Learn how to make a giant cinnamon roll cake using my easy 7 ingredient homemade cinnamon roll dough and swirling it into one large cake. Top with vanilla icing for an extra fun and indulgent breakfast, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or Christmas brunch. Kids LOVE this! (Ok, adults too.)
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
I originally published this recipe in 2013 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more helpful success tips. Because if you’re going to make cinnamon rolls, you might as well make the best, most giant cinnamon roll ever. It’s impossible not to love this.
If you find yourself with a giant cinnamon roll craving, bored and looking for a fun baking project, want an extra special Mother’s Day recipe or Father’s Day recipe, in need of new Easter brunch recipes that WOW, and/or need of a fun family-friendly breakfast, brunch, or dessertโI have just the recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake
- It’s a cinnamon roll the size of your head.
- Only requires 1 short rest and 1 long rise. (Not 2 rises!)
- No special tools required.
- Perfect for yeast beginners.
- Kids love to help roll it up.
- Fun to eat.
- Smothered in vanilla icing.
- I repeat: it’s a cinnamon roll the size of your head.
One reader, Rebekah, commented: “We made this for my son’s birthday. It was a huge hit, not only because it was delicious, but also because it looks beautiful! โ โ โ โ โ “
One reader, Helene, commented: “My family’s eyes lit up when I brought this out and it didn’t disappoint. Step-by-step directions were simple and exact. I will be making this often! โ โ โ โ โ “
One reader, Zoe, commented: “I’ve always been a fan of cinnamon rolls, but I’ve never tried to make a cinnamon roll cake! I just made this and it turned out perfectly! 10/10. Thanks a lot, Sally! โ โ โ โ โ “
Perfect for Yeast Beginners
Do you love homemade cinnamon rolls, but are nervous to bake with yeast? I used to be this way too, but my easy cinnamon rolls completely changed that mindset. They only need 1 short rest period and 1 long rise, as opposed to two long rises like my overnight cinnamon rolls. Same fluffy cinnamon roll goodness, but in half the time. We’re using a very similar dough recipe for today’s cinnamon roll cake.
Hereโs my #1 tip: I exclusively use Red Star Yeast in my bread baking and always recommend readers do the same. A dependable yeast like Platinum Yeast from Red Star pretty much guarantees dough success. This is an instant yeast, which helps cut down on rise time. Not only this, its careful formula strengthens your dough and makes working with yeast simple. And simple, especially when it comes to bread baking, is always good.
If you are craving cinnamon rolls right now, and just canโt wait for dough to rise, try these no yeast cinnamon rolls!
Video Tutorial: Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake
How to Make a Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake
- Make the dough: The ingredients are pretty standard: flour, sugar, salt, yeast, milk, butter, and egg. Heat the butter and milk together. Next, stir or beat the milk mixture into the dry ingredients, then add the egg. After mixing, your dough is ready to knead. You’ll notice I use all milk (no water) and *slightly* more butter than my easy cinnamon rolls recipe. I wanted a richer dough for this cinnamon roll cake. Same great results.
- Knead the dough: You can use your mixer or hands to knead the dough. Watch me knead the dough with my hands in the video tutorial above. I also have a separate in-depth How to Knead Dough video tutorial, if you need extra help with this step. When youโre finished kneading, cover the dough and let it rest for about 30 minutes. It won’t really rise during this time, but this allows the gluten to relax, which makes shaping much easier.
- Fill & shape the cinnamon roll cake: Here’s where the fun starts! Roll the dough out into a 15×12-inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter on top, then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice the dough into 6 horizontal strips. (Each are 15 inches long.) Roll up 1 strip and place in a greased pan. Coil the remaining 5 strips around the center roll, starting each strip at the end of the previous one to make one large cinnamon roll. Some of the filling may spill out as you pick up the strips, so just sprinkle it on top of the cake when you’re done shaping it.
- Rise: Let the shaped cake rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours. Remember, this is the only rise time required!
- Bake: After the giant cinnamon roll cake is puffy, bake until golden brown.
