This easy cinnamon roll cake is so fluffy, moist, and has amazing cinnamon and brown sugar flavor!
If you love cinnamon rolls, you are going to love this recipe- and the best part is that it's simple to make. It all starts with a box of yellow cake mix!
Table of Contents
How to Make a Cinnamon Roll Layer Cake
You will love this fluffy, flavorful layer cake! You can find the full recipe card further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of our steps!
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Prepare Cake Pans: Grease and flour three 8x2 round cake pans.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In the bowl of your mixer, combine dry ingredients: cake flour, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and salt. Whisk for 30 seconds to blend.
- Combine Wet Ingredients: In another bowl, combine sour cream, water, eggs, vegetable oil & vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stop after 1 minute to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl then continue to beat for the second minute.
- Fill the Cake Pans: Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees....check after 22 minutes- The cakes are done if the middle of the cake springs back when lightly touched, or a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- This recipe makes about 7 cups of batter.
Cinnamon Sugar Glaze
For an extra dose of cinnamon roll flavor, we brushed our cake layers with a simple cinnamon sugar glaze as we assembled the cake.
This quick and easy glaze is a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, powdered sugar, vanilla, and just a bit of hot water.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
We decided to use a creamy, delicious cinnamon cream cheese frosting for this cake.
This is such a simple frosting and comes together in minutes. It is a combination of softened butter, cream cheese, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon!
It is so flavorful, and tastes amazing with the brown sugar and cinnamon cake layers.
Consistency of the Frosting
As with any cream cheese frosting, the consistency is on the softer side. For this reason, we often chill our cream cheese frosting for 10-15 minutes just after whipping up a batch.
This will firm things up and leave you with a consistency that is easier to work with.
In fact, any time that you notice your cream cheese frosting becoming a little soft, chill your bowl of frosting, piping bag, or even your cake to make life much simpler!
Just pop frosting in the freezer for about 10 minutes (or maybe 15 minutes in the refrigerator) and you will be all set.
Frosting should be Refrigerated
Because of the cinnamon cream cheese frosting, this cake should be refrigerated until within a couple of hours of serving.
If you need a frosting that can sit out longer, you can add a bit of cinnamon to our Classic Vanilla Buttercream!
Assembling the Cinnamon Roll Cake
Once the cake layers have cooled, it is time to put the cake together!
This cake is very easy to put together. Place the first cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal.
Brush the top with the cinnamon sugar mixture. We like to apply it with a silicone pastry brush.
It should soak in right away. Then, spread on a layer of the cinnamon cream cheese frosting and add the second cake layer.
Brush the second cake layer with the cinnamon sugar mixture, follow with the cream cheese frosting, and top with third layer.
Frosting the Cake
At this point, I like to fill in any gaps between the cake layers with frosting, and then apply a thin layer of frosting on top of the cake and around the sides. (This is known as the crumb coat- it catches the crumbs!)-
Chilling: I chilled my crumb coated cake in the freezer to firm everything up for about 10-15 minutes before applying the second layer of frosting. (Chilling makes it easier to decorate as the cake layers are less likely to shift.)
Decorating the Cinnamon Roll Cake
Decorate the cake however you like! I smoothed around the sides of the frosted cake with a metal bench scraper (warmed under hot water).
Spiral on Top of the Cake: As an optional step, I piped a spiral of frosting on top. To do this, I added a small amount of frosting to a bowl and mixed in a bit more cinnamon to darken the color. I used a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip 4 to apply the spiral. I started in the center and then spiraled outward.
Cake Borders: Finally, I added a border to the top and bottom of the cake using a large open star piping tip- 1M. I love an oversized shell border ;0)
Here's a peek at the inside!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, because of the cinnamon cream cheese frosting, this cake needs to be refrigerated. We recommend using an airtight cake container or cake dome.
However, for best flavor and texture, it is best to remove the cake from the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving. This will allow the cake plenty of time to warm and soften.
Yes, as with most of our cakes, the cake layers can be made in advance and frozen! However, we recommend holding off on the glazing step until you are assembling the cake.
