Homemade Frosted Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Take a buttermilk bread dough recipe and turn it into a sweet cinnamon swirl bread. Find out the secret for a gooey cinnamon swirl throughout.

This past weekend was one of those too-good-to-be-true eating weekends. Cinnamon crunch braided bread, strawberry shortcake, rolls and mashed potatoes are just a few of the delicacies we feasted on.

We generally eat pretty good on weekends. Several weekends ago I took my mom’s best country homemade bread recipe and turned it into a cinnamon swirl bread.  Which makes it a country cinnamon swirl bread recipe. And country recipes are the best. 🙂

Cinnamon swirl bread holds a special place in my heart because it reminds me of my grandma.  She’d always take us out to eat a restaurant in Michigan that had some fantastic cinnamon swirl bread with frosting on it. I pretty sure I remember eating more bread than anything else when we dined there.

So coming up with a homemade cinnamon swirl bread recipe has been on my must-do list for quite awhile now.

I finally did it, and I’m sharing with you my hints for making the best cinnamon bread ever.

You’ll start with a basic white bread dough. The recipe is below but you can read about making this bread here. It’s my mom’s recipe and I love it. So this recipe reminds me of my mom and my grandma. It’s a twofer. 🙂 For this recipe I do use dry buttermilk. You can see the exact kind I use here.

After you have your bread dough made, you’ll roll out the dough on a floured pastry mat. Make the rectangle the width of your bread loaf pan. My pan is 9×5″, so my dough rectangle was 9″ wide and about 15-18″ long.

Spread melted butter on the dough, then sprinkle a mixture of powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla overtop the melted butter.

Here comes our secret on the cinnamon sugar filling. I decided to use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar for the filling. Why powdered sugar instead of granulated? Because the moisture from the powdered sugar soaks up the moisture from the bread, making the cinnamon swirl filling more smooth and gooey and not gritty. Can you use granulated sugar? Yes. Do I recommend powdered sugar instead? Yes. Because gooey > gritty.

After the dough is sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, roll up the dough starting on the 9″ side and place the dough roll in a greased loaf pan (9″x5″) with the seam side down. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow the bread to rise for about 20 minutes.

Bake the bread at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Last comes the frosting. Make a simple glaze with powdered sugar, vanilla, butter and heavy cream. You can use milk if you’d like, but cream will make the frosting richer.  If you want the glaze to be thick, wait until the bread cools to spoon it on top. If the bread is warm, the glaze will melt in a bit and run down the sides. My bread wasn’t totally cool, but definitely wasn’t hot.

Let’s talk about slicing into this bread. Because we are an impatient, food-obsessed family when it comes to warm bread, especially warm cinnamon swirl bread, we sliced into our loaf as soon as I was done photographing it. The bread was still very warm and it was ooey, gooey, good. But, because the bread was so warm and soft, it was a little hard to cut. You can see the picture of the cut warm bread at the beginning of the post.

If you allow the cinnamon swirl bread to cool, the bread will slice much  more cleanly and hold its shape better. It all depends on if your goal is achieving a pretty loaf or devouring a warm loaf right from the oven.

Once you have the technique down, I’d suggest doubling the recipe. You’ll want it. Believe me. And if there are any leftovers, this cinnamon swirl bread makes amazing french toast!

Q: Have you ever made cinnamon swirl bread?

Q: Do you have a special food memory?

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

4.67 from 6 votes

Take a buttermilk bread dough recipe and turn it into a sweet cinnamon swirl bread. Find out the secret for a gooey cinnamon swirl throughout.

Servings 10 servings

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

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Ingredients

 

• 1 1/4 cup warm water about 95-110 degrees
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons salted butter softened
• 3 1/3 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons dry buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Cinnamon Filling:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons salted butter melted

Frosting:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon salted butter melted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

 

• Pour the warm water in a stand mixer bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and wait about 5 minutes for the yeast to activate.
• Add the rest of the ingredients to the mixing bowl. With the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients until they are combined. Then take off the paddle attachment and replace it with the dough hook. Knead the dough on medium speed for about 5-7 minutes.
• Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it. Let it rise in a warm space for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
• Take the dough ball and roll it out in a rectangle on a floured surface. The rectangle should measure about 9" (or the length of your loaf paby about 18".
• In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Set aside.
• Spread the melted butter on the rolled out dough.
• Sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture on top of the butter.
• Roll the dough starting at the 9" end.
• Place the dough roll in a greased 9x5 bread loaf pan seam side down.
• Cover the pan and allow the bread to rise for another 20 minutes.
• Bake the bread at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
• While the bread is cooling, prepare the frosting.
• In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, melted butter, vanilla and cream. Whisk together until smooth, adding more cream if you'd like.
• Once the bread is mostly cool, spread or drizzle the frosting on the top of the bread.

Notes

*This bread is amazing warm, right from the oven. But it will slice much better if it sits and cools to room temperature. *It also makes a delicious french toast!

Nutrition

Serving: 117g | Calories: 331kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8g

Author Julie Clark

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Calories 331

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