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Giant Cinnamon Roll
If you're not eating a 28-cm cinnamon roll, are you really eating anything?
4 Oct 2023
Difficulty:
Not too hard
Servings:
12 slices or 6 smaller rolls
Prep time:
30 minutes
Waiting time:
Baking time:
4 - 9 hours
45 minutes
Total time:
5 - 10 hours, 45 minutes
Besides World Animal Day, today also turns out to be Cinnamon Bun Day, so I made a giant cinnamon roll with a delicious cream cheese frosting 😌 Just slice it like a pie and be amazed by all those beautiful, buttery, fluffy layers!
Besides cinnamon, the filling also includes some orange peel and cardamom to add to just a slight more depth to the flavour and the smell - oh the smell...
You could also easily use this recipe to make 6 normal-sized rolls, but where's the fun in that? Well, let me tell you! Making smaller rolls would allow you to freeze some of the unbaked rolls so you can spread the fun across a couple of months! That way you can start your lazy weekend off without spending it in the kitchen being very much not lazy. Let the frozen rolls come to room temperature before baking for best results ;)
What are you waiting for?!
Get your house smelling like a pastry shop in 8 easy steps!
Ingredients
Dough
600 g flour
70 g sugar
15 g yeast
10 g salt
50 g water
50 g cream
5 eggs
230 g butter, cut into roughly
10 g chunks
Filling
220 g dark brown sugar
20 g flour
11 g cinnamon
5 cardamom pods, peeled and fairly coarsely ground
0.5 orange’s peel, grated
1 g salt
6 g vanilla extract
80 g butter (melted)
50 g pearl sugar*
* If you can't find them, just leave them out
Frosting
100 g cream cheese
35 g butter (room temperature)
150 g powdered sugar
5 g vanilla extract
Instructions
Dough
Combine all the dry dough ingredients (except for the pearl sugar) in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix in the wet ingredients (except the butter) with a dough hook on medium speed until it comes off the sides off the bowl.
Add approximately 50 g of butter and mix until incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and repeat with another 50 g until you've incorporated all the butter. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let rise covered for an hour at room temperature.
Move the bowl to the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Filling
Combine the dry ingredients for the filling (except for the pearl sugar) and stir in the wet ingredients until smooth. Grease a cast iron pan (mine’s 28 cm in diameter) with butter.
Tip out the dough onto a well-floured surface and roll out into a neat 48 x 48 cm square. Cut the square in half into two 24 x 48 cm rectangles. Check if the dough sticks to the surface - if it does, flour until it doesn't.
Divide half the filling evenly over the first half of the dough and sprinkle on half the pearl sugar. Loosely cover with the second dough rectangle and top with the second half of the filling and pearl sugar.
Cut the dough into 6 long strips measuring 4 x 48 cm. At this point you can still choose to make 6 normal sized buns or to go ahead and make 1 giant bun. Loosely roll the first strip into a coil and place it into the center of the pan. Loosely roll the strips around the center coil. Cover and let rise for an hour. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Bake for 20 minutes, cover with aluminium foil and bake for another 25 minutes or until the cinnamon roll is deep golden brown and its internal temperature at the center is 90°C.
Frosting
Whisk together icing ingredients until you reach the consistency you like. If your butter is still a little too cold and does not mix in smoothly, use an electric mixer. Cover the roll in frosting.
Notes
Best still slightly warm after a 15-minute cooldown. Keep for 2-3 days in an air-tight container.
Updated: 27 Dec 2023