To freeze the cinnamon cake layers, bake and turn out. Allow to cool until slightly warm (or room temperature). Then, wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. For extra support, you can place each cake layer on a foil wrapped cake cardboard.
Freeze for up to three months!
To thaw, move the wrapped cake layers to the kitchen counter. Unwrap after 30-45 minutes and continue thaw. Then, glaze and assemble the cake.
Yes, we have a delicious scratch Cinnamon Roll Cake recipe as well!
More Cinnamon Cakes to Try!
We've made many more cakes over the years that have wonderful cinnamon flavor.
A few of our favorites are our homemade Snickerdoodle Cake, Cannoli Cake , Honey Cake, and Hummingbird Cake.
- Spice Cake with Orange Spice Cream Cheese Frosting
- Snickerdoodle Cake
- Apple Cinnamon Cake
- Blueberry Bundt Cake
Thanks so much for stopping by! We have hundreds more Cake Recipes to share, including cake recipes from scratch, and cake mix recipes!
In addition, we have tons of free cake decorating tutorials as well! We'll show you everything from how to frost a cake to buttercream piping tutorials, birthday cake ideas, and more!
Cinnamon Roll Layer Cake from a Mix
BY Melissa and Bebe
This moist, tender Cinnamon Roll Layer Cake is SO flavorful, and it all starts with a cake mix!
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
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Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix sifted ( Do not follow directions on the box, use only the ingredients listed below. We used Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist Classic Yellow cake mix)
- 1 cup (121g) cake flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon (3g) Ground Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 cup (242g) sour cream or plain yogurt (greek yogurt is fine also)
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) Canola Oil
- 1 cup (240g) water
- 3 large eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
Cinnamon and Sugar Glaze to Brush over Cake Layers
- 5 Tablespoons 30g powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons 28g light brown sugar, packed
- 1 Tablespoon 8g ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon 4g vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons 15g very hot water (hot water to dissolve the sugar)
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 16 oz cream cheese (total weight 452g) (We used two 8 oz packages cream cheese, full fat.)
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (2g)salt
- 6 cups (690g) powdered sugar (Adjust slightly up or down to your liking.)
- 1 teaspoon (3g) ground cinnamon
Instructions
For the Cinnamon Roll Cake Layers
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Grease and flour three 8x2 round cake pans.
In the bowl of your mixer, combine dry ingredients: cake mix, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk for 30 seconds to blend.
In another bowl, combine sour cream, water, eggs, oil & vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stop after 1 minute to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl then continue to beat for the second minute.
Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees....check after 22 minutes- Cakes are done if middle of cake springs back when touched, a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
Makes about 7 cups of batter.
Cinnamon Sugar Glaze to Brush on the Cake Layers
Mix together and set aside. This will be used to brush approximately 2 Tablespoons on the tops of each layer as you stack the cake. This is used as a simple syrup on the layers.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
Cut the cold cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar and cinnamon beating on low speed until blended. You may want to cover the bowl with a dish towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over mix or it will become too soft. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.
**If you are making a dark brown swirl of frosting on top of the cake as we did, reserve ¼ cup of frosting as set aside.
This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.
Assembly of Cake
Place the first cake layer on a cake plate or pedestal. Brush the top with brown sugar glaze (we use a silicone pastry brush for this. It should soak in very quickly).
Then, spread the top of the layer with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Top with the second cake layer and repeat- (glaze, then add the frosting). Top with the third cake layer and then frost the cake.
*I like to apply a thin (crumb coat) layer of frosting over the cake first. Then I like to chill to firm things up (10-15 minutes in the freezer), and finish with the second layer of frosting. Decorate however you like! I used a bench scraper to smooth the frosting around the sides.
For the spiral on top: I placed a small amount of frosting in a bowl and combined with additional cinnamon to darken, and piped a spiral on top of the cake using a small round piping tip 3. I finished with a large shell border on top and bottom of the cake, piped with a 1M piping tip.
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