiving — as long as you have excess of all the ingredients (butter, sugar, cinnamon, and biscuits), you can make the cake as big (or small) as you’d like.
We love making this cake in a small (6 to 8-inch cast iron skillet) most often, but if we’re feeding others or feeling hungry, we make it in a 9-inch pie pan.
Obviously the bigger the pan, the longer the preparation of this cake takes, but you’ll be impressed how quickly it gets going once the assembly line is set up.
Cinnamon Roll Cake Frosting Tips
- Set out the butter and cream cheese about an hour before baking to bring them to room temperature. If these ingredients are cold, they won’t combine smoothly, and there will be unpleasant cream cheese chunks in the frosting. Here are some tips for how to bring the cream cheese and butter to room temperature quickly.
- Don’t forget the flavor enhancers. Salt and vanilla extract add nuance and flavor to the frosting — even though these are small amounts, they make a big difference!
- Slowly add in the powdered sugar. Add more or less powdered sugar, according to personal taste preferences. More sugar will make the frosting sweeter and firmer, and less sugar will leave the frosting tangier and softer. Go with whatever you prefer on this Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe!
QUICK TIP
A resealable plastic bag makes a great disposable piping bag for the frosting! Just remember to cut a very small tip off–you’ll be surprised how much it spreads!
Adding Frosting To The Cinnamon Roll Cake
Two options:
- Spread the frosting across the cake with a table knife.
- To get that classic cinnamon roll swirl, transfer the frosting to a piping bag or resealable plastic bag. Cut the tip off the bag and pipe the frosting around the cake.
STORAGE
Cinnamon Roll Cake Storage
This cake is best the same day it’s made while it’s warm–this is true with most homemade cinnamon rolls, but especially with this cake, because we’re using biscuits. The biscuits will harden and lose flavor the longer the cake sits out.
More Cinnamon Roll Favorites:
Cinnamon Roll Cake
This Cinnamon Roll Cake is changing the cinnamon-roll game! No yeast, no rising time, and no hassle! This cake comes together quickly and bakes in a fraction of the time that cinnamon rolls take. Add a quick cream cheese frosting on top and be prepared to fall in love!
Cinnamon Roll Cake
This Cinnamon Roll Cake is changing the cinnamon-roll game! No yeast, no rising time, and no hassle! This cake comes together quickly and bakes in a fraction of the time that cinnamon rolls take. Add a quick cream cheese frosting on top and be prepared to fall in love!
Recipe Notes
Note 2: Cinnamon-sugar blend: Depending on how “heavy handed” you are with butter and/or cinnamon-sugar mixture, you may need a touch more or have some extra. If you’ve got extra cinnamon-sugar, add it to a bowl of microwave oatmeal! If the butter starts to harden before you’ve finished coating biscuits, just quickly microwave it again.
Nutrition Facts
Calories: 570kcal | Carbohydrates: 81g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 700mg | Potassium: 182mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 482IU | Vitamin C: 0.05mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 2mg
We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.
