This cinnamon bread goes well with my honey-lime berry fruit salad and low-fat ham and cheese quiche.
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★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
You can make the most delicious and easy cinnamon bread using cake mix!
Perfect for weekend breakfasts, to share with friends and family, or to serve for brunch.
Easy to make.
This yummy bread is so easy. Kids can make this cake mix cinnamon bread and they love it too. Kid-friendly.
Not only do kids love the taste of this cinnamon bread, it's also super simple to make. Easier than chocolate chip cookies even. So, any kid who can use safely a hand mixer, can make this bread. Use your judgement of course. 😉
Bake-sale Friendly
I make this for bake sale fundraisers and it always sells out! So, if you need a sure-fire recipe for bake sells, try this cinnamon swirl bread! Use these disposable bread loaf pans.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
You'll need cake mix plus mix-ins, cinnamon sugar for creating the cinnamon swirl and ingredients for icing to top off your loaf.
Here's everything you'll need to gather:
- Cake mix. Yellow or white both work.
- Eggs and oil. For the cake batter.
- Milk. Using milk in place of water creates a richer tasting loaf.
- Sugar. I like to use brown sugar but regular sugar can be used as well.
- Cinnamon. Powdered.
- Nutmeg. Optional but adds a nice Earthly layer of flavor.
- Salt. This brings out the cinnamon sugar.
- For the icing you'll need vanilla extract, milk and powdered sugar.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This easy cake-mix recipe comes together in just a few steps.
Here's a look:
- Mix together batter ingredients.
- Blend cinnamon-sugar.
- Layer batter in a bread loaf.
- Add a layer of cinnamon-sugar.
- Alternate layers of batter and cinnamon sugar.
- Bake loaf.
- Let cool.
- Mix together icing.
- Drizzle icing on top.
- Slice and enjoy!
Check out the how-to video, in the recipe card below, that shows how easily this cinnamon cake mix bread comes together.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Storage
This bread can be stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic, for up to 2 days. Storing the refrigerator, this bread will last up to 7 days.
This bread is also freezer-friendly. Wrap in plastic wrap and you can freeze for up to 6 months.
Make cinnamon muffins instead of loaves of bread.
I make this recipe using two loaf pans.
However, you can easily convert this recipe into muffins. Just use the same layering process in your greased or lined muffins cups, and then bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 24 muffins.
Try adding nuts.
You can add chopped pecans or any kind of chopped nuts you enjoy. Just stir them right into the batter.
Icing Optional
The bread is absolutely delicious and moist all on its own and truly doesn't even need icing. I actually prefer it without and it's less sugar that way too. However, icing does dress it up a bit so it's nice to have as an option if you're serving this for a special occasion.
Flavor Boosting
A small amount of salt can really bring flavors out so add a dash of salt to your batter if you want, it's fine if you don't though too. It's just an extra flavor boost and won't affect the baking process.
I also enjoy the cinnamon and nutmeg combination. Nutmeg has a nutty flavor and that goes so well with cinnamon and sugar. Add it in if you love it too. If you're not sure, smell it first and if it smells good, go for it. Just a few dashes will do. If you don't have it, don't like it, or even just forget, no worries! You don't need it.
Don't have brown sugar?
Brown sugar add to the flavor of this cinnamon bread, but it's not 100% necessary. If you're fresh out of brown sugar, you can use regular sugar instead. So for this recipe, you'd just be doubling the white sugar.
Try honey or maple syrup as a sweetener.
Both of the natural sweeteners can be use in place of sugar in this recipe! You can completely replace the sugar with honey or maple syrup, or you can just substitute part of the sugar. You can swap whatever quantity you want using a 1:1 ratio. Cook time may be affect, so just use the toothpick method to check for doneness if you make any substitutions.
★ More Recipes You'll Love ★
More loaf bread recipes:
More cinnamon sweets to make:
This easy recipe for Cake Mix Cinnamon Bread was featured on South Your Mouth!
Cinnamon Swirl Bread (Made with Cake Mix)
Equipment
- 2 loaf pans (or use mini loaf pans)
Ingredients
Bread Batter
- 15.25 oz box yellow or white cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup softened butter or use cooking oil
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon cinnamon
- dash of salt Optional
- 2 dashes nutmeg Optional
Icing
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Make batter. In a large bowl combine cake mix, eggs, milk and butter using a hand mixer. Beat at a medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Prepare bread pans. Grease two loaf pans with cooking spray or additional butter.
- Make cinnamon sugar. In a small bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir with a fork until blended.