- Drizzle with vanilla icing: Whisk confectionersโ sugar, milk, and vanilla extract together until smooth. Drizzle all over the warm cake.
Cinnamon Roll Cake Step-by-Step Pictures
Mix the dry ingredients together. Heat the butter and milk together.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the egg, and beat into a slightly soft dough. (If you don’t have a mixer, you can make this dough by hand.)
Knead this dough, then let it rest for about 30 minutes.
Roll out into a large rectangle. Top with softened butter.
Sprinkle a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon on top, then cut into 6 strips. Roll up 1 strip.
Place into your greased pan. Coil remaining strips around it.
Before baking, let the shaped cake rise until puffy:
3 Helpful Tips
- Best pan to use: I recommend a 9-inch round pie dish or 9-inch round cake pan.
- Keep it flat: While the giant cinnamon roll cake is baking, some spots may rise up more than other spots. That’s completely normal and expected from something this large! Simply remove the pan from the oven and, with the back of a spatula, press down the spots that are rising taller than others to help keep them even.
- Don’t have all morning to spend on this dough? Feel free to prep the dough the night before. This is a wonderful way to save time in the morning so you can wake up and eat sooner! See my make-ahead/overnight instructions in the written recipe below.
Let’s Dig In
To serve, cut the giant cinnamon roll like a traditional cake. Alternatively, you could uncoil it and let everyone have a go, sort of like you do with monkey bread. Hey, it’s ok to have fun with your food once in awhile. Now go make some cake!!
Baking with Yeast
Reference this Baking with Yeast Guide whenever you work with baker’s yeast. I include practical answers to all of your common yeast questions.
Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: one 9-inch cake
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Learn how to make a beautiful, fluffy, and fun cinnamon roll cake using my kitchen-tested shortcut dough recipe. Review the video tutorial above and recipe notes below before beginning.
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups (344g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2ย and 1/4 teaspoonsย Platinum Yeast from Red Starย (1ย standard packet)*
- 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk
- 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons; 56g) unsalted butter
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
Filling
- 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons; 56 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Vanilla Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk or heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the dough: Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast together. Set aside. Heat the milk and butter together in the microwave until the butter is melted and the mixture is warm to the touch, between 100-110ยฐF, 38-43ยฐC. Pour the warm milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Add the egg. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment, or using a silicone spatula and mixing by hand, beat/mix the mixture until a soft dough forms. The dough is ready when it gently pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is pretty sticky, beat/mix in 2-4 extra Tablespoons of flour. (Keep in mind that you want the dough to remain on the softer side.)
- Knead the dough:ย Keep the dough in the stand mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If youโre new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your fingerโif it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a โwindowpane testโ to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until itโs thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Form the dough into a ball on your work surface. Cover it with a clean towel, aluminum foil, or plastic wrap, then let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Alternatively, the ball of dough can rest in a covered and lightly greased mixing bowl.
- Make the filling:ย After 30 minutes, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a 15×12-inch rectangle. Evenly spread the softened butter on top. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle it all over the buttered dough.
- Grease a 9-inch round pie dish or 9-inch round cake pan with butter or nonstick spray.
- Shape the cinnamon roll cake: See the video tutorial and my step-by-step photos above for a visual of this shaping step. Using a very sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the dough into six 2-inch wide strips. Roll up one strip and place it in the center of the pan. Coil the remaining 5 strips around the center roll, starting each strip at the end of the previous one to make one large cinnamon roll. Some of the filling may spill out as you pick up the strips, so just sprinkle it on top of the cake when you’re done shaping it.
- Loosely cover the cake with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and allow it to rise in a relatively warm, draft-free environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (Tip: Rising at room temperature is usually fine, but on a particularly cold day, heat your oven to 150ยฐF (66ยฐC). Turn the oven off, place the shaped cake inside, and keep the door slightly ajar. This will be a warm environment for your dough to rise. After about 30 minutes, close the oven door to trap the air inside with the rising dough. When itโs doubled in size, remove from the oven.)
