This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe skips the yeast and rising time for a fast, easy bake. Finish it with a quick cream cheese glaze and serve warm.
The Best Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Cinnamon rolls are an iconic dessert, but they can be time-consuming. Waiting for the dough to rise twice, plus making the dough, filling, and glaze—it’s a lot.
While I spent months perfecting my Easy Cinnamon Roll Recipe (with no kneading, no mixer, and the quickest dough prep possible), it still takes a fair amount of time to get from start to cinnamon rolls on the table.
That’s why this Cinnamon Roll Cake recipe is the best:
- All the flavors you love from cinnamon rolls.
- No kneading, no rising, no mixer needed. We don’t even make the dough, thanks to a shortcut ingredient!
- This cake can be on the table in about 30 minutes. Seriously! The prep and bake time are both quick.
- It’s fun! This cake is a blast to assemble and even more fun to eat (obviously!).
The “Short-Cut”
So how do we finish this cake so quickly? With refrigerated buttermilk biscuits!
The biscuits are the perfect substitute for cinnamon roll dough, and no one will know you used a store-bought shortcut because this cake is just that good!
I like to grab a 4-pack of buttermilk biscuits to make either one large cinnamon roll cake or a couple of smaller ones. If there are leftovers, I use them for a breakfast favorite; Biscuits and Gravy!
Featured Comment
“Holy Cow!! This was DELICIOUS!!!! My family rated it a 20+ out of 10! Fantastic…and so easy. I don’t have a skillet, so just used an 8″ cake pan, and it worked perfectly. THANK YOU for the awesome recipe!”
– Kara
How To Make This Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
The full recipe is on the recipe card, but here’s a quick overview:
- Flatten each biscuit as thin as possible using a rolling pin or your hands.
- Dip the biscuit in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar.
- Roll the coated biscuit tightly into a cylinder and place it on the outer edge of the skillet or pie pan.
- Continue placing the biscuits in a spiral, seam side down, until they reach the center.
- While the Cinnamon Roll Cake bakes, whip up the glaze to spread over the warm cake!
What Pan To Use
This recipe is very forgiving. As long as you have plenty of butter, sugar, cinnamon, and biscuits, you can make the cake as big or small as you like.
I often make this cake in a small 6 to 8-inch cast iron skillet, but if I’m feeding others or feeling extra hungry, I use a 9-inch pie pan.
The bigger the pan, the longer the preparation takes, but you’ll be impressed by how quickly it comes together once the assembly line is set up.
Cinnamon Roll Cake Glaze Tips
- Set out the butter and cream cheese an hour before baking to reach room temperature. If they’re cold, the glaze may have unpleasant cream cheese chunks. To speed this up, try these quick methods for bringing butter and cream cheese to room temp.
- Salt and vanilla extract add essential flavor to the glaze. Even small amounts make a big difference!
- Slowly add powdered sugar to taste. More sugar makes the glaze sweeter and firmer; less keeps it tangier and softer. Adjust to your preference for this Cinnamon Roll Cake!
Storage
Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe Storage
This cake is best enjoyed the same day it’s made, especially while warm. Like most homemade cinnamon rolls, this is particularly true with this cake because we’re using biscuits. The biscuits will harden and lose flavor the longer the cake sits out.
More Cinnamon Roll Favorites:
Desserts
Cinnamon Roll Cookie Recipe
Desserts
Cinnamon Roll Popcorn
Desserts
Cinnamon Roll Cheesecakes
Breakfast
Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Video
Equipment
- Pie pan or cake pan or skillet—really any size works! see note 1
Ingredients
- 2 7.5-ounce packages buttermilk biscuits see note 1
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened see note 1
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk I use whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Prepare Pan: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a pie pan, cake pan, or skillet with cooking spray.
- Flatten Biscuits: Remove biscuits from packaging. Flatten each with a rolling pin or your hands.
