Our easy cinnamon roll cake with cake mix and cream cheese frosting recipe can be made and ready to enjoy for dessert in just 30 minutes! The best cake mix hack you will want to make on the weekends and when guests come over for the holidays.
This is a variation of our popular coffee cake with yellow cake mix recipe, without the crumb topping. It is a great way to tweak boxed cake mix into something that looks homemade, but can be made a lot faster with just a few ingredients.
My girls and I love to bake but don’t always have the time to start from scratch. Using a box of white or yellow cake mix is the trick to creating classic desserts with a secret. 😉 Swirling brown sugar into the batter makes it prettier and bakery-like in this case.
Topped with a tub of ready made or our cream cheese frosting without butter just takes every bite to the next level. I have been guilty of making this for Christmas breakfast (even though it is more of a dessert) when family comes over and it never lasts long.
What is cinnamon roll cake?
This sweet creation was said to originate in Scandinavia, where you could create an easy cake that tasted like a pan full of cinnamon rolls. Without yeast, instead they used cake batter with the same type of cinnamon sugar filling, swirled inside, it became so popular it was brought to the US and was an instant hit!
Ingredient Notes
We used white cake mix this time but yellow or spice works too if you wanted more of a Fall flavor to it. You will not follow the directions on the back of the box rather use the ingredients listed in the recipe card below to make the batter.
You want to add some sour cream to create a very rich and moist outcome. Alternative to this would be plain or vanilla Greek yogurt.
Your eggs should be large and I recommend organic free range for the richest best flavor in baked goods.
And you will need some vegetable oil and water to make the cake batter. From there you need a small bowl to mix together the cinnamon roll “filling”.
For that you will need some brown sugar, with cinnamon to get those classic flavors with melted butter to make a sort of paste you will swirl into the top.
Variations
There are other things you can swirl into the batter to change up the flavors. They won’t give you the classic cinnamon roll flavor but are still good. Ideas would be to swirl in apple butter or pumpkin butter in instead. Another option would be to dollop on a bit of warmed jam.
You could make homemade yellow cake mix to start with if you wanted more of a from scratch version of this. If you plan on making this often it might be worth while to make a few batches of this, store in baggies and use on your next go around.
And of course the glaze on the top can be changed up too. There are tons of flavors of frosting in a tub at the store, you can make your own, or you can spread a can of apple pie filling over the top instead.
How Long to Bake Cinnamon Roll Cake
In a 9×13″ pan you will need to bake for 20-25 minutes or so. You do not want to cook this too long because it should stay moist and tender. Ideally I like to let sit in the pan for 10 minutes before slicing and serve warm with frosting drizzled over the top of each piece.
FAQ
If you made your own cake mix with a sugar free alternative, like Splenda, in the mix you could. For the cinnamon swirl you would need to use a sugar free brown sugar alternative as well so yes it is possible and is easy to do.
Technically yes you could use any flavor however certain ones work better to develop the classic cinnamon roll flavors. Yellow or white are best, while spice can work for deeper Fall flavors.
You can make a very simple cake frosting with powdered sugar and milk. Start with 1 cup of confectioners sugar and gradually add liquid until it creates the consistency you want. You can add flavor with extract or a fresh squeeze of lemon for a fresh flavor.
No, that will actually dry it out. Instead you should store in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. When reheating add a bit of glaze on top and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds to become moist again.
Cinnamon Roll Cake with Cake Mix Recipe
Equipment
- 2 bowls
- 1 9×13 pan
- 1 knife
- 1 Spoon
Ingredients
- 1 box cake mix, white or yellow
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, salted, melted
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Add cake mix, sour cream, oil, water and eggs to a mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat well until smooth and combined. Spoon into prepared baking pan and spread evenly.
- In a smaller bowl, combine brown sugar, butter and cinnamon and dollop and drizzle cinnamon mixture on top of cake. Use a knife to cut the cinnamon into the cake and swirl the flavor.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean, with moist crumbs attached. Remove from oven and let stand to cool.
- Melt cream cheese frosting in microwave for 10 seconds and drizzle on top before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
