This soft, melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon roll cake has a gooey brown sugar cinnamon swirl--just like the real thing! Skip the rising and rolling and make this quick and easy breakfast cake in less than an hour. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9x13” (23x33cm) metal baking dish (see note if using glass dish).
In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together softened cream cheese, softened butter, and sugars until creamy and completely combined.
8 oz cream cheese, ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar
Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir until completely combined.
2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt.
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, ¾ teaspoon table salt
Add about a third of the flour mixture and stir (by hand or with mixer on low-speed) until mostly combined. Then add half of the milk and stir until mostly combined. Repeat until all of the flour and milk have been added and batter is smooth and completely combined.
½ cup whole milk
Spread batter evenly into prepared baking pan and set aside.
Cinnamon Swirl
Combine melted (but not too hot) butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and stir together until smooth. Dollop mixture over the surface of your batter and use a knife to swirl throughout the surface of the batter.
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, ½ cup light or dark brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Transfer to 350F (175C) oven and bake for 28-32 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes back clean or with moist crumbs (not wet batter!). Avoid testing directly in the swirl.
While cake cools, prepare vanilla glaze. Note that as the cake cools, the ripple layer will sink into the cake causing brown sugar crevices, this is totally normal and expected!
Glaze
Whisk together powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of milk, and vanilla extract, adding additional milk as needed until mixture is smooth and drizzles off the whisk in a ribbon.
Drizzle over warm cake. You can allow the cake to cool completely and the icing to set or you can serve still warm (it will just be a bit messier this way!).
Video
Notes
Baking dish
Note that this recipe can also be made in a glass baking dish but will simply take longer to bake. I’ve found it typically takes about 3-5 minutes longer, but watch yours as the time may vary.