Birthday cake for breakfast? Yes, this is real life.
Picture it. It’s the weekend. You have awoken feeling like you are awesome and clearly deserving of an awesome breakfast or brunch. I have got you covered. These vegan birthday cake cinnamon rolls are here to give you everything you deserve. They are incredibly easy, don’t be intimidated. They are pretty fool proof and ready in no time. So you can treat yo’ self!
My version of cinnamon rolls was obviously never going to be just regular old cinnamon rolls. There is nothing I find more satisfying than adding sprinkles to recipes, so…… In these vegan birthday cake cinnamon rolls, I rolled out the dough, poured sprinkles on to the dough folded the dough over and rolled back out so all the sprinkles are studded within the dough. It is GD brilliant and amazing!
Vegan birthday cake cinnamon rolls are ultra fluffy, perfectly yeast, gooey on the inside and incredibly beautiful. There is 100% no chance anyone will be able to tell they are vegan. It’s impossible, since they are better than any other cinnamon rolls I have had!
You don’t need any fancy equipment to make these. I make them by hand and it is very quick and easy. You just need a mixing bowl and a counter to knead the dough and roll it out. Kneading and rolling out dough is very cathartic for me. I love it so much, give it a try. You may find yourself wanting to knead dough all the time!
You don’t need a special occasion to make these very special cinnamon rolls, you are awesome enough to have them all the time. Impress your friends with an amazing brunch, or just impress yourself!
Vegan Birthday Cake Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Vegan Birthday Cake Cinnamon Roll Dough
- 2 pkgs.(1/2 oz.) Active dry yeast
- 1 C. Warm water(about 110 degrees)
- 1/3 C. Vegan butter, I used Earth Balance(room temperature)
- 1/4 C.+1 tsp. Organic sugar
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 2 1/2 C. All purpose flour
- 1/2 C. Rainbow sprinkles, vegan ( I used Sweetapolita's vegan sprinkles)
Filling
- 1/4 C. Vegan butter, room temperature
- 1/2 C. Brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
Vegan Cream cheese frosting
- 1/3 C. Vegan cream cheese
- 1 1/2 C. Powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp. Almond milk or other non diary milk
- 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, add water that is around 110 degrees, it should feel like a very warm bath. You can use a thermometer if you need to. If it is too hot it will kill the yeast. Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water and then 1 tsp. of sugar.
- Let the yeast bloom. It will take about 5 minutes. But it should all bubble up to the top and have little bubbles throughout.
- While the yeast is blooming, add the vegan butter and remaining 1/4 of a cup of sugar to a large mixing bowl. Stir to fully combine.
- Now add the salt and stir. Next add about a cup of flour. Start to stir together.
- When the yeast is ready, add the yeast and water to the bowl. Stir to combine, then add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour a little at a time. Stirring until everything is fully combined. Now start to knead for about 30 seconds.
- Then, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead, until the dough is no longer sticky and has formed a nice ball. That may take a minute or so. Adding more flour to the surface you are kneading on if necessary.
- Next, spray the mixing bowl you used with non stick spray and return the dough to the bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and place in a warm dry place. I often set mine by the oven while I preheat it. Or in the oven while it is off.
- Proof the dough for about 40-45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size and is very fluffy.
- When the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Then, flour the surface you plan to roll out the dough on. Turn the dough out on to the surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out into a rectangle about 1/2 an inch thick. Sprinkle all over with half of the sprinkles. Fold the dough in half over the sprinkles, roll out a bit again. Sprinkle with remaining sprinkles, fold in half again, press down the dough then roll into a rectangle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick. You should see sprinkles all through the dough.
- Next, brush the entire rectangle with vegan butter, then sprinkle evenly with brown sugar, then sprinkle evenly with cinnamon.
- Starting from one of the shorter sides of the dough, curl up the dough, and begin to roll, rolling all the way to the other side.
- Cut slices every 1 1/2 inches(or however large yo want your rolls). Spray a baking dish with non stick spray. Place all the rolls into the dish.
- Cover with the kitchen towel and let rise another 10 minutes or so until the rolls have doubled in size.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-25 minutes or until they are nice and brown on top and cooked through.
- While the rolls are baking, whip together the vegan cream cheese, powdered sugar, almond milk, vanilla and salt with a hand mixer. Set aside.
- Once the rolls are done, let them cool for a minute top with frosting and more sprinkles if desired. Serve warm, or let cool a bit and serve, they also reheat nicely.
Notes
holy moly – definitely saving these for my birthday next month! 🙂
Loved these! Made them for the first time today for Christmas morning breakfast. I was too impatient and didn’t let them rise for very long, but they still turned out great! I didn’t have sprinkles on hand, and me and the husband are conservative with frosting, so we probably had about a half cup left over. We got about six decent sized rolls out of this. Thanks so much! What a great treat.
Hi. I’m not much of a baker but I think I might be able to handle this. I’m just wondering if I can make this a day ahead? I have company coming for brunch on New Year’s day and won’t have time to start this from scratch. What do you suggest as the best way to get a jump on this? Thanks so much in advance and loving your blog!
I do believe you could prep these the night before and then bake in the morning. I also had a reader tell me she made them the night before and the reheated them in the oven in the morning.
I opted to bake them the night before and reheat the next day, reserving the frosting until serving time. I just kept them in the oven on the lowest setting for a while and that was it.
And they were perfectly scrumptious. Yummy, oooey-gooey and five-finger-licking delicious. You must be a genius or something because you made me, a confirmed non-baker, look good! Thank you so much!!!
Hi! I’ve made these a lot and love them! But now our family has tacked on more allergies to the list. Could I use gluten free flour? Just the 1 to 1 ratio bob mills. I’m most concerned about it rolling out the same.
I haven’t tested a gluten free version. I do think gluten free all purpose flour would work as a good replacement. I do recommend adding xanthan gum as well. It really helps with the structure of baked goods and will help roll them out! I do believe the ratio for xanthan gum is 1 teaspoon for every 1 cup of flour, and the gluten free all purpose should be a 1 to 1 ratio if you are replacing the regular flour with it. Good luck!
These turned out great! Made about 12 smaller sizes rolls in a 9×9 pan and then 3 extras. I didn’t use a full 1/2 c of sprinkles for the dough, probably half of that. The filling I also used about half the ingredients for. I’ll certainly make these again – they are so fun and festive, thank you for the recipe!
Hi, I wanted to ask what type of vegan cream cheese you used. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
I like to use either Trader Joe’s brand or Tofutti.