Using my vanilla cake recipe as the base, you can create an absolutely mouthwatering snickerdoodle cake filled with buttery cinnamon swirls and topped with creamy brown sugar cinnamon buttercream frosting. This cinnamon cake goes down in history as one of my best cake masterpieces. Everyone raved about it!
Earlier this month, I asked the Sally’s Baking Addiction Facebook group community if they wanted a snickerdoodle cake recipe this fall season. The response was an overwhelming yes. In fact, the general response was HECK YES HECK YES HEEEEEEEECK YES.
Your wish is my cake command.
This Snickerdoodle Cake Is:
- for cinnamon lovers
- special occasion worthy
- equal parts vanilla cake and snickerdoodles
- totally reminding me of brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts
- basically impossible not to love
3 Parts to Snickerdoodle Cake
- Buttery Vanilla Cake
- Pockets of Cinnamon Swirls
- Brown Sugar Cinnamon Buttercream
Snickerdoodle Cake Power Ingredients
The ingredient list below looks long. Thankfully, the ingredients are mostly repeated in each section. If you’ve made or read about my best vanilla cake recipe before, you know that I use a few “power ingredients” that promise the perfect cake texture:
- Butter: Use room temperature butter for the cake and frosting. Remember that room temperature butter is cooler than you think. Use melted butter for the cinnamon swirl.
- Cake Flour: If you want a soft bakery-style cake, cake flour is the secret. The cake will be heavy if you use all-purpose flour. If needed, you can use a cake flour substitute.
- Eggs & 2 additional egg whites: 3 whole eggs provide structure, moisture, and richness. 2 extra egg whites keep the cake light and airy.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Remember the differences in baking powder vs baking soda and why it’s important to use both in some recipes? We’ll use enough baking powder to give the cake height without leaving a bitter aftertaste. Baking soda allows us to use less baking powder.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is an acidic ingredient and baking soda requires an acid to work. Plus, buttermilk yields an EXTRA moist cake crumb. See recipe note about an alternative.
- Brown Sugar: We’ll use brown sugar in the cinnamon swirl and again in the frosting. You can use light brown or dark brown sugar, but I recommend dark brown sugar for bolder flavor.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon is the main flavor, so make sure you’re using a quality product. I adore McCormick and Penzeys brands. (Not sponsored, just a super fan!)
How to Make Snickerdoodle Cake
- Make the cake batter: Use the basic creaming method. If desired, see my vanilla cake recipe for more detail. I reduced the sugar in the cake batter since we’re adding a cinnamon sugar swirl.
- Make the cinnamon swirl: Combine brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Gently mix in melted butter. Drop small spoonfuls over each unbaked cake layer, then swirl with a knife. The cinnamon swirl will slightly sink as the cake bakes, but that’s ok. When you eat the cake, the bits of cinnamon swirl are sticky, chewy, and massively flavorful.
- Bake & cool the cakes: Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, then cool completely before assembling and frosting.
- Make the brown sugar cinnamon frosting: More on that next!
- Decorate the cake: I love a semi-naked cake decoration for this snickerdoodle cake.
- Chill before serving: For beautiful slices, chill the decorated cake for at least 30-60 minutes prior to serving. This tightens up the layers, so slicing is much neater and easier.
This cake batter is moderately thick and fits perfectly in 3 9-inch cake pans. Always line your round pans with parchment paper rounds before adding the batter.
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Buttercream
Simply put, this frosting is nothing short of a dream. Brown sugar isn’t a common ingredient in snickerdoodle cookies, but I really wanted to impart its flavor into the cake. Brown sugar weighed down the cake crumb, so I added some to the frosting. Thus, brown sugar cinnamon buttercream was born. (There’s no need for any other frosting flavor again, ever.)
You know what I love about snickerdoodle cookies? Their creamy texture and slightly tangy flavor—both make snickerdoodles uniquely delicious! Cream of tartar supplies those favorable components, but it didn’t really fit into this cake. So I compromised and added cream cheese to the buttercream frosting. Now we have a wonderfully tangy/sweet flavor, plus an ultra creamy texture.
To avoid a gritty texture from the brown sugar, cream it with the butter and cream cheese until relatively smooth. (Once you add the remaining ingredients, you won’t be able to detect its texture anyway.) If you find the buttercream too sweet, add extra salt. If you crave more flavor, add more cinnamon and/or vanilla extract. This brown sugar cinnamon buttercream would be outstanding with banana layer cake or carrot cake, too.
Look at all those cinnamon swirl specks on the bottom of a cake layer! ↑ ↑
Semi-Naked Cake Style
Remember when I taught you how to make a vanilla naked cake? I recreated the look for this snickerdoodle cake. Perfect as a rustic chic autumn cake, no? If you need a visual for this semi-naked look (pretty much a crumb coat), see my naked cake video tutorial.
