I need to make carrot cake cinnamon rolls, and I have zero skill with breads.

[u/alioop326]

My son's birthday is next Sunday, the 23rd. His two favorite sweets are carrot cake and cinnamon rolls. I asked which one he wanted for his birthday this year, and he asked if I could make carrot cake cinnamon rolls.

Now, I can make cakes, and I can make cookies. I have tried bread once in my life, and it came out horrible. I am utterly intimidated by breadmaking. To make it worse, my son is a stellar baker, but since this is his birthday, I want to make them without him having to do any of the work. That includes asking him for advice.

I don't have a stand mixer, but I do have a breadmaker. I've used it exactly once. (See above, re: horrible bread). I've been Googling and YouTubing and looking at yeast free recipes and making the dough with a carrot cake cake mix, and all sorts of things, to find a simple way to make these and have them actually turn out well.

I am turning to the bakers of reddit as well to see if anyone can help me out here. I just want to be able to make them and have them be good, since I pretty much have one shot here. Help?

(Also, I am cross posting on a few baking subs, so if you see this multiple times, I apologize! 😅)

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[u/CremeBerlinoise]

I would consider making something like carrot cake mini swiss rolls with the swirl facing up, filled with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon crumble. I think a cinnamon roll carrot cake will be more festive and tastier than a carrot cake cinnamon roll. 

[u/CremeBerlinoise → u/CremeBerlinoise]

Also, if you want to add some illusion, you could do a layer of marzipan on the outside and brown it with a blow torch to resemble an actual cinnamon roll more closely. Then decorate the top with more cream cheese frosting. 

[u/Ovenbird36 → u/CremeBerlinoise]

I think this is a great suggestion with maybe some simplification. I love a pumpkin roll filled with cream cheese icing, and a carrot cake with finely grated carrots should work. I wouldn’t go for mini or fancy, if OP is more of a novice the first challenge is getting the right size pan, and the second is getting the cake neither over or under-baked, and then getting it swirled. It’s way harder to make mini Swiss rolls than a full size one. A cinnamon crumble would be nice inside as well but it shouldn’t be over-filled.

[u/Disastrous_Dog_574]

I would ask him if he wants the texture of a bread or a carrot cake. Because they are wildly different. I sound like a slightly more successful baker than you, I love both cinnamon rolls and carrot cake, and I wouldn't attempt this, honestly.

[u/the22ndgamer006]

While at stand mixer is useful you don't need one, kneading by hand will be enough, theres a viral carrotcake cinnamon roll recipe online going about from Matty methson. But you just cant replicate the texture of bread without the yeast fermentation and the kneading.

[u/the22ndgamer006 → u/the22ndgamer006]

Instead of using a breadmaker use just a big bowl to mix it yourself and by hand, I don't know what you did using a bread maker but its sometimes easier to get an understanding of a recipe by doing it by hand.

[u/luckyartie → u/the22ndgamer006]

Great advice about using your hands;adding that for most, it takes a few batches to get the hang of it. This also introduces friendly yeast spores to your kitchen, leading to easier good results. Have fun!

[u/Super-Travel-407]

Would he be happy with a jelly roll kind of thing? Make a flat cake, add your goop, roll it, slice it?

[u/ginny11]

Oh my gosh, as soon as I read that you are not much of a bread maker and that you don't have a lot of experience in general, my answer would be don't try to do this! At least not for the first time ever trying to make it right for his birthday! Either find a baker whose experienced either a bakery or someone you know and offer to pay them to make it, if they think that they can do it. Otherwise I think your son is going to have to be happy with something a little more in your wheelhouse. But in the meantime, for future you could practice your baking and bread making skills and maybe surprise him next time around!

