Make every day your Birthday with these soft fluffy Birthday Cake Rolls. The soft and sweet dough is filled with colourful sprinkles and topped with a creamy cheesecake icing. They’re so good every day will feel like a party!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
Making every day your birthday | Why have an ordinary cinnamon roll when you can add sprinkles and turn it into a celebration. Funfetti is synonymous with Birthday Cake, which is why of course this recipe is called Birthday Cake Rolls.
Birthday Cake Flavour | We all love a birthday and no celebration is complete without a birthday cake to enjoy. This popular flavour has been rising for the past decade and it isn’t showing any signs of going anywhere.
Delicious cinnamon roll | Underneath all those colourful sprinkles, these rolls are the delicious cinnamon rolls we know and love
WHY IS IT CALLED BIRTHDAY CAKE ROLL?
The flavour “Birthday Cake” has been around for quite a while now and is widely recognised by the Funfetti Sprinkles. The official flavour is vanilla but it’s sweetened with the addition of sprinkles and icing sugar. Essentially if you’re eating something birthday cake flavour it would be like tasting vanilla cake batter with sprinkles.
This recipe is a little different because it has a cinnamon sweet centre however combined with the icing, the buttery dough and those all important sprinkles, you definitely get that birthday cake flavour.
TOP TIPS FOR THE BEST BIRTHDAY CAKE ROLLS
Overnight Prove the dough | To get the best out of that vanilla birthday cake flavour in the dough if you have time an overnight prove is highly recommended. Slowing down the process of the prove intensifies the flavours and enhances the texture too making it even softer and delicious. If I’m overnight proving I will whip up the first dough just before bed and then leave it in the fridge until the following morning where I shape it and do the final prove before baking just in time for breakfast.
Careful not to over bake them | The best texture of a cinnamon roll is a little crunchy on the outside and super soft and even gooey on the inside. If overbooked these rolls could be really dry and not so enjoyable to eat so keep your eye on them and don’t let them bake for longer than they need to.
Eat fresh and warm from the oven | For the best experience, eat these fresh and warm from the oven. You can of course each these cold but you might not find them as gooey and soft so if they are cold, try heating them in the oven for 5-10 minutes. If you leave them a few days and they’ve gone stale, or if you’ve decided to freeze them, you’ll find all my advice in the notes on the recipe.
TOOLS YOU WILL NEED
- Several Mixing Bowls
- Measuring Jug
- Rectangle baking dish (16inch wide by 28inch long)
- Palette Knife
- Non-Stick Baking Paper
- Sieve
Shop these tools
OTHER SWEET ROLLS YOU SHOULD TRY
Cherry Bakewell Cinnamon Rolls
I would love it if you tagged me @mykitchendrawer on Instagram if you make these Birthday Cake Rolls. It’s the biggest honour to see my recipes come to life in your kitchen and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to drop me a message. Happy baking!
Birthday Cake Rolls
Ingredients
- 500 g strong white bread flour
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
- 240 ml hot water not scalding hot
- 1 tbsp salt
- 50 g caster sugar
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 60 ml milk warmed
- 1 egg
- 100 g funfetti sprinkles
For the filling
- 25 g unsalted butter softened
- 3 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the cheesecake topping
- 200 g cream cheese
- 30 g unsalted butter
- 250 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 50 g Funfetti sprinkles to decorate
Instructions
For the dough
- Begin by whisking 130 g of the strong white bread flour with the yeast and stir in the hot water until combined. Cover with cling film or a tea towel and leave for approx 45 minutes, until puffy and bubbly.
- Once the yeast starter is ready, heat the milk up until it's warm enough to hold your finger in but doesn't burn, then add the butter and mix it around until melted
- Add the salt, sugar, warm buttery milk and egg to the yeast starter then stir until well mixed.
- Add the remaining flour and fold through until a sticky dough forms. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and knead for just a few minutes, until it becomes smooth, then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover it to prove for one to two hours (until it’s doubled in size). MY KITCHEN TIP: You can choose to prove overnight here. This process slows down the rise and enhances the flavour.
For the filling
- Put the brown sugar and ground cinnamon into a bowl and combine together. Add the melted butter and mix it to form a paste.
- When the dough has fully proved tip it out of the bowl and punch it down then add the funfetti sprinkles and knead them into the dough until evenly distributed. Roll out the dough into into a rectangle about 16-inches in width by 28-inches in length.
- Spoon over the softened butter and spread it out leaving a 1 inch boarder around the edge. Smooth the cinnamon mixture over the the top then roll up the dough from the longest side into a log. Wrap it in baking paper and transfer it to a baking sheet and let it chill for 15-20 minutes in the fridge.
To assemble
- Grease a large rectangle baking tin then place the chilled log onto a large cutting board and remove baking paper. Cut the log into 12 1 inch pieces and lay them in rows of three in the baking tin a few cm apart to allow room when they prove.
- Cover and let it prove again for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, then place the rolls in oven and bake on the middle rack of your oven for 25 – 30 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
- Remove from oven and leave to cool slightly for 10 minutes whilst you prepare the cream cheese topping
Cream Cheese Topping
- Whisk together the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until soft and smooth.
- Add the vanilla and sift in the icing sugar and whisk again until smooth
- Scoop a tbsp onto each roll and spread across until all rolls are evenly covered.
- Sprinkle over some more funfetti sprinkles to finish and serve.