Cinnamon Roll Pancake Bake

Name: Cinnamon Roll Pancake Bake
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Buttermilk Kodiak cakes pancake mix (or Buttermilk pancake mix of choice, stats might vary); 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 egg; 1 cup almond milk (unsweetened, can substitute cashew milk or skim milk); 1 tablespoon cane sugar; 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 tablespoon light butter (melted); 2 tablespoons reduced fat cream cheese; 1 teaspoon almond milk (unsweetened, can substitute cashew milk or skim milk)

July 18, 2021 By Steph 47 Comments

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A classic pancake bake, but turned up a notch with a cinnamon sugar and cream cheese swirl topping? Yes, please! This pancake bake has all the flavors of your favorite bakery treat: a sticky, gooey cinnamon roll. Lightened up with reduced fat cream cheese and light butter, this deliciously sweet topping completes the already delicious classic pancake bake. My pancake bake recipes transforms your favorite pancake breakfast into an easy to make, easy to serve one-dish meal. Perfect for feeding the family, or for meal prep for the week.

What’s a pancake bake?

The base recipe (my Easy Pancake Bake) was created out of pure laziness. I love having pancakes on hand as an easy breakfast to bring to the office, or to have on hand for a quick meal when I am home. The only problem is, I find it super annoying to stand at the stove flipping pancakes, batch after batch. I used to cook my pancakes in batches like this for meal prep, and store them in little glass containers, which was great, but time consuming.

One day, I decided to throw some ingredients together and bake my pancakes. And the Easy Pancake Bake was born!

Since releasing this recipe, so many of you have grown to love and appreciate the ease and functionality of the Pancake Bake. What I love most about this recipe is the pure versatility. I have released multiple versions of this recipe, which always keeps things interesting:

Since the base recipe is so easy to make, it’s easy enough to add different toppings of your choice, whether it be fruit, chocolate chips, or nuts. This new cinnamon roll variety of the pancake bake might be my favorite yet, because the topping offers extra sweetness and flavor, eliminating the need for extra syrup (although, who ever said no to extra syrup?)

What flavors are in this pancake bake?

Aside from the usual flavors of my base pancake recipe (some vanilla extract and cinnamon add delicious flavor), this pancake bake has an extra special topping: a cinnamon sugar buttery swirl, and dollups of cream cheese which are also swirled in for an extra special topping.

It’s amazing to me how much this cinnamon roll pancake bake tastes like an actual cinnamon roll; I think the combination of the cinnamon sugar and melted butter for the topping really nail that cinnamon flavor we all love. The addition of the cream cheese helps to add that cream cheese frosting taste as well. Together, the flavors work really well for a delicious and sweet breakfast.

How to serve and reheat the Easy Pancake Bake

I like to serve the pancake bake a few ways: one of the easiest ways is with some chicken sausage links and fresh fruit. These are my favorite breakfast sausage links. You can also add some eggs on the side for some extra protein.

Another great way to serve this bake is with a doll-up of nut butter and some sliced bananas, almost like a dessert. When I am in the mood for something sweet and decadent in the morning, this is my go-to.

The cinnamon roll pancake bake pairs perfectly with maple-flavored chicken sausage links, because they echo the flavors in the pancake bake and compliment each other really well. Any nut butter or other sweet topping would work beautifully here if you plan on serving this pancake bake as a sweet snack or dessert. Whipped cream always helps, too!

For meal prep, I store the individual portions of the pancake bake in glass storage containers in the fridge, along with the frozen sausages. Since the sausages defrost in the fridge, I just have to pop the entire container into the microwave for a minute or so to reheat everything before eating.

If you aren’t heading into the office or bringing this meal on the go, you can also store the pancake bake in the baking dish you baked it in. Just make sure you cover it with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge; this does not do well on the counter.

What will I need to make this cinnamon roll pancake bake?

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe:

pancake mix of your choice
- I use this high protein pancake mix from Kodiak Cakes, and I highly recommend it
baking powder
cinnamon
vanilla extract
milk of choice (I use cashew milk or almond milk)
egg
light butter
reduced fat cream cheese
cane sugar (I like the coarse texture here, like a cinnamon roll, but granulated sugar works fine)

How to make the cinnamon roll pancake bake

Start off by preheating the oven to 350F. Combine the batter ingredients in a mixing bowl, and pour the mixture into a sprayed pie dish or tart pan.

To create the toppings, melt the butter and combine it with the cane sugar and cinnamon. Pour this mixture into a swirl on the top of the pancake batter. Combine the cream cheese with the additional milk to make a thinner cream cheese mixture. Dollup this on top of the batter, or put this mixture into a plastic bag, snip the end, and pipe it on.

Swirl both toppings together to incorporate it into the top of the batter, by using a knife or toothpick. After that, you’re all set to bake. Bake the pancake bake for 25 minutes or until it is set up.