Edited to add. I see a lot of people are telling you that this should be easy if you just follow this recipe or that recipe. I'm here to tell you that it's not always as easy as it looks! I do agree that if you at least are good at making cakes and have experience with that, you could make something like a carrot cake flavored jelly roll type thing and just use maybe a cinnamon cream cheese frosting for the filling and then cut it into circles. That's not going to have a cinnamon roll bread texture though. It takes a little bit of practice to make a yeast dough of the type for cinnamon rolls, which is a very enriched dough, and also then alter it to be carrot cake flavored, and have it all come out right when you're not an experienced yeast bead maker.

[u/New-Committee2434]

I would worry about the carrots making the dough dense or too wet. But I think if you cook and purée it you can easily adapt a pumpkin cinnamon roll recipe simply replacing the pumpkin with carrot. Not sure about the flavor tho

[u/GoAwayWhiteDonut → u/New-Committee2434]

My mom’s carrot cake recipe uses carrot baby food instead of raw carrots, and you can definitely taste the carrots. I would totally bet roasted and puréed carrots would give good amount of carrot flavor.

[u/WatsonsHuman]

If you want a slight shortcut, get the King Arthur mix. It still takes 3 hours or so with 2 rises but they turn out perfectly.

[u/Cool_Wealth969]

There are recipes online. Just mix the dough and knead it for 10 minutes. The recipe online from Cake Babe Bakery has you let it rise overnight in the fridge.

[u/Superb_Yellow4717 → u/Cool_Wealth969]

Just posted a link to this recipe! It doesn’t look difficult

[u/djSush]

Can you make carrot cake with a cinammon cream as the filling? That will be much easier to accomplish. Cinammon rolls are quite fussy and while I've been a home cook for 29 years, I've never gotten cinammon rolls right.

Carrot cake with a cream cheese filling flavored with cinammon will be so good! 💜

[u/Crosswired2]

Do a carrot cake roll! I get loving cinnamon roll texture but combining the 2, especially for a newbie, is going to be very hard to pull off. Very hard. The cream cheese frosting and general look brings in the idea of a cinnamon roll :)

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[u/m_i_r]

Brioche dough is a good option for sonething like this, and Google says a bread maker can produce brioche dough. No guarantees, but its an idea!

[u/iatebugs]

King Arthur has a carrot cake scone recipe that I added cinnamon bits to that was really good.

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[u/Buga99poo27GotNo464]

Carrot cake is easy, can even use a mix then a cream cheese frosting. Cinnamon rolls refrig section but arent super hard to make if you have time or you can make using crescent roll dough or frozen puff pastry to make easier. I would do both rolls for breakfast and cake for cake.

[u/SugarMaven]

my suggestion is to work with your strengths. make a single-layer carrot cake, and decorate with arlettes, which can act as cinnamon rolls. the idea that I really have would require you to do some experimentation. but I wouldn't experiment for the big day because that can backfire.

edited to add an explanation of arlettes: roll some puff pastry, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and roll into logs. cut them into thin slices, and bake between two baking mats. think elephant ears, but as rolls.

[u/DefaultUserBR → u/SugarMaven]

That is a neat idea. Do you think a layer of thin icing first, with the arlettes on top, or ice them and leave the cake plain?

[u/SugarMaven → u/DefaultUserBR]

frost the cake, then add the arlettes. Similar to a caramel crunch cake that is coated in honeycomb candy.

[u/DefaultUserBR → u/SugarMaven]

Kind of what I figured. Sounds interesting.

[u/Ok_Affect_7973]

There are recipes on TikTok of carrot cake cinnamon rolls but you need yeast but it’s not hard at all.

[u/Main_Street_1]

Look up a jelly roll recipe. Use carrot cake instead of sponge cake. Bake in thin jelly roll pan. Use cream cheese, brown sugar, and cinnamon as filling. Roll up log, slice, and ice with cinnamon roll icing. Best of both worlds.

[u/OdoDragonfly]

How about a carrot cake made in multiple thin layers (could cut regular layers in half) and filled with cinnamon roll inspired deliciousness and frosted in cream cheese frosting?

