Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Birthday Cake
Why wait all the way until the evening for birthday cake? No, seriously. Especially when you can just make a couple giant cinnamon rolls and stack them up, layer-cake style. It counts as breakfast, I promise! Plus, nothing says “Happy Birthday” like something ridiculous baked with love.
The real inspiration for this cake was the birthday girl herself. Darling Jackie is one of my dearest, long time friends. After all we’ve been through together, one of my strongest associations with her will always be her cinnamon roll recipe, which I practically tackled her to get. She got it from one of her fellow Home Ec teachers, so you know it’s good since it’s designed for teenagers to work with. But it’s also just the perfect cinnamon roll recipe and as soon as I got it from Jackie I just stopped looking. And then naturally I tried to figure out how to make her a birthday cake out of it.
I love this dough so much, it handles beautifully. It’s thick and sturdy to work with, holds it’s shape phenomenally well, but then bakes up tender and not dry and bready like so many cinnamon roll dough recipes.
I had really planned on making a 2-layer cake instead of 3, but I overestimated the amount of dough I would need by, oh, a whole layer’s worth.
No matter, all three 3 layers were quickly demolished by our full house. I’ve put the 2-layer version below for reasonable people, and the 3-layer version below for awesome people.
Of course this recipe is also amazing in it’s original form as regular cinnamon rolls, just roll up the dough and slice into 12-15 slices.
2-Layer Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Birthday Cake
dough recipe adapted from Jackie
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup warm milk
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 eggs
- about 8 cups flour
For filling
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, 2/3 cup melted butter, salt, and eggs. Stir well and add yeast mixture.
Add about 4 cups flour and beat until smooth. Keep adding flour (between 3 and 4 cups) until dough is slightly stiff (dough will be sticky). Turn out onto surface and knead for 5-10 minutes.
Place in greased storage bag and refrigerate overnight or until ready to use. Or, if using the same day, place dough in warm place for 1-2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
Punch down dough and let rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.
Roll out each on floured surface into a 15 x 20 rectangle.
Spread dough with 1/2 cup melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon mixture.
Trim off uneven edges. With a clean ruler and sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice dough into 1 1/2 inch strips.
Prepare 2 8-inch cake pans by lining with parchment paper and spraying with cooking spray.
Loosely roll first strip (loosely to give the middle space to expand as it rises and keep the layer more level) and place in pan. Add another strip where the first strip ends, wrapping around loosely to continue the spiral. Don’t worry about sealing together the strips of dough. Continue adding more strips until pan is almost full, leaving about a half inch gap around the edge. Repeat with other pan. Any leftover scraps can be rolled up and baked separately.
Let rise in warm place for a few minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until layers are nicely browned.
For Assembly
Allow cinnamon roll layers to cool slightly. Carefully remove from pans and discard parchment.
Reserve prettiest roll for top layer. Place bottom layer on cake plate and top with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting (below) and repeat with middle layer, reserving about 1/4 cup of frosting for top. Top with top roll layer.
Thin down remaining frosting to make a glaze (you can also just use the normal frosting, I thinned it down so the spiral of the top cinnamon roll would be visible). Add a few tablespoons of milk at a time and whisk until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle glaze over top cinnamon roll.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- about 1/2 cup milk
Beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until well combined. Gradually add in powdered sugar and beat until fluffy.
3-Layer Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Birthday Cake
dough recipe adapted from Jackie
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 3 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 1/2 cup warm milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 eggs
- about 12 cups flour
For filling
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, 1 cup melted butter, salt, and eggs. Stir well and add yeast mixture.
Add about 6 cups flour and beat until smooth. Keep adding flour (between 4 and 6 cups) until dough is slightly stiff (dough will be sticky). Turn out onto surface and knead for 5-10 minutes.
Place in greased storage bag and refrigerate overnight or until ready to use. Or, if using the same day, place dough in warm place for 1-2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
Punch down dough and let rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine 2 1/4 cups sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.
Roll out each on floured surface into a 30 x 20 rectangle.
Spread dough with 3/4 cup melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon mixture.
Trim off uneven edges. With a clean ruler and sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice dough into 1 1/2 inch strips.
Prepare 3 8-inch cake pans by lining with parchment paper and spraying with cooking spray.
Loosely roll first strip (loosely to give the middle space to expand as it rises and keep the layer more level) and place in pan. Add another strip where the first strip ends, wrapping around loosely to continue the spiral. Don’t worry about sealing together the strips of dough. Continue adding more strips until pan is almost full, leaving about a half inch gap around the edge. Repeat with other pan. Any leftover scraps can be rolled up and baked separately.
Let rise in warm place for a few minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until layers are nicely browned.
For Assembly
Allow cinnamon roll layers to cool slightly. Carefully remove from pans and discard parchment.
Reserve prettiest roll for top layer. Place bottom layer on cake plate and top with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting (below), reserving about 1/4 cup of frosting for top. Top with top roll layer.
Thin down remaining frosting to make a glaze (you can also just use the normal frosting, I thinned it down so the spiral of the top cinnamon roll would be visible). Add a few tablespoons of milk at a time and whisk until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle glaze over top cinnamon roll.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- about 1/2 cup milk
Beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until well combined. Gradually add in powdered sugar and beat until fluffy.
