This Cinnamon Roll Cake is a game-changer: no yeast, no rising, no hassle! It comes together fast and bakes quicker than traditional cinnamon rolls. Top with quick cream cheese frosting and get ready to fall in love!
The Best Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Cinnamon rolls are an iconic dessert, but they can be time-consuming. Waiting for the dough to rise twice, plus making the dough, filling, and glaze—it’s a lot.
While I spent months perfecting my Easy Cinnamon Roll Recipe (with no kneading, no mixer, and the quickest dough prep possible), it still takes a fair amount of time to get from start to cinnamon rolls on the table.
That’s why this Cinnamon Roll Cake recipe is the best:
- All the flavors you love from cinnamon rolls.
- No kneading, no rising, no mixer needed. 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 prep and bake time are both quick.
- It’s fun! This cake is a blast to assemble and even more fun to eat (obviously!).
The “Short-Cut”
So how do we finish this cake so quickly? We use refrigerated buttermilk biscuits!
The biscuits are the perfect substitute for cinnamon roll dough, and no one will know you used a store-bought shortcut because this cake is just that good!
I like to grab a 4-pack of buttermilk biscuits to make either one large cinnamon roll cake or a couple of smaller ones. 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:
- Flatten each biscuit as thin as possible using a rolling pin or your hands.
- Dip the biscuit in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar.
- Roll the coated biscuit tightly into a cylinder and place it on the outer edge of the skillet or pie pan.
- Continue placing the biscuits in a spiral, seam side down, until they reach the center.
- While the Cinnamon Roll Cake bakes (and fills your house with an amazing aroma), whip up the frosting to spread over the warm cake—swoon!
What Pan To Use
This recipe is very forgiving—as long as you have plenty of butter, sugar, cinnamon, and biscuits, you can make the cake as big or small as you like.
We often make this cake in a small 6 to 8-inch cast iron skillet, but if we’re feeding others or feeling extra hungry, we use a 9-inch pie pan.
The bigger the pan, the longer the preparation takes, but you’ll be impressed by how quickly it comes together once the assembly line is set up.
Cinnamon Roll Cake Frosting Tips
- Set out the butter and cream cheese an hour before baking to reach room temperature. If they’re cold, the frosting may have unpleasant cream cheese chunks. To speed this up, try these quick methods for bringing butter and cream cheese to room temp.
- Don’t skip the flavor enhancers—salt and vanilla extract add essential nuance to the frosting. Even small amounts make a big difference!
- Slowly add powdered sugar to taste. More sugar makes the frosting sweeter and firmer; less keeps it tangier and softer. Adjust to your preference for this Cinnamon Roll Cake!
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 enjoyed the same day it’s made, especially while warm. Like most homemade cinnamon rolls, this is particularly true 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 Cookies with a cream cheese frosting
- Cinnamon Roll Popcorn with a cinnamon-sugar coating
- Miniature Cinnamon Roll Cheesecakes with a graham cracker crust
- Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread made with canned cinnamon rolls
- Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes using a cake mix
Cinnamon Roll Cake
Equipment
- Pie or cake pan or skillet -- really any size works! (See Note 1)
Ingredients
Cinnamon Roll Cake
- 2 pkgs. (7.5 ounces each) Buttermilk Biscuits Note 1
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup white, granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Frosting
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2 ounces full-fat brick-style cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a pie pan, cake pan, or skillet with cooking spray.
- Remove biscuits from packages. Flatten each biscuit with a rolling pin or your hands.
- Dip each biscuit in melted butter, shake off excess, then coat generously in cinnamon sugar. Shake off excess. (See Note 2.)
- Tightly roll each biscuit and place them in a spiral pattern in the pan, starting from the outside and working inward.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Adjust time for pan size. If the edges cook faster, tent them with foil.
- Meanwhile, use a hand mixer to beat together softened cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in vanilla extract, salt, and powdered sugar until creamy.
- Optional: transfer frosting to a piping bag or resealable plastic bag, cut off the tip, and pipe across the cake. Alternatively, spread frosting with a table knife.
- Remove the cake and let it cool for 5-7 minutes before frosting. Pipe frosting over the cake, slice, and serve warm for the best taste!
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are a dream Chelsea! Perfect for crazy morning before church when I’m craving cinnamon rolls, but literally have no time to make them. On my list to make.
Thank you Nicole!! Definitely perfect for those cravings when there isn’t enough time to make real cinnamon rolls!
Definitely a bold statement, but I really think you might have reinvented cinnamon rolls! These look amazing, and I can’t get over how easy this is. Such a great idea! Pinning! Do you use a seperate cast iron skillet for baking and cooking? I usually use mine for cooking meat, so I feel like it is kind of seasoned with savory flavors! Not delicious for cinnamon rolls…
Thank you so much Cate! Oh yeah, savory seasoned sugary cinnamon rolls do not sound too great haha! I have a large 12 inch skillet that I use for cooking meat and savory meals and then a small 8 inch skillet for desserts!
OMG. You’re a GENIUS. Holy cow. You did reinvent the cinnamon roll. I need a skillet, STAT.
Thank you so much Dorothy! 🙂
Just came across these, I have everything in the house to make right now, except I don’t own a cast iron skillet! Look great!!
OMG this looks to DIE for!! I wish I had one right now…and I love how easy it is!! 🙂 Thank you for the recipe! Marti
ps….pinned!!
You are so sweet, thanks Marti! And thanks for the pin!
This looks and sounds amazing! I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off it 🙂
Thanks Megan!
Oh. My. Gosh. These look so incredible. Seriously, only 3 in 4 days? Weak! 😉 I want to reach through the screen and eat these right now. But instead, I guess I’ll just have to settle on pinning then and making them right away. 🙂 Hope your week is going well, sweet girl!
PS Loving the photos! So simple and elegant!
Haha! Totally weak right?! Haha thanks for the pin Erin and your sweet comments! 🙂 I hope your week is going well too and the marathon training! (PS doesn’t that just totally consume your life training for a marathon?!)
Pinned to the skillet board! Really enjoying my skillet right now. I just love the simplicity in these that doesn’t lack flavor. Have a great day Chelsea!
Thanks for the pin Melanie! Aren’t skillets the best?!
So funny..I’m totally in the process of developing cinnamon rolls. They are just always a winner!
But, easy and no yeast and in a skillet cake? Yea…you may have just reinvented them. Love this!
Totally agree – cinnamon rolls always win! Thanks Taylor!
These are my favvvoorriitteeee! One thing I’ve noticed, the outside of the buns always cook faster than the inside of the bun, which is a pain! Any suggestions for how to stop that? Besides that, this receipe is one of my all time favs. Thank you!
So happy to hear this is one of your favorites Katie! 🙂 I would try adding a tin foil tent to just the outside buns for about 5 minutes (after initial baking time) and that should help the inside cook without the outside being overdone.
Would I be able to make these in 4 mini bundt cake pans instead of one big skillet pan?
I’ve never tried making these in mini bundt pans, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. The bake time will likely be different so just keep an eye on them 🙂
Creative Chelsea! Love what you did with the biscuits! Easy and fast to make in the morning…because we all know homemade cinnamon rolls can be a drag sometimes 😉 Thank you!
They can definitely be a drag! Thank you Kellly!
I adore cinnamon rolls, but who has time to wait for them to rise in the morning?! Not I. But this cake is a thing of genius.
Haha everything you write is always hilarious! Love it!