- Bake: After the cake’s dough has doubled in size, preheat the oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. If you notice the top or edges browning too quickly, tent the cake with aluminum foil. While the giant cinnamon roll cake is baking, some spots may rise up more than other spots. That’s completely normal and expected from something this large. Simply remove the pan from the oven and, with the back of a spatula, press down the spots that are rising taller than others to help keep them even. Return to baking.
- Remove the finished cinnamon roll cake from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make the icing.
- Make the icing: Whisk the icing ingredients together. If you want a thicker icing, whisk in more confectioners’ sugar. If you want a thinner icing, whisk in more milk or cream. Drizzle all over warm cake and serve.
- The cinnamon roll cake is best enjoyed the same day it’s made, but will remain fresh covered tightly for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Overnight Instructions: The night before serving, prepare the cinnamon roll cake through step 6. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 8-12 hours. The next morning, remove from the refrigerator and allow to rise on the counter, covered, for 1-2 hours before continuing with step 8.
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze this cinnamon roll cake for up to 3 months, and I recommend a few different methods for doing so. The first method is to freeze it after shaping, before its rise (step 6). Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then let rise for 1.5โ2 hours at room temperature before baking. The second method is to par-bake the risen cinnamon roll cake for 10 minutes, let cool completely, then cover and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. Finish baking for 15โ20 minutes. You can also freeze the fully baked cinnamon roll cake. See How to Freeze Cinnamon Rolls for more details.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rolling Pin |ย 9-inch Round Pie Dish or 9-inch Round Cake Pan
- Yeast:ย Platinum Yeast from Red Star is an instant yeast. You can use active dry yeast instead. If using active-dry yeast, whisk the yeast into the warm butter/milk mixture instead of into the dry ingredients. (If you forget to do this and add the active-dry yeast to the dry ingredients, the cake will still be fine– trust me!) The rise time will take a little longer if using active dry yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guideย for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Icing: I originally topped this giant cinnamon roll cake with vanilla maple icing. Simply replace 1 Tablespoon of milk/cream with pure maple syrup. If desired for a coffee flavored icing, replace all of the milk/cream with strong brewed black coffee.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Iโve made your cinnamon rolls recipe which turned out great. I am curious as to why we use all purpose flour in the cake version and not strong white bread flour like we do for the rolls? Could I make the cake version with white bread flour? Thank you!
Hi Tali, Bread flour should work for a chewier roll. Enjoy!
I made this today and it turned out perfectly. Great recipe for Fathers Day Breakfast!!
I tried this bake for the first time for an Easter lunch I went to it was such a hit! I love how easy the directions are to follow.
Just made this for weekend guests and it was a big hit! So easy to make and shape. I made the dough and shaped it the night before according to the recipe variation.
I also have made this with my 2 grandsons helping me! They gave it to their father for โFatherโs Day breakfast โ! He loved it!
I’m going to make this on the weekend but am confused about why the dough doesn’t get punched down AMD proofed before being formed into a giant bun. From the comments it sounds like it works anyway but I’d like to understand why it is fine this way.
Hi Wendy, this recipe uses a shortcut dough that doesn’t need as much rising time. Hope you enjoy the cinnamon roll cake!
Hi Sally I just watched your large rolled cinnamon cake bun and I’m going to try ASAPI have been using your recipes for many years and I want to thank you for all you do.
I made this for my mom and she loved it i definitely recommend!
I made this for my mom and she loved it i definitely recommend
Can I use chocolate instead of cinnamon? Shall I use the same ingredients as your chocolate fluffy rolls?
Hi Eleonora, you can use the filling recipe from that recipe with this dough recipe, yes, but you may have a little extra filling since that makes a larger batch of rolls. Let us know if you give it a try!
I made this for my sister’s 19th birthday, and she absolutely loved it! It was a huge hit with my family and I will definitely be making this again!!!
Hi Do you have a cream cheese frosting recipe which would work for this?
Hi Sam, you can use the cream cheese frosting from these cinnamon rolls instead.
Can I make the rolls through step 6 in the morning and refrigerate for a few hours instead of overnite? I want to bake it closer to the time we have dinner.