If you skip the piping detail, there’s enough frosting to cover the whole cake with a generous layer of frosting. 🙂
Need to freeze the cake layers? See how to freeze cakes for detailed instructions.
Love Cinnamon? More Recipes for You:
- Spice Cake
- Chai Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
- Banana Cupcakes (with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting!)
- Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake
And if you need more inspiration, here is a list of 30+ fall cake recipes.
Print
Snickerdoodle Cake
- Prep Time: 50 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 servings
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Using my vanilla cake recipe as the base, create an absolutely mouthwatering snickerdoodle cake filled with buttery cinnamon swirls and topped with creamy brown sugar cinnamon buttercream frosting. Review recipe notes before beginning.
Ingredients
- 3 and 2/3 cups (433g) cake flour* (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 2/3 cups (330g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs + 2 additional egg whites, at room temperature*
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract (yes, Tbsp!)
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) buttermilk, at room temperature*
Cinnamon Swirl
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (41g) or cake flour (38g) (spooned & leveled)
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon*
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, melted
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Buttercream
- 1 and 1/4 cups (282g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, room temperature and sliced into 4 pieces*
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon*
- 5 and 1/2 cups (660g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream or whole milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
- optional for garnish: snickerdoodle cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease three 9-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)
- Make the cake: Whisk the cake flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Beat in the 3 eggs, 2 egg whites, and vanilla extract on high speed until combined, about 2 minutes. (Mixture will look curdled as a result of the egg liquid and solid butter combining.) Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients. With the mixer still running on low speed, slowly pour in the buttermilk then mix just until combined. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick.
- Pour batter evenly into cake pans. If desired, weigh them with a kitchen scale to ensure accuracy. Set aside for a few minutes as you make the cinnamon swirl.
- For the cinnamon swirl: With a fork, mix the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together until combined. Pour the melted butter on top and mix just until combined. Use immediately in the cake batter (next step) because the longer it sits out, the harder it will get as a result of the butter solidifying.
- Drop small spoonfuls of the cinnamon swirl on each of the unbaked cakes. Use a knife to gently swirl the spoonfuls into the batter. Some pieces will remain as chunks (that’s fine!) and some will swirl into the batter.
- Bake for around 23-26 minutes or until the cakes are baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Allow cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Switch the mixer up to medium-high speed and add the cream cheese one piece at a time, mixing until each has combined before adding the next. Once the cream cheese is combined, add the brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and add the cinnamon, confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Turn the mixer on low speed and beat for 30 seconds, then turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until completely combined and creamy. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting seems too thin—I usually add another 1/4 cup (30g) of confectioners’ sugar. You can add more heavy cream if frosting seems too thick or an extra pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. (I usually add another pinch of salt.) If you crave extra flavor, add a little more cinnamon and/or vanilla extract.
- Level the cakes & add the crumb coat: Using a large serrated knife, slice the domes off the cooled cakes (a semi-thin layer) to create a flat surface. Discard domes (or crumble over ice cream!). Place 1 cake layer on a cake stand, cake turntable, or serving plate. Evenly spread about 1 and 1/2 cups of frosting on top. Top with 2nd cake layer and evenly spread another 1 and 1/2 cups of frosting on top. Top with the third cake layer. I decorated my snickerdoodle cake with a crumb coat, which makes it a semi-naked style cake. To recreate this, spread a thin layer of frosting around the sides and top of the cake (save extra frosting for the top in the next step). An icing spatula and bench scraper are helpful for creating this look. (If you need a visual, see my Naked Cake video tutorial.) Chill the crumb coated cake uncovered in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 30 minutes to help set the crumb coat.
- Spread a little extra frosting on top of the cake and use any leftover frosting to pipe detail around the edges, if desired. I used Wilton 8B piping tip. Garnish with snickerdoodles if desired.
- Refrigerate cake for at least 30-60 minutes before slicing and serving. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The cake layers can be baked, cooled, and covered tightly at room temperature overnight. Likewise, the frosting can be prepared then covered and refrigerated overnight. Let the frosting sit at room temperature to slightly soften for 20 minutes before assembling and frosting. Frosted cake or unfrosted cake layers can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before decorating/serving. See how to freeze cakes for detailed instructions.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Cake Pans | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Cake Turntable | Icing Spatula | Bench Scraper | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 8B Piping Tip | Cake Carrier (for storage)
- Cupcakes: Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter. Drop small spoonfuls of cinnamon swirl onto each, then gently swirl with a knife. Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 19-21 minutes. Yields about 3 dozen. Or try my snickerdoodle cupcakes recipe.
