Category Archives: Bars & Squares

Cinnamon Roll Cake {Recipe}

Bars & Squares, Cakes

Cinnamon Roll Cake | Lil Miss Cakes

Update 9/2/2016: After making my insanely popular chocolate meltaway cake (based on this original version) I have increased the eggs in the recipe from 1 to 2. It makes the cake a bit fluffier and less dense.

It’s been a while since I have shared a recipe with you, but I’m back with a bang. This cinnamon roll cake is amazing! It has all the flavor of a cinnamon roll without all the hassle. This recipe has no yeast; just mix, spread, dollop, swirl, and bake. The cake is sweet and the texture is the perfect balance of dense and light. It’s dairy free-but nobody will believe you.Cinnamon Roll Cake Slice | Lil Miss Cakes

This recipe is well tested, I made it a few times to make sure it was just right. The first two times I baked this cake, I didn’t even bother to add the icing and we ate just like that. It was simply delicious. The icing is definitely optional, but it does take the deliciousness up a notch.Cinnamon Roll Cake Overhead | Lil Miss Cakes

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Cinnamon Roll Cake {Recipe}
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Prep time: 
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Total time: 
 
Ingredients
Cake Batter
  • 1½ cups flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1½ tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup dairy-free sour cream or unsweetened applesauce
  • ¼ cup soy milk
  • ¼ cup oil
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Cinnamon Topping
  • ¼ cup margarine, melted
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
Vanilla Icing
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3-5 Tbs. water
  • ¼ tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Line an 8x8 inch square or round baking pan with parchment paper or grease with baking spray, set aside.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix to combine.
  4. Add in the egg, sour cream, soy milk, oil, and vanilla and mix on low until smooth and combined.
  5. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread out evenly.
  6. In a heatproof bowl melt the margarine. Mix in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Once combined dollop the cinnamon sugar mix over the prepared batter. Swirl the batter with a knife to combine.
  7. Bake for about 30-40 minutes. The batter will puff up and turn golden brown, but the sugar will be a bit jiggly. It will firm up as it cools. Cool completely before adding the icing.
  8. To prepare the icing, mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla and a bit of water at a time until it is smooth. I like my icing thick but you can also add enough water to make a thin glaze. Drizzle icing over the cake and enjoy!

Blondies

Bars & Squares

If you have never had a blondie, you are missing out. They are soft and chewy, like a brownie, but have the same flavor as a classic chocolate chip cookie. I don’t know anyone who can turn down a good chocolate chip cookie. Best of all, these are super easy to make.

BlondiesSet your oven to 350 degrees…

350 degreesCheck.

Make sure your baby is napping…

NaptimeCheck.

Now for the fun. Carefully melt margarine and shortening. I used the microwave but you can also do this in a small pot on the stove.

margarine and shorteningall meltedMix up the melted margarine and shortening with one pound aka one box of brown sugar.

one poundI had a 2 pound bag of brown sugar so I pulled out my handy dandy kitchen scale to get the precise measurement.

Then mix in the eggs and corn syrup (I removed this from my recipe, I didn’t like how it reacted). Once that is mixed in, add in the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Vanilla extract and butter flavoring are the last to join the party.

sugar, eggs, corn syrupdry ingredientsMix well, you don’t want any lumps. For some reason when I was making these I decided not to use my stand mixer. I was too lazy to take it out and figured it wouldn’t be such a big deal to mix by hand. Huge mistake! This batter is pretty thick; I highly recommend using an electric mixer.

flavoring

Next line a half sheet pan or jelly roll pan with parchment paper and spread the batter as evenly as you can.

spreading the batterOnce the batter is spread out, sprinkle on the whole bag of chocolate chips and gently press them in. Then the pan goes into the oven for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.

baked blondiesYummmmmm.

I used a round cutter to cut the blondies out into perfect circles.

perfect blondiesThis is originally my moms recipe but I tweaked it a bit. Here’s my version:

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Blondies
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup shortening
  • ½ cup margarine
  • 1 pound (1 box) light brown sugar
  • 3 Tbs. hot water
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1½ tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. butter flavor (optional)
  • 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Line a half sheet pan or jelly roll pan (13x18 inch) with parchment paper.
  3. In a small saucepan melt the shortening, margarine, and sugar.
  4. Add in the water and stir to combine. Allow to cool.
  5. Pour the cooled mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
  6. Add in the eggs and mix to combine.
  7. Then add in the dry ingredients and flavorings.
  8. Spread the batter evenly in the parchment lined pan.
  9. Sprinkle the chips on top and gently press them into the batter.
  10. Bake for 15-20 minutes until light brown. Do not bake too long or the blondies will be dry.
  11. Cool and cut into squares.