A Successful Fail - Sweets/Sharing - Day 5

"Say, Min - this recipe doesn't seem very....uh, you know, Valentine-ish??"

You would be right. It's been one of those days and I know it's either this or nothing (similar to the meal choices I give my kids - you can have this or you can have nothing - carry on!) So I assume you would make the choice of having your dinner (or in this case, dessert, or maybe just dessert for dinner) and will follow to the end here.

Have you ever had a great idea that you JUST KNOW would work fabulously and you couldn't figure out why no one else had tried it before and my, oh my, aren't you just the sharpest little knife in the drawer???

I hate when that happens. It takes your ever so smart, sophisticated, girl-about-town idea from this.....

to this......

Of course, there is a back story. (My life is one big back story - thanks for indulging me as often as you do;)

Last fall, I happened about a recipe for cinnamon roll cake. It called for a prepared yellow cake mix and a can of store bought cinnamon rolls. Only half the cake batter was needed, which begs the question,

"What to do with the extra batter? A single layer to be used for cake pops later? Cupcakes? Trifle? Big spoon and a Lifetime Movie Marathon??"

I believe I settled on baking the extra layer and I'm sure we ate it within the week. The cinnamon roll cake was amazingly tasty and was a perfect accompaniment to my slight guilt that I always feel before I go away for 2 days without my kids.

Anyhoo, fast forward to the present. I thought a cinnamon roll bundt cake would be so classy and elegant (and why hasn't anyone thought of this yet??) and I could then bake ALL the cake mix since that would obviously be needed for 5 women that are about the size of my pinkie finger.

I purchased the Jumbo pack of cinnamon rolls, chopped them up and layered with the cake batter and let the cake bake to its little cinnamon heart's content.


And because I am not one to waste the icing packet or ingenuity, I poked holes in the cake and drizzled it over so as to soak it into the cake and make it even more delectable.

I turned it out onto my glass cake plate, drizzled over a hearty portion of cream cheese icing and finished making coffee.

Then, I had the nerve to slice the cake. That thing fell over quicker than Mindy trying to wear 5 inch heels.

I think all the extra cake, plus the icing that had filtered INSIDE the cake, plus the healthy weight of cream cheese icing on the OUTSIDE of the cake just made it cave under pressure. (I know how it feels.)

Thankfully, the appearance didn't affect the taste and we all just started scooping it onto plates. I even put the leftovers in the fridge thinking that would firm it up - no luck.

So, without further adeiu, here is the recipe:

Mindy's Fall Down Cinnamon Roll Cake (adapted from ?)

Cake:
1 Yellow Cake, mixed according to directions
1 - 2 Cans store-bought cinnamon rolls
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix cake according to directions, adding the cinnamon to the mix. For 1/2 recipe, use 1 can of rolls, chopped into fourths. Drop them into 9x9 or 11x7 greased pan. Pour batter over rolls. For a full recipe, use a 9x13 pan and 2 cans of rolls. Or, if you want cake that falls over and won't hold any kind of shape, use a bundt pan.

Bake at 350 anyway from 20-40 minutes, depending on your pan/amount. Start with 20 minutes and check every 5 after that.

Icing:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
milk (1/4 cup?) to thin
1 tsp vanilla

This cake is just like eating a cinnamon roll, especially if you warm your slice (crumbled mess?) in the microwave for a few seconds and then slather on some extra icing....and somehow makes cake for breakfast sound completely acceptable!