- 9×13-Inch Cake: This recipe yields too much batter for a 9×13-inch pan. Instead, you can use my white cake batter and swirl in the cinnamon swirl. (See those recipe notes for baking instructions for a quarter sheet pan.) I recommend cutting this frosting recipe in half so you don’t have too much leftover.
- Cake Flour: To prevent a dry-tasting cake, make sure you are spooning and leveling the flour or weighing it. For the best results, I strongly recommend cake flour. You can find it in the baking aisle and I have many more recipes using it. If you can’t get your hands on cake flour, you can make a homemade cake flour substitute.
- Eggs: 3 whole eggs provide structure, moisture, and richness. 2 extra egg whites keep the cake light and airy. I don’t recommend using 4 whole eggs; stick to the 3 egg & 2 egg white combination. Here are recipes using leftover egg yolks.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk (an acid) is required for this cake recipe. If you don’t have any, you can make a DIY sour milk substitute. Add 2 teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough whole milk to the same measuring cup until it reaches 1 and 1/2 cups. (In a pinch, lower fat or nondairy milks work for this soured milk, but the cake won’t taste as moist or rich.) Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes. The homemade “buttermilk” will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in the recipe.
- Cinnamon: Yes, the cinnamon swirl and frosting both call for 1 Tablespoon (not teaspoon) of ground cinnamon. We need that flavor to stand out!
- Brown Sugar: You can use light brown or dark brown sugar, but I recommend dark brown sugar for bolder flavor.
- Cream Cheese: Use brick cream cheese, not cream cheese spread. Slice the brick into four 2-ounce pieces. If desired, you can skip the cream cheese and add another 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) softened unsalted butter instead.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read more about the importance of room temperature ingredients.
You do a fantastic job with the description and putting the measurements in grams! My family loved this cake.
Very good cake. Thank you for posting this.
When I made this, the cinnamon swirl all sank to the bottom of the layers. I thought I followed the recipe perfectly. Any ideas why this would happen? I made the swirl right before adding it.
Hi Larissa, the swirls do sink a bit as they bake, but shouldn’t sink completely to the bottom. They may sink more if your batter is particularly thin—how was the consistency of your batter before baking?
Are snicker doodles cookies?
Hi Olivia, yep! Here is our recipe for Snickerdoodle cookies.
Hey there my cake layers turned out very thin – I think… yours pictured look to be about 1″ after leveling. Mine is more like .5″… I followed everything as written, with fresh baking soda and powder.
Hi Melissa, What size cake pans did you use? If you used pans larger than 9 inches the cakes would be thin. Also, how was the finished texture of the cake layers?
Yes 9″ pans. The cake was moist but pretty solid/dense. I actually remade it again last night but had the exact same results. Is it supposed to be a pretty solid cake? If not could the butter be doing it? I’m in Canada and I do find our butter is richer than the US. That being said I don’t know that I want to try it again if this won’t fix it.
My family really loved this recipe. Tastes literally just like a snickerdoodle cookie! I accidentally used 2 cups of buttermilk instead of 1.5 but it still turned out great. The frosting was also amazing! Thanks Sally.
Hi!
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe! I love this cake so much that I’ve made it twice in the past two months! My family also really enjoys it!
The flavor is incredible, but I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. Day one the cake is moist and fluffy, but by day two the cake dries out quite a bit, moreso than any other cake I’ve made and stored the same way. Any suggestions for keeping it moist? It’s one of my favorite cakes to date and I’d love to keep making it. It’s the perfect holiday treat!
Thanks again!
Hi Nia, are you storing leftovers in the refrigerator? We find that it stays best if you cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Hi Nia, I kept this cake in the fridge after making but when I cut a slice I zap it in the microwave for about 10 seconds. It comes out perfect after that – moist like the day it was made
Could this recipe be used for making a sculpted car cake? Perhaps by using APF instead to firm it up for carving?
Hi Victoria, this cake is quite light and we haven’t tried sculpting with it, so we’re unsure of how well it would hold up. You can try substituting part of the flour (not all) with all purpose instead of cake flour for more of a dense texture. Let us know how it goes!
Would it be possible for to half this to make a smaller cake?
Hi Alexis! You can certainly try that. We’re unsure what cake pans would be best for a smaller cake. To make a smaller 6 inch layer cake, you could either use this snickerdoodle cupcakes recipe (more on using cupcake recipes for 6 inch cakes) OR use this vanilla cupcakes recipe and halve the cinnamon swirl and frosting from this cake recipe. Let us know what you try!
Can this recipe be made into a rolled cake?
Hi Niki, We have not tested it, but it would be too much batter as written for a typical jelly roll pan. You can try making the vanilla sponge from this cake roll recipe and adding a brown sugar cinnamon swirl, but again we haven’t tested it. Let us know if you give it a try!
