Rainbow Sprinkle Cinnamon Rolls

A few weeks ago, I was scrolling Facebook and saw a Tasty video for Rainbow Sprinkle Cinnamon Rolls.  I was horrified and intrigued at the same time.  Cake mix and sprinkles in cinnamon rolls?!?  What?!?

I knew I had to try them.  I decided to make a batch and send them to work with Hubs since I really didn’t have an occasion for making a whole batch of cinnamon rolls for just my family (we taste tested one first, of course).

As I was making the dough for the rolls, I was grumbling the whole time at the sticky mess, certain that I would need to restart, but wouldn’t you know it?  After the rise, it seemed to sort itself out!  Then it was just plain fun to add all those sprinkles!

So how did they taste?  Well, like normal cinnamon rolls.  In fact, Hubs asked me what the purpose of the cake mix in the recipe?  Did it replace the flour?  No, no it didn’t, there was still flour.  Did we maybe skip the yeast, making it easier to bake bread?  Nope, there’s still yeast.

I am entirely convinced that the purpose of putting cake mix into this recipe was to put cake mix into this recipe.

I kind of want to reimagine the recipe without cake mix, just to make another delicious version of these rolls!

Rainbow Sprinkle Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from Tasty

Dough

1 ¼ cup warm water (about 110 degrees F)
2 ¼ teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast

1 box Funfetti Cake Mix

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups flour

Filling

3 tablespoons butter, softened

¼ cup brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

2-3 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles

Frosting

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the water in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Stir in the yeast and set aside for 5 minutes or until foamy.

Add the cake mix and vanilla and stir with the paddle attachment until combined.  Switch to the bread hook and the flour.  Knead until combined, the dough will still be quite sticky.

Spray a bowl with nonstick spray.  Place the dough into the bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise for 1 hour.

Liberally flour a large work surface.  Roll the dough into a large rectangle.  Spread the butter evenly over the dough.  Evenly sprinkle the brown sugar, cinnamon, and sprinkles over the buttered dough.

Grease a baking dish (in the photo, I used a 9-inch pie plate (as recommended in the original recipe) but it was too small for all of the rolls.  I recommend a 9x13-inch baking dish.)

Starting at a long end, roll the dough into a tight log.  Cut the dough into 1 ½ inch slices (I used unflavored dental floss to cut my dough without squishing it).  Arrange the rolls in the baking dish.  Cover and allow the rolls to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

While the rolls, bake, make the frosting by beating together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla.

Spread the frosting over the rolls after they come out of the oven and add additional sprinkles.  Serve warm.