- Fill pans. Add a layer of batter to each, just enough to cover the whole bottom of the bread pan.Spoon a layer of cinnamon sugar on top of the layer of batter in each loaf pan.Repeat layers until batter and cinnamon sugar is used up. Use a knife to spread out the cinnamon as needed. You can swirl the cinnamon sugar for a marbled look if you want.
- Bake. Place bread pans in oven on the middle rack and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean.
- Make icing. In a small bowl mix together icing ingredients using a fork, until smooth.
- Cool and add icing. When loaves are done baking, remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes then top with icing using a spoon or a piping bag to drizzle icing over each loaf.
- Serve or store. Slice and serve or let cool and icing harden, then wrap in plastic wrap for later.
Video
Notes
- Cook time will vary depending on loaf pan size and shape.
- I use 9.5" x 5" loaf pans. You can use others sizes, but the cook time may vary. Thicker loaves typically require more time, smaller loaves less time. Mini loaves I've found take about 22-25 minutes to set.
- If I'm unsure of the bake time for the size pan I'm using, as a rule of thumb, I check all my baked recipes using a toothpick inserted into the center. It's done as soon as the toothpick comes out clean. I check about half way through the bake time and then add more bake time, as needed. If you're using a non-standard size pan, you can try this method.
Marianne says
I made this for breakfast this morning and what a hit! So easy and made the house smell yummy. I added a half stick of melted butter instead of oil (that the video shows), and it was heavenly! Thank you for the quick breakfast bread recipe. My family loved it!
Sarah says
Can you freeze this bread?
Angela G. says
Hi Sarah, Yes, this bread is freezer friendly.
Diana Newman says
Recipe was simple and delicious!
Dolores Cunningham says
can i freeze the bread? Thank you
Angela G. says
Hi Dolores! Yes, you can freeze the bread after it cools. Wrap it in plastic and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Julie says
I’ve made variation of this. Instead of milk I’ve used plain Greek yogurt or sour cream. It’s my go to recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Angela G. says
Thanks for the review and for sharing your version, Julie. Sounds delicious!
Jan says
Can I use a Bundt pan instead?
Angela G. says
Yes you can! Just check for donenesses by inserting a toothpick into the bread; it’s ready to come out of the oven as soon as the toothpick comes out clean.
Angie says
Is the smaller cake mix size what is used in this recipe or was this recipe made when the larger 20-something ounce cake mixes were still sold? Thank you.
Dorena says
Hi, can I use almond milk in place of regular milk?
Angela G. says
Hi Dorena, yes, you can use almond milk!
Debbie Canady says
I have made this cake about 6 times in regular loaf pans and more than that using the small loaf pans. Today I am using the mini loaf pans (10) and cupcake pan. I did double the recipe today and the amounts in each pan was correct. They are all in the oven now and I will put icing on some of them. I absolutely love this recipe!
Julia says
Made this for a brunch and it was perfect and will make again.
Angela G. says
Hi Julia, I'm so glad you enjoyed it for your brunch!
Rachael says
I only have white cake mix on hand will that make it taste any different.
Angela G. says
Hi Rachael, you can use the white cake mix and it will work just fine. I would add a little bit of vanilla extract if you have it. A teaspoon should be good.
Beth says
Made it today , nice , warm & delicious. Great for this snowy day in NJ. THANKS
Angela G. says
Glad you enjoyed it, Beth!
Tina Niemeyer says
This bread was delicious! And it was so easy to make! I will definitely make it again.
Angela G. says
So glad you liked it! It’s one of our faves to make on weekends.
Johnna Gollaway says
Is the batter supposed to be thick? I used butter and it was super thick. are you sure you don't need any water with it?
Angela G. says
Hi Johnna, You do want to make sure to add the cup of milk in addition to the butter.
Toni says
Made this as muffins this morning. Delicious. Next time I will add the salt and nutmeg for a little more depth of flavor, but it was a hit in our house! Thank you for sharing!
Angela G. says
Hi Toni, Glad you enjoyed your muffins!
Kathie says
Can you freeze them? If so, how long?
Angela G. says
Hi Kathie, Yes you can freeze this bread. Once it cools completely, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and you can store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. Unwrap it before letting it thaw so plastic does not stick to the icing or the bread.
Anita says
Made this bread and added sliced apples to it, Very moist and Good, But my apples fell to the bottom, WHY?
Angela G. says
It’s honestly just gravity. Apples are heavy so they don’t float within the batter. Something that helps is tossing the apples in the dry mix to coat them before adding liquids. Also, you can try smaller chunks of apples as they aren’t as heavy or apple sauce if you are ok without the texture but want that apple flavor.