“Like A Cinnamon Roll” Cake

I’ve been seeing this recipes in various food blogs I recently visited…cinnamon roll, of course, it got me intrigued.  So I studied the recipe before deciding whether or not it’s worth a try.   Great comments left by homebakers who already tried it…good, that’s encouraging enough for me.   I made few changes (haha, just a few this time!), I took notes from Todd Wilbur’s clone Cinnamon Roll recipe (have you tried his new CMT TV cinnamon recipe yet? you can find it in CMT facebook) as to the cinnamon roll ingredients.  Particularly, addition of baking soda (gives that nice brown coloration) and use of margarine and buttermilk instead of butter and whole milk in the cake batter.

It baked nicely, just needed few more minutes than the baking time provided in the original recipe.  Of course, cinnamon roll is better, but when you take into consideration that it takes more than a day to make and enjoy homebaked cinnamon rolls, a cinnamon roll cake is a delicious alternative.  I love the cake, my friend Mike (poor Mike, he’s diabetic, and had to take pills to enjoy 2 slices of the cinnamon roll cake that he just couldn’t resist) enjoyed the cake as well.   Here’s the recipe:

“LIKE A CINNAMON ROLL” CAKE
And it doesn’t even have to be warm to enjoy its wonderful tastes.  Whip up your favorite cream cheese icing (thinned a bit with milk or liquid coffee creamer) if wicked rich topping is your thing.

Cinnamon Swirl Paste:
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (bought from Costco)

Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons buttermilk powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk (if using 1 1/2 cups liquid buttermilk, omit buttermilk powder)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, melted

Topping/Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
enough milk or liquid coffee creamer to thin glaze (a teaspoon at a time)
1/8 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease (pam spray), line bottom with parchment paper and grease again a 9 x 13 baking pan; set aside.

Mix together cinnamon paste ingredients in a medium bowl using a fork.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients to aerate: flour, sugar, buttermilk powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.   Add eggs and vanilla to whole milk, whisk together in a liquid measuring cup and add to flour mixture.  Beat well to combine using an electric mixer.  Slowly stir in melted margarine and mix until smooth.  Pour into the prepared pan.   Gently drop cinnamon swirl paste evenly over the batter and swirl (or make some circular movements all over top of cake batter) using the fork used to make the paste.   Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan in wire rack.

Mix glaze ingredients in a small bowl and drizzle over the cake (I do circular patterns again).   Let glaze set before cutting into squares.

Charming cake with personality and famous name…you’ll love it!

Read more at Celebr-eat-y By Sarah Lee