Ok, I was planning to make pound cake for Treat Day Week 3, knowing that the Elvis cake is widely popular already with the guys… and then my recipe A-D-D kicked in at about 1pm on baking day, and I started looking at Instagram posts from other bakers that I follow. I went from deciding to make pound cake to Apple Toffee cake, to Texas Sheet cake, and then somehow landed on a Cinnabon cake recipe that looked like something that would be a big hit. So, I went out on a limb, and whipped up 2 cakes from this particular blogger’s site. It’s always a big deal for me when I decide to make something that I’ve never ever tested before. Because I am my own worst critic and a flipping worry-wart beyond belief, and have tossed entire batches of baked goods out at 10pm the night before Treat Day, and whipped up something else, all because I think to myself, “What was I thinking trying this recipe without a test run and the stamp of approval from my friends and co-workers first? Am I insane?” Why, yes…yes, I am at times. But in a good way… haha! These are treats for goodness sake! Lighten up, Francis. (That’s a line from a favorite old movie, “Stripes”, btw). Ok…let me tell you the honest truth..these cakes turned out great, and were relatively easy to put together considering the cake is a scratch recipe and not from a box. The butter-brown sugar-cinnamon dollops are heavenly and when baked turn into a sweet caramelized gooey center (which makes them a little messy for cutting and transferring to cupcake liners for serving – but well worth the effort!). The only thing I did differently from what this recipe says, is for the 2nd cake, I decided to look for a cream cheese based frosting, because that’s what a true Cinnabon Roll from the retailer has, right? Or do Cinnabon’s have a glaze? I can’t recall. But I love cream cheese frosting regardless, so wanted to test-taste the difference on the cakes. My brother said the cream cheese frosting cake was better than the glazed…but both were delicious. And I have to agree. He actually had to tell his intern to quit eating so much before the players came in from practice. So next time I make this recipe I will definitely forget using the icing that the recipe calls for and will use the “Cinnabon Frosting” copy-cat recipe. This cake would be perfect for a brunch, at the Holidays when entertaining guests, or a weekend morning to give yourself and family a little something special, and something different from the refrigerated rolls that come in a can (and they never give you enough frosting!).
Here are the links to the cake and the cream cheese frosting:
Click & Scroll down for the FROSTING
And here are the only few tips I have for you:
- If you plan to make the cream cheese frosting, double what that recipe calls for… I did and it was the perfect amount for the 9×13 cake
- Be sure to get your butter to room temp. for the butter-sugar-cinnamon filling. Because my dollops were thick and a little difficult to run a knife through to make the swirls
- I always use salted butter in EVERYTHING… I don’t buy unsalted – but that is just my preference
- I always use Philadelphia Cream Cheese – full fat.
- My oven baked these cakes to where a toothpick came out clean at 35 minutes…be sure to cook all the way, as it will help the gooey butter sugar dollops meld into the cake and cut easier
And I think that it’s… this recipe was simple and delicious! Very happy with my spur of the moment choice in picking a recipe…so thank you to the bloggers who shared this with us!
And thank you to you for reading my blog. Go BEARS!!!
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