Swirled Cinnamon Bread
If you love the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg baking in the oven, then bake up a loaf of this Swirled Cinnamon Bread. It’s a great way to celebrate the Fall baking season!
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What was your favorite board game as a kid? Personally, I loved Clue. Every once in a while, I’d play Monopoly, but I felt like that game just went on forever. (Seriously…how many people have ever actually finished a game of Monopoly?) But even better than Clue was Mouse Trap! Have you ever played that game? It’s listed as ages 6+, so chances are you played it as a kid, or perhaps with your kids