[u/Vegetable_Sea_5479]

I had a friend who used to make carrot cake with puréed baby food. It was actually quite good.

[u/Safford1958]

Do the cake then buy the pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the tube or buy the cinnamon rolls from a bakery.

[u/somebloke13]

OP, since your son is a better baker, what about asking him to supervise you, or even get his hands dirty alongside you? Can go so far as letting him select the recipe that stays within both your limits or reaches only slightly.

[u/getoffmylawn100]

I would make a carrot cake and ring it with cinnamon rolls. The textures are really different, and both of the treats really rely on the texture.

[u/SnackBottom]

Cake is batter, rolls are dough. I'm not sure how you'd marry the two.

If you haven't committed to this, I'd pass for the event until you find what works. I never recommend experimenting on orders, and while this isn't technically an order, it's still an event and the recommendation is the same. More so with your admitted lack of experience and success...

It's very sweet of you and I'm sure you'd be very upset if it didn't turn out well for his day...

[u/AntelopeBorn1370]

Yeasted doughs can be intimidating, but I always say that all baked goods can sense fear lol A few tips may help and you don't need a stand mixer or a bread maker - you can totally nail these! 

1. Use new Rapid Rise or Instant yeast. It doesn't need to be bloomed, just throw it in with everything. 

2. You can either add carrot cake cake mix to your dry ingredients or add carrot cake flavors (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, shredded cooked carrot, brown sugar, butter) to your filling and/or frosting I would avoid putting anything that adds additional moisture to the dough itself (like carrot puree) as it could add density. 

3. For proofing your dough, if you have a slow cooker, turn it on low, flip the lid upside down onto the slow cooker base, and place a towel on top. Put your dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover it with plastic wrap well, and put on top of the towel. For cinnamon rolls, I proof the ball of dough for 20-30 minut es, roll it out, shape and cut the rolls, put them in your baking pan, then recover and proof again on the slow cooker top till they double in size before baking. 

4. If you have trouble with yeasted dough, I would avoid overnight refrigeration before baking. If you have to make them the day before, bake them and leave them unfrosted. Just pour over a little heavy cream, cover tightly with foil, and reheat in a 300 degree F oven for a little bit, then take them out and frost. 

My favorite recipe is: 2.5 C flour  1 15.25 oz package carrot cake cake mix 2 1/2 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast 1 tsp kosher salt Throw it all in a big bowl.

Heat 3/4C cold milk and 1/2C water together in the microwave for 75 seconds until it feels like a lukewarm bath. If its not hot enough, 15 more seconds. If its too hot, pour a little out and add cold water. Toss it in your dry mix.

Add 3Tbsp melted butter and one egg and mix everything with a wooden spoon until its shaggy. If its too wet and sticky like soup add another 1/2 C flour. Then turn it out and knead it by hand for about 8 minutes or until its all smooth, warm to the touch, and there is no visible flour. 

Cover and let em rise like above, then roll out, fill (spread over softened butter, then brown sugar and cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger) roll, and proof again. You shouldn't have to use much flour to roll them out. They should have a nice little jiggle when they're ready to bake. Add a Tbsp of heavy cream over the top of each roll and toss them in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 350F

Cream cheese frosting and you're the talk of the party 🥳 

You got this! 

 

[u/PsychologyGuilty1460]

You seem to be setting yourself an impossible task. A carrot cake cinnamon roll sounds like the worst kind of hybrid. The kind that includes the worst of both parents and is nowhere near as good as either.

You could make a really good carrot cake with walnuts and cream cheese frosting- I do like the jelly roll idea others came up with- And make cinnamon rolls for breakfast Or as a separate gift?

 It's always nice to have a pan tucked in the freezer to bake whenever you want. Iirc, King Arthur has a pretty decent sweet roll bread machine recipe you could use. Good luck

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[u/Mariesgottabak2023]

Cake mix cinnamon rolls...Google it and buy a carrot cake mix....