Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

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Sep 08, 2014, Updated Apr 16, 2024

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This cinnamon roll coffee cake is a soft and fluffy bundt cake swirled with sweet cinnamon sugar in every bite. Don’t even get me started on that creamy cream cheese icing. Enjoy two delicious breakfast treats in one!

Overhead view of a cinnamon roll coffee cake covered with icing and cut into slices on a cake stand.

How do I begin to describe a cinnamon roll coffee cake? Moist. Cozy. Your morning cortado’s soon-to-be BFF. This coffee cake has the softest buttery crumb, baked in a bundt pan and swirled with ribbons of cinnamon sugar. Drizzled with silky vanilla frosting? Literal chills. It’s so good that you’ll want to bake one every weekend. And it’s so easy, you just might!

Why You’ll Love This Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake Recipe

Tender and fluffy. All it takes is a few easy ingredients to get the perfect coffee cake texture that’s a little crumbly, yet oh-so-soft and moist at the same time.
Quicker than actual cinnamon rolls. It’s hard to resist traditional cinnamon rolls, but let’s be real. They’re a labor of love. This coffee cake version has all the cinnamon roll flavors you love, and it’s ready for the oven in 10 minutes.
Cinnamon swirled. Something about mashing up a coffee cake with a cinnamon roll just works. Ribbons of caramelized cinnamon sugar fill this cake with irresistible sweetness in every bite.
Brunch-ready. If you’re brunching for a special occasion, why not make a cinnamon roll coffee cake? Whether it’s Mother’s Day or Easter, this EASY alternative to yeasted cinnamon rolls has you covered.

A slice of cinnamon roll coffee cake on a white plate next to a fork, with a second slice on a plate in the background.

Ingredients You’ll Need

This cinnamon roll coffee cake has the same ingredients as a classic coffee cake, with a few cinnamon roll-inspired twists. Check out my notes below. Scroll to the recipe card for a printable list of ingredients.

Dry Ingredients – All-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Sugar – I like to use a combination of white sugar and brown sugar. Brown sugar adds extra moisture to the crumb.
Cinnamon – You’ll need ground cinnamon for the cake itself and the cinnamon sugar swirl. You can play around with other spices, too, like nutmeg, cardamom, or pumpkin pie spice.
Butter – I suggest baking with unsalted butter. Take the butter out ahead of time so that it softens to room temperature.
Eggs and Vanilla – For the most natural flavor, always choose real vanilla extract.
Sour Cream – A must for coffee cake recipes! You can substitute sour cream with plain yogurt (like my blueberry coffee cake recipe). Greek yogurt is another good choice.
Milk – This can be whole milk, 2% milk, or any kind that you prefer.
Cinnamon Sugar – You’ll use some of your granulated sugar and brown sugar, and combine it with cinnamon for the crunchy cinnamon swirl filling.
Icing – I make a simple cream cheese icing from softened cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and a little milk. Use the cream cheese that comes in blocks.

How to Make Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

This cinnamon roll coffee cake is an easy treat that you can make without upending the kitchen. Follow the steps below, and scroll down to the recipe card for printable instructions.

Mix the dry ingredients. First, whisk together the dry ingredients, and beat in the butter. The mixture will look a bit crumbly.
Mix wet ingredients. Next, whisk the eggs with vanilla, sour cream, and milk.
Combine. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and fold everything together until you have a light, fluffy batter.
Make the cinnamon filling. In a separate bowl, stir together the ingredients for your cinnamon sugar swirl.
Fill the pan. Start by adding half of the cake batter to a greased and floured bundt pan. Sprinkle the filling over the batter and swirl it with a knife. Pour the rest of the batter over top, and swirl again.
Bake. Bake the coffee cake at 350ºF for 50-55 minutes. Do your best to not overbake. Once the cake is out of the oven, let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes before inverting it onto a wire rack.
Add the icing. Meanwhile, whisk up your cream cheese icing ingredients. Drizzle the icing all over the cake while it’s still warm. Give the cake a final sprinkle of cinnamon, and get slicing!

Cinnamon roll coffee cake covered with icing and cut into slices on a cake stand.

Tips and Variations

Grease and flour the pan. The trick to baking with bundt pans is to grease and lightly flour the pan before you add the batter.
Don’t let the cake cool completely in the pan. Trick #2 to getting your bundt cake out of the pan is to invert the cake before it’s cooled completely. Release the cake from the pan after 5-10 minutes. Don’t wait too long, otherwise it might get stuck.
Loosen the edges. Before inverting the bundt cake, use a butter knife to gently release the edges of the cake from the pan.
Adjust the icing consistency. If your cream cheese frosting is too thick, add an extra tablespoon of milk at a time to thin it out. If it’s too runny, add more powdered sugar to get it to the right consistency.
Add chocolate. Fold about ¼-½ cup of chocolate chips into the batter for a chocolate chip cinnamon roll cake.
Add nuts. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the cinnamon sugar filling for extra crunch.

What to Serve With Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

In my mind, any cake with “coffee” in the title immediately means it’s fair game for breakfast. So, enjoy this cinnamon roll coffee cake as a sweet treat with your morning cup of coffee or tea. I love serving slices with a cinnamon dolce latte or pumpkin spice latte. A creamy London Fog is also delicious. If you have cake left for dessert, try drizzling your slices with caramel sauce and serving them warm with a scoop of blender ice cream.

A slice of cinnamon roll coffee cake on a white plate next to a fork.

How to Store

To Store. Store leftover coffee cake in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days. You can also keep this cake in the fridge, but it’s best to take it out and serve it at room temperature.
Freeze. Wrap the cinnamon roll coffee cake whole or in slices in a double layer of plastic wrap. Freeze the cake for up to 3 months and defrost it in the fridge or at room temperature.

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Yum! I tried this last night and with the cake still hot, I poured the frosting over and promptly cut myself a piece. The sugar caramelized and tasted wonderful and crunchy. I made 1/2 of the recipe and it fit into a loaf pan, and I replaced the sour cream with Dannon yogurt (the kids one, where they come in the little bottles and are strawberry-banana flavored) since I didn’t have anything else.