- Coat Biscuits: Dip each biscuit in melted butter, shake off excess, then coat in cinnamon sugar. Shake off excess again (see Note 2).
- Assemble Cake: Roll biscuits tightly and arrange in a spiral pattern in the prepared pan, starting at the outside edge and working inward.
- Bake: Bake for 20–25 minutes, adjusting for pan size. If edges brown too quickly, tent with foil.
- Make Glaze: Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Glaze Cake: Let cake cool 5–7 minutes. Spoon glaze over warm cake, letting it drip into crevices. Add more glaze once cooled slightly, if desired. Slice and serve warm.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are a dream Chelsea! Perfect for crazy morning before church when I’m craving cinnamon rolls, but literally have no time to make them. On my list to make.
Thank you Nicole!! Definitely perfect for those cravings when there isn’t enough time to make real cinnamon rolls!
Oh. My. Gosh. These look so incredible. Seriously, only 3 in 4 days? Weak! 😉 I want to reach through the screen and eat these right now. But instead, I guess I’ll just have to settle on pinning then and making them right away. 🙂 Hope your week is going well, sweet girl!
PS Loving the photos! So simple and elegant!
Haha! Totally weak right?! Haha thanks for the pin Erin and your sweet comments! 🙂 I hope your week is going well too and the marathon training! (PS doesn’t that just totally consume your life training for a marathon?!)
Definitely a bold statement, but I really think you might have reinvented cinnamon rolls! These look amazing, and I can’t get over how easy this is. Such a great idea! Pinning! Do you use a seperate cast iron skillet for baking and cooking? I usually use mine for cooking meat, so I feel like it is kind of seasoned with savory flavors! Not delicious for cinnamon rolls…
Thank you so much Cate! Oh yeah, savory seasoned sugary cinnamon rolls do not sound too great haha! I have a large 12 inch skillet that I use for cooking meat and savory meals and then a small 8 inch skillet for desserts!
OMG. You’re a GENIUS. Holy cow. You did reinvent the cinnamon roll. I need a skillet, STAT.
Thank you so much Dorothy! 🙂
Just came across these, I have everything in the house to make right now, except I don’t own a cast iron skillet! Look great!!
OMG this looks to DIE for!! I wish I had one right now…and I love how easy it is!! 🙂 Thank you for the recipe! Marti
ps….pinned!!
You are so sweet, thanks Marti! And thanks for the pin!
This looks and sounds amazing! I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off it 🙂
Thanks Megan!
Pinned to the skillet board! Really enjoying my skillet right now. I just love the simplicity in these that doesn’t lack flavor. Have a great day Chelsea!
Thanks for the pin Melanie! Aren’t skillets the best?!
So funny..I’m totally in the process of developing cinnamon rolls. They are just always a winner!
But, easy and no yeast and in a skillet cake? Yea…you may have just reinvented them. Love this!
Totally agree – cinnamon rolls always win! Thanks Taylor!
These are my favvvoorriitteeee! One thing I’ve noticed, the outside of the buns always cook faster than the inside of the bun, which is a pain! Any suggestions for how to stop that? Besides that, this receipe is one of my all time favs. Thank you!
So happy to hear this is one of your favorites Katie! 🙂 I would try adding a tin foil tent to just the outside buns for about 5 minutes (after initial baking time) and that should help the inside cook without the outside being overdone.
Would I be able to make these in 4 mini bundt cake pans instead of one big skillet pan?
I’ve never tried making these in mini bundt pans, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. The bake time will likely be different so just keep an eye on them 🙂
Creative Chelsea! Love what you did with the biscuits! Easy and fast to make in the morning…because we all know homemade cinnamon rolls can be a drag sometimes 😉 Thank you!
They can definitely be a drag! Thank you Kellly!
I adore cinnamon rolls, but who has time to wait for them to rise in the morning?! Not I. But this cake is a thing of genius.
Haha everything you write is always hilarious! Love it!