The soft and fluffy, brown sugar and cinnamon filled rolls that you know and love - made bigger and better, served and sliced like a cake, topped with a thick maple and cream cheese frosting. This is the exact same recipe and method for creating regular cinnamon rolls, but instead of rolling the strips of dough up into individual ones you continue to roll them around each other to form a giant cinnamon roll, baked in a cake tin. It's perfect for special occasions.
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If you're new to cinnamon rolls and making them feels daunting, I've created a step-by-step video cookalong on MENUÂ to help, packed with tips and tricks - it's our most viewed video!
Time to prep : 30 minutes (2.5 hours inc. rise times)
Time to bake : 20 - 25 minutes
Servings : 12
Ingredients
Cinnamon dough
220ml milk
1 tbsp instant yeast
90g granulated sugar
550g strong white bread flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
80g butter, melted
Cinnamon sugar filling
90g butter, softened
180g light brown sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
Maple cream cheese frosting
120g cream cheese
3 tbsp butter, softened
80g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
6 tbsp maple syrup
Method
Dough
Put the flour, yeast and cinnamon into a large bowl, stir to mix. In a seperate bowl, combine the granulated sugar, milk vanilla, eggs, salt and melted butter and then pour this into the bowl of flour. Mix with a spoon until a dough forms.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 12+ minutes until a smooth dough is formed and the dough is no longer sticky (or use a standing mixer with a dough hook attachment on speed 2 for 8 - 10 minutes). Transfer this dough to a clean and lightly oiled bowl, then cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour to rise, until nearly doubled in size. Meanwhile, grease and line an 8" cake tin.
Dough shaping
After the first rise, tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and without disturbing it too much, roll and stretch it out into a large rectangle, about 40cm x 60cm. Spread the softened butter all over the dough rectangle using clean hands. Mix the brown sugar and the cinnamon together and sprinkle this on top of the butter, using your fingers to press it into the butter.
Cut the rectangle into 6 strips, lengthways. Roll one strip of dough up tightly to form a single cinnamon roll. Then, place this on another strip of dough and roll it tightly around, creating a larger cinnamon roll. Continue wrapping all of the strips around to create a giant cinnamon roll.
Place the roll in your prepared cake tin, cover tightly with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for another 1 hour and pre-heat your oven to 180ºC.
Baking and frosting
Remove the cling film and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden around the edges and the dough is firm to touch. Remover from the oven and allow it to slightly cool whilst you make the frosting.
To make the cream cheese frosting, use an electric whisk to beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth, then add in the icing sugar, salt, vanilla and maple syrup. Mix until combined.
Once the giant cinnamon roll has cooled enough to touch, move it to a cooling rack and whilst still warm, spread over the cream cheese frosting before slicing to serve.
Good to know:
If you're making these ahead, after you've filled and rolled the giant cinnamon roll, cover the cake tin in clingfilm and keep in the fridge overnight or for up to 24 hours. Remove from the fridge for 1 hour and allow to come to room temperature before baking.
Can be frozen at this stage (above) or after baking, before frosting for up to 3 months.