I tried this recipe and it tasted great! However the layers domed quite a bit. Any tips for getting them to rise evenly? Do you recommend using bake even strips?
Hi Chelsea, we do not bake with cake pan strips, but some bakers have great success with them. Some doming is normal, so we use a serrated knife to level out the cakes a bit. (The “scraps” are fantastic with ice cream!) Tapping the cake pans on the counter before placing them in the oven can help pop any air bubbles that may cause the cake to rise in some spots. Hope this helps and we’re so glad you enjoyed the cake!
Hi Sally! What would you think would happen if I added some homemade apple pie filling in between the layers of the cake? Not too loose and you use the icing as a dam. I love all your recipes!
Thank you!
Hi Jeanmarie, that should work just fine if you use a frosting dam as you mention. Let us know how it goes!
This cake is amazing. It reminds me more of a cinnamon roll than a snickerdoodle but that is not a complaint. My son, who only loves frosting and doesn’t like cinnamon, loved it. As always, instructions are easy to follow. The cinnamon swirl was a little tricky to make pretty but it worked out well enough for me. I did the “naked cake” on the edges with the recommended 1.5c between layers and still had more than enough frosting leftover. Winner of a recipe!
I am a seasoned baker. I bake A LOT. All I can say is, “Sally, you don’t PLAY, in the kitchen, girl!” This recipe is heavenly. I needed a cake to bring to my friends 41 year sobriety celebration. That’s a BIG deal, in my world. She wanted a snicker doodle cake. I had to find something amazing. I read this recipe, and knew I had to make this cake. Perfection. Every tip, suggestion, measurement and note was perfect. The temperature and bake time was EXACT! This cake got SO many compliments and I was sure to let everyone know that they could find the recipe on your website. I even gave the people who asked your web address, LOL. I count possibly take credit for your hard work and dedication! I let them know, though, that seriously, this cake is no joke to make. Make sure your ingredients are room temperature, people, PLEASE! LOL
Thank you so much for creating such a delicious cake! Big love to you!
If I could give more stars, I would!!
hi! i’m thinking of adding some coffee to this cake recipe, and then using either cinnamon spice frosting or a variation on your chi spice frosting. what do you think of this idea? how would you incorporate some of the coffee?
Hi Shane! It would take some experimenting to add liquid coffee, but you could certainly try adding a bit of espresso powder to the cake batter. You could also add espresso powder to your choice of frosting. If you’re looking for a coffee-flavored cake, you might be interested in this espresso chocolate chip cake instead. Let us know what you decide to try!
Hi! Love your site and your recipes… can not figure out what I’m doing wrong. The cinnamon filling swirl sinks all the way to the bottom of my pan and sticks to the parchment paper. Any tips/tricks??? The icing is DIVINE!!! One time I used melted butter as instructed. The second time I grated cold butter into the dry ingredients and mixed until it looked like a crumble topping- but had the same sinking result both times. Help!
Hi Amy, the swirls do sink a bit as they bake, but shouldn’t sink as much as you are describing. They may sink more if your batter is particularly thin.
This recipe turned out amazing! Just like a snickerdoodle in cake form
I love this cake but my frosting is gritty. I did make sure to have my butter and cream cheese at room temperature and used the hand mixer for about 10 minutes. Should I be mixing even longer?
Hi Rebecca, For the brown sugar to really be incorporated into the frosting you likely just need to beat it longer in your mixer. You can also try adding the brown sugar with the butter and mix that until smooth before adding the rest of the ingredients!
Hi! I would love to make this for Thanksgiving next week 🙂
Any suggestions on how to adjust amounts for smaller baking tins? Would like to do 2 taller 6” or at most 8” tins vs 3 9” tins if possible
Hi Kim! you can use 8 inch pans with the recipe as written. The layers will be slightly thicker and take a bit longer to bake so keep an eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness! Or, here’s our snickerdoodle cupcake recipe that you could use to make a three layer 6 inch cake (using these 6 inch cake instructions).
Thank you so much!
Hi! I’m looking for a way to incorporate maple into this recipe – thoughts about putting it in the cinnamon swirl vs. the frosting?
Hi Mark, adding maple to the swirl could be tricky, as we don’t want to change the consistency too much that it alters how it bakes in the cake. However, you could try adding some maple extract to the frosting. Let us know if you try it!
Hi! I love your vanilla cake recipe and am wondering if I can just add the 1tbsp of cinnamon to the batter and mix it in instead of the cinnamon sugar swirl?
Hi Kathyn, you can do that, yes, but you’ll lose the buttery cinnamon-sugar pockets that the swirl provides. The cake will have a light cinnamon flavor throughout.