Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake

It’s miserable out here.  On days like this I want to stay inside and eat my body weight in pizza. And this beautiful cinnamon roll cake. Sigh. I miss this cake already.

What’s nice about this cake is that it’s really easy to assemble. My little one woke up right after I cut the dough into strips to roll up and I had to coil them up with one hand while holding her in the other. It seemed tricky at the time (translation: it felt like the beginning of a hot mess). However, the cream cheese frosting (which I kept thick on purpose) covered it up nicely 😉

Also, as you can imagine, it smelled absolutely heavenly.

The recipe for the cake is from the fabulous Sally at Sally’s Baking Addiction. I made a slight change in that I subbed out the glaze she uses for a more cinnabon like cream cheese glaze. I did have a little left over, but I find no one really complains about extra frosting on the side 😉

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Dough:
2 and ¾ cup all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package  instant yeast* (1 packet = 2 and ¼ teaspoons)
½ cup water
¼ cup milk
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg, at room temperature

Filling:
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 and ½ Tablespoons ground cinnamon
¼ cup granulated sugar

Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese softened
2 tbsp of butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cup icing/confectioners sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

Make the dough: Set aside ½ cup of flour. In a large bowl, combine 2 and ¼ cups flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast together until evenly dispersed. Set aside.

Heat the water, milk, and butter together in the microwave until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot to touch. Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Add the egg and only enough of the reserved flour to make a soft dough. Sally says she used ⅓ cup of flour, I needed almost the entire half cup. Dough will pull away from the side of the bowl and be pliable.

Knead the dough on a floured service for a few minutes and then form a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover tightly and let rest for 30 minutes in a warm place. I usually preheat my oven to 200 for a few minutes and then switch it off and put the bowl inside. The dough will rise just a bit.

After 30 minutes roll the dough in to a 15x12 inch rectangle - my board is that big, but you should definitely measure it to be sure. Spread the softened butter on top. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over. By the way, my filling covered dough was no where close to as pretty or even as Sally's.

Cut the dough into 6 2-inch strips with a pizza cutter/knife (great visuals here). Butter/spray a 9-inch pan, I used my springform. Loosely roll up one strip and place it in the center of the pan. You're rolling it up loosely so the dough has some give as it rises. Coil the remaining 5 strips around the center roll, starting each strip at the end of the previous one to make one large rolled cake. If the filling spills out just sprinkle it back over top.

Loosely cover the cake with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 60-90 minutes till almost double in size.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake for 25-35 minutes until lightly browned. My oven runs warm so I advise checking at 25 if yours does too, otherwise Sally suggests a baking time of 30-35 minutes. If the cake is getting too brown then cover with foil, feel free to press down any 'bumps' in the dough.

Make the glaze: Combine the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until the mixture is smooth, then slowly add the icing sugar, taking care to scrape down sides. Then add 1 tbsp milk and vanilla. Add remaining milk if needed. Generously drizzle over cake a few minutes after taking it out of the oven. Serve warm.