Funfetti Cinnamon Rolls

Light and fluffy, but gooey in all the right places, these Funfetti Cinnamon Rolls can be oven-ready in under an hour and are sure to hit your sweet spot.

Being home-schooled for my whole pre-college life had many perks.  My favorite (aside from having at least one dog in the “classroom” at all times) was that my siblings and I always had the day off on our birthdays.

While we weren’t (usually) granted snow days, election days, or teacher’s conference days off, each of our birthdays was regarded as a mini holiday and called for the day off for the whole school.  Being one of six, this meant 5 scattered “holidays” throughout the year (my only brother had the nerve to be born during the summer, which did nothing for us).

Today is my birthday, and now that I’m older (26 today… officially closer to 30 than 20… *gulp*) my day job doesn’t actually recognize my birthday as a holiday, and so I have to find other ways to commemorate the occasion.

Zach baked me a cake from scratch (which is a huge deal and I can’t wait to see how it turned out tonight!), but I thought I’d start off the morning with something festive, as well.

Something festive and colorfully sprinkled… something like these cheerful cake batter/Funfetti Cinnamon Rolls.

Since I consider myself to be a novice when it comes to yeast-made baked goods and lack all confidence when baking with it, I adapted this recipe from a lovely one that I knew worked well from over at Gimme Some Oven.

These cinnamon rolls turned out beautifully; light, fluffy, and buttery on the inside, filled with sweet, cinnamon and sugar (and, of course, sprinkles) and with a distinct cake batter flavor.  I know that some people would rather not use cake mix in their from-scratch goods (I’m usually one of those people), but I find that nothing else quite gives that desirable cake batter taste quite like boxed cake mix, and so I’ve incorporated it both into the actual rolls as well as into the frosting.

The frosting recipe makes just a bit more than you realistically need for 12 cinnamon rolls (or not, I don’t judge), but I use both butter and cream cheese to keep the frosting from being too sweet over the already sweet rolls.

Light & fluffy, sticky and sweet, tons of sprinkles and frosting… happy birthday to me!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have!

5 from 2 votes

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Funfetti Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

Servings 12 rolls

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 packet instant yeast about 2 1/4 tsp
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups Funfetti cake mix or white cake mix plus 1-2 Tbsp colored sprinkles
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg lightly beaten.

Filling

• 1/4 cup salted butter softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp colored sprinkles optional

Frosting

• 3 Tbsp salted butter softened
• 3 oz cream cheese softened
• 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp Funfetti cake mix or white cake mix + sprinkles
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 Tbsp milk

Instructions

1. Prepare a 9" pie pan by greasing with butter. Set aside.
2. In small saucepan, heat milk and butter over medium-low heat until butter is completely melted.
3. Remove from heat and set aside, cooling the mixture until it is warm to the touch and not too hot.
4. Fix your KitchenAid with the dough hook attachment and transfer the butter/milk mixture to the bowl of the KitchenAid. Add yeast, stir well, and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, cake mix, sugar and salt.
6. With mixer on medium-low speed, gradually add flour mixture and egg to butter mixture.
7. Increase speed to medium-high and stir for 5-7 minutes to knead. Dough should cling to itself and form a cohesive mass (if dough is too sticky, add additional flour, 1 Tbsp at a time, until it is manageable and does not stick to your hands).
8. Cover and place in a warm place for 15 minutes to rise.
9. Meanwhile, whisk together 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and sprinkles in small bowl.
10. Once dough has risen, transfer to a lightly floured surface and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out into an even rectangle about 1/4" thick (about 14x9 rectangle)
11. Spread the 1/4 cup butter evenly over the rectangle of dough (if it is too difficult to spread, microwave for about 5-10 seconds so that it spreads easily).
12. Evenly sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the butter.
13. Starting from a longer end of the rectangle, tightly roll up the dough, pinching the end to make a seam.
14. Cut off about 1" of each end of the roll to create even cinnamon rolls and discard the ends. Cut the remaining roll into 12 even pieces and place into the prepared pie pan (the rolls should be touching one another).
15. Cover with a dish towel and allow to rise for 25-30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 350F.
16. Bake 15-19 minutes (until edges begin to turn golden-brown).

Frosting

1. While the rolls are baking, prepare your frosting by beating together butter and cream cheese.
2. Add powdered sugar and cake mix gradually until combined.
3. Stir in vanilla extract and then milk (start with 2 Tbsp, and then add another if it is still too thick).
4. Once rolls have finished baking, allow to cool 5 minutes before icing and sprinkling with additional sprinkles, if desired.

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Easy (No Yeast!) Cinnamon Rolls

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