Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

This lovely, just sweet enough Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake is for National Cake Day; my second to the last installment in the Celebrating Food series this year.

My 14 year old is a creative young man who loves to cook. It’s pretty nice to have a willing helper in the kitchen, and he’s always ready to help when I need to come up with a concept for a new recipe. Such was the case when I was considering what to make for National Cake Day. I’m not a huge fan of cake (I know. I’m a weirdo.) so I thought I might do cinnamon rolls in cake form. I mentioned it to my son and he said, “Why don’t you make cinnamon rolls in a Bundt cake pan and then drizzle a real coffee glaze over it? Then it’s a real coffee coffee cake.”

He’s a handy guy to have around folks.

I took his idea and ran with it. I used The Pioneer Woman’s classic Cinnamon Roll dough as the base and filled it with butter and sugar that was mixed with cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg; to me, the absolute ne plus ultra of any spice mixtures that exist for sweet rolls. The rolls, after being sliced, were arranged in a Bundt pan and baked to tender perfection then turned out and covered generously with an espresso sweet glaze. We tried slicing it, which worked fine, but found we really enjoyed pulling it apart with our hands. Messy? You bet. Delicious? Beyond! This is a cake I can happily get behind.

Cook’s Notes

• I like to use my dough whisk to mix the dough for these rolls. It’s designed for the job and does it quite efficiently. That said, it’s not strictly necessary. You can use any sturdy, long handled spoon if you prefer.
• It’s not a typo that the recipe specifies yeast AND baking soda AND baking powder. I’m not quite sure how it does it, but this is the most easy to handle cinnamon roll dough ever. Thank you, Pioneer Woman!
• You want to roll the dough around the butter and sugar mixture tightly enough for it to hold together easily, but not so tightly that you are tearing or smashing the dough. It’s okay if some sugar spills out of the ends.
• Use a sharp knife to cut your dough into rounds.
• Don’t overpack your pan. You want to give the bread dough room to expand before and during baking. Packing the dough in there will increase the likelihood of both spillover of “boiling” sugar and undercooking at the center of the cake. If you have your pan about 2/3 filled with dough and find you still have dough rounds left, you can bake them in a separate loaf pan.
• Be sure to grease your bundt pan generously, particularly if it is full of interesting angles like the one I used here. That makes removal a breeze.
• Do glaze the cake while it’s still warm but not while it’s hot. The warmth helps your glaze to slide into all the nooks and crannies.
• The texture is at its best when it is room temperature, but stronger humans than me have failed to wait quite that long. Try your best to let the cake set up for at least 30 minutes before digging into it.

Prep Tips {Use these to make Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake more easily}

• Bundt Pan
• Mixing Bowl or Dough Bucket
• Dough Whisk
• Espresso Powder

Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

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Rebecca Lindamood

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This tender, just-sweet-enough coffee cake is the happy marriage of cinnamon rolls and cake.

Ingredients

  

For the Cinnamon Roll Dough

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 2 cups all purpose flour 4 1/2 ounces by weight
• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 8 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the Glaze:

• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• a pinch kosher salt

Instructions

 

• Stir the milk, oil, and 1/4 cup of the sugar together in a 2 quart, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Just before it boils, move the pan to a cold burner and let it cool to body temperature. Pour it into a mixing bowl or dough bucket and sprinkle the yeast over it. Set aside for 5 minutes.
  

  In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Pour it into the milk mixture and stir well until evenly combined. Cover lightly and set aside for an hour. Refrigerate for a couple of hours but up to 3 days before proceeding.

To Form the Rolls:

• Whisk together the remaining sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg in a small bowl. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a 10-inch by 18-inch rectangle. Brush with the melted butter, leaving a 1-inch strip along the top un-buttered. Sprinkle the sugar spice mixture over the butter. Roll up like a log, gently pinching the seam together and turning the log seam side down. Cut into 18 slices, 1-inch thick each.
  

  Generously grease a Bundt pan and lay cinnamon rolls over the base of the pan- this should use four or so rounds. Arrange the remaining cinnamon roll dough rounds up the inside edges of the pan. Gently cover with a clean tea towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for an hour or so, until it is puffy.
  

  Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake the cake for 25-35 minutes, or until the dough is set, golden brown around the edges, and has an internal temperature of 190°F.
  

  Let the cake rest in the pan for 5 minutes. While it sets, whisk together the glaze ingredients until even in colour. It should be quite thick but pourable. Turn the cake out onto a platter. Drizzle the glaze over the still warm cake. Let cool  to room temperature and slice or pull apart into rolls.

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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