Cinnamon Roll Cake

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:

1. Flatten each biscuit as thin as possible using a rolling pin or your hands.
2. Dip the biscuit in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar.
3. Roll the coated biscuit tightly into a cylinder and place it on the outer edge of the skillet or pie pan.
4. Continue placing the biscuits in a spiral, seam side down, until they reach the center.
5. 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!

Adding Frosting To The Cinnamon Roll Cake

Two options:

1. Spread the frosting across the cake with a table knife.
2. 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.

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

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4.95 from 18 votes

Cinnamon Roll Cake

By Chelsea Lords

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!

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 9-inch pie pan (or smaller skillet)

Equipment

• Pie or cake pan or skillet -- really any size works! (See Note 1)

Ingredients  

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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

Note 1: Quantities: This recipe is flexible—as long as you have enough butter, sugar, cinnamon, and biscuits, you can adjust the size. We often use a small 6 to 8-inch cast iron skillet, but for larger servings, a 9-inch pie pan works well. Just melt more butter and mix extra cinnamon and sugar if needed. The recipe quantities are for an 8-inch skillet, with a few leftover biscuits for Air Fryer Donuts!

Note 2: Cinnamon-sugar blend: Depending on how generous you are with the butter and cinnamon-sugar mixture, you might need more or have some left over. Extra cinnamon-sugar can be added to microwave oatmeal. If the butter hardens before you've finished coating the biscuits, simply microwave it again briefly.

Nutrition

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

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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