My famous Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake, Featured on TODAY Show and Rachael Ray, is a moist sour cream pound cake with a buttery cinnamon swirl dancing through the inside that’s finished with a decadent cream cheese icing. Featured in my cookbook Grandbaby Cakes, it is to die for! If you love this cake, you will also love this Big Mama’s Sour Cream Cake, HoneyBun Cake, Sock It To Me Cake, and these Cinnamon Roll Biscuits.
I adore cinnamon rolls. Seriously who doesn’t? As I type this, I am imagining one now with its soft chewy dough filled with a buttery cinnamon swirl and topped with that pillow of glaze that takes this gooey treat over the top. Sounds great right? (Sorry if you are now craving cinnamon rolls but at least I have this cinnamon roll pound cake now).
HOW TO MAKE CINNAMON ROLL POUND CAKE
This cinnamon roll pound cake has three distinct components that work together flawlessly.
- Sour Cream Pound Cake Batter
- Cinnamon Swirl
- Cream Cheese Frosting
For the Sour Cream Pound Cake,
it begins with a standard creaming period of butter (room temperature of course) and sugar.
The ingredient that really changes the texture and moistness of this cake is the sour cream. I love adding it to cake batters because of the flavor richness and tanginess as well. My big mama made this cake all of the time because it just “works”. Each bite is super tender and buttery with that hint of sour cream.
The Cinnamon Swirl is the fun component of this cake!
It is a thick buttery and brown sugar based mixture that is hefty enough to stand up in the thick batter of the cake. The addition of the flour helps with that so it retains its rightful and important place in this cake. You can swirl this part with a skewer or cake knife. Totally up to you! If you have your kids involved, make sure to use a skewer for safety. Like this Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread, it is so much fun!
And Finally the Cream Cheese Glaze!
With a bit of cream cheese and powdered sugar, we create a thick yet pourable mixture that is very famous for melting over cinnamon rolls.
TIPS FOR HOW TO BAKE A CINNAMON POUND CAKE
To ensure that you create a perfect crumb and absolutely velvety texture for this cake, here are a few baking tips.
- REMEMBER: always make sure your butter and ingredients like your eggs and sour cream are at room temperature.
- Don’t rush the creaming period! We need to add additional air and lift to this cake so taking your time with mixing that butter and sugar at the beginning of your baking process will assist with this.
- Don’t overmix! Particulaly when adding your dry ingredinets. Cake flour is important for slowing down the gluten production as well which we don’t want to overact. Don’t have any? Make your own cake flour.
When to Serve Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake
Yep this recipe definitely made me proud. It is perfect for breakfast, brunch or even after dinner.
And its perfect for a work snack. I am rationalizing as I eat another slice and finish this post.
I also love serving this cake for holidays. Anything brunchy like an Easter or Mother’s Celebration make this cake absolutely perfect. And don’t forget Sunday Suppers!
Storing This Pound Cake
Because this cake has a cream cheese glaze, if you opt to pour over the entire cake, you must store in the refrigerator.
If you decide to keep the glaze on the side and just serve with slices, the cake itself can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container.
Either way, the cake should stay fresh for about 3-4 days. If you want to keep it longer than that, I suggest freezing slices that are wrapped super tight in plastic wrap not allowing any space for air to enter.
If you want more pound cake recipes, click HERE
Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup sour cream room temperature
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the Cinnamon Swirl
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted (5 tbsp plus 1 tsp)
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Icing
- 2 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1/4 cup milk can be whole, 2% or even refrigerated coconut milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Liberally prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan with the nonstick method of your choice. (I recommend the shortening and flour method to make sure this cake doesn’t stick as the swirl sugar mixture can sometimes sink a little to the bottom).
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on high speed. Slowly add the granulated sugar. Cream together for an additional 5 minutes, until very pale yellow and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed and slowly add the flour in 2 batches. Add the salt and baking soda. Be careful not to overbeat. Add the sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix the batter until just combined. Be careful not to overmix. Set the batter aside.
For the Cinnamon Swirl
- In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients until well combined. Set aside.
To Bake
- Pour ⅓ of the batter into the prepared pan.
- Drizzle ½ of the cinnamon swirl over the batter. Using a butter knife or skewer, swivel the mixture through the cake batter, creating a flourish pattern.
- Repeat with the rest of the cake batter and cinnamon swirl. Top with the remaining batter. Bake for 85 to 95 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Let cool to room temperature. Lightly cover the cake with foil or plastic wrap so it does not dry out.
For the Icing
- Clean your stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment. Beat the cream cheese and butter for 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
- Reduce your mixer speed and carefully add the confectioners’ sugar in 2 batches, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once the sugar is fully incorporated, turn your mixer back up to medium-high speed. Add the milk and vanilla extract and beat until the icing is smooth and pourable.
- Drizzle the icing over the cooled pound cake. Serve at room temperature.
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Tasty and beautiful, but there is one problem. The swirl is thin and greasy looking, not thick like yours in the video. This thin swirl ends up cooking into the batter to a large degree so that it is barely visible. The tasty is there, but no pretty swirl. Are the ingredients for the swirl listed correctly here?
Uh,Oh my husband of 36 years loves pound cake and cinnamon rolls, this will be the” piece de resistance” in my cake arsenal!
I love all of your recipes and constantly get requests for your pineapple rum cake. It is beautiful and delicious. My group is always wanting cinnamon roll cake so I knew yours would be a great one too. I made it this morning and the office lined up for it. I can always tell how good it is by how long it takes to go away. It was about 10 minutes and not been a crumb remained. It was wonderful. I love the smiles on the faces of your beautiful family. Thank you for all the great recipes!
Can I mix the batter without using a mixer but with a spatula itself?
I would not recommend this. You need the mixer. Do you have a hand mixer?
This cake was a HIT in my home. The kids and grands all told me I have to add The Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake to the rotation. I have tried many of your recipes and they all turn out absolutely fantastic and delicious!!! Thankyou ever so much!! Also I am a person that still loves to hold a book in my hands…please may I request you print your e-cookbooks in paper form.. I already have your first cake cookbook. It’d be nice to add to my collection.
This cake is so delicious – one I will make many more times. One question though – I first baked it with the recipe from your book. The recipe here has different amounts of brown sugar (book-2/3c) and baking soda (book-1/2tsp). Which quantities should I use?
This cake is amazing. So so good!!! Last year I made it for Christmas. We had other pies and cakes from a bakery and they were hardly eaten. This cake was gone.
Thank you so much!
Cake smells and taste good. I made this twice and the swirl is too thin. I used 1T flour the first time and 2T the second time and it was still thin. This calls for the cake not to be inflated. Did anyone else have this problem?
Can this recipe be cut in half? If so, in what type of pan, temperature and time?
I can’t wait to try it in a smaller version>
It would be the same temperature and I would start by cutting the baking time in half.