Hi Donna, you certainly can. We’d recommend starting early enough that you can accommodate at least 8 hours in the refrigerator and the 1-2 hour counter rise time before continuing with step 8, for best results.
Hi! I was wondering how I can still achieve the same icing consistency but by using cream cheese? Thanks!
Hi Nav, you can use the cream cheese frosting from these cinnamon rolls instead.
How long is a few hours to remove from freezer to complete cooking it
Thank you
Hi Sandy, uually about 4 to 5 hours.
This is easily the best cinnamon roll I have ever made! Iโve made it a few times and it always turns out incredible. Iโm not sure if itโs just because itโs so big or if Iโm not skilled at making smaller cinnamon rolls but this turns out better than any regular cinnamon rolls Iโve ever made. My regular ones always taste a little dry and this is perfect. Like Cinnabon level delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Made this once before, huge hit! I’m making again for my son’s birthday and have a question about following the make-ahead instructions, following recipe through step 6, and then refrigerating until the next day- can the dough remain in the fridge longer than 8-12 hrs? Meaning, can I prepare through step 6 the night before, and refrigerate for 20 hours before taking it out to rise for a couple of hours, or would that cause problems with the rise or lead to dry dough?
Hi Amanda, we don’t recommend allowing the dough to stay in the refrigerator past the 12 hours. It could cause the dough to over proof and then collapse when bake. If needed, you can follow the freezing instructions right below for a longer lead time. So glad this one is a favorite!
What if you browned butter then put it in the fridge to solidify to โsoftened butter stageโ then use that for the filling?! Would that work and also be totally fabulous?
Hi Robin, you could certainly do that! Let us know how it goes.
Easily the best cinnamon roll Iโve ever made!! I love that thereโs so much more of the gooey inside part. Highly recommend!
Hi Sally! This looks great! If I want to prepare this for a birthday party in advance but it wonโt be baked and cut until the evening is there any disadvantage of extending the 1-2 hours proove time or will that dry out the final cake? It would probably be proving for 6-7 hours realistically as Iโd prep it all in the morning but not bake it until later. Thank you
Hi Sophia, we do not recommend extending the rise times, as it can cause the final cake to collapse when baked and be quite dense. You could bake the entire cake in the morning, then reheat and frost at night. Or see recipe Notes for other make ahead options. The freezing option might work best for your needs. Hope it’s a hit!
this was amazing! do you have a caramel recipe that would make this a giant caramel roll cake?
Hi Blair, we haven’t tested a caramel filling, but it would be delicious with salted caramel drizzled on top instead of the vanilla icing. So glad you enjoyed it!
This just came out of the oven to surprise my hubby tomorrow for Fatherโs smells amazing and looks perfect.
How do you keep them from drying out? Cream on top before going in the oven? a water bath while baking? Or loosely placing foil?
Hi Amy! If properly baked, this cinnamon roll cake will not be dry. We do recommend tenting with foil part way through baking to prevent excess browning, if that’s an issue you have in your oven (as directed in step 8).
If your dough doesn’t rise, anything I can do with it? I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Made plenty of breads with yeast and never had a problem.
Hi Stephanie, if the dough isn’t rising, it’s sounds like the yeast didn’t activate properly. It’s best to start over with a fresh batch if possible.
My son doesnโt like cake (weird, I know!), so I made this as his birthday cake. I also made a dozen cupcakes for people who DO like cake. He absolutely loved it, and so did everyone else. Lots of cupcakes left, but no cinnamon roll cake left. Absolutely delicious. And the frosting is so simple to make, and yet SO delicious!!!!!
My son doesnโt like cake, but loves cinnamon rolls so Iโm making this for his birthday. Iโm wondering, can it be removed from the pan after it cools, or will it fall apart?
Hi Donna, you should be able to move the cinnamon roll cake after it’s cooled.
Can you make small rolls out of this recipe as well?
Hi Jenn, here is our recipe for regular cinnamon rolls instead.
Can’t wait to make this!! Can I double the recipe( I have a 7qt KA lift) so I can make one as is, and one with pecans?
Hi Laurie, for best results, we recommend making 2 separate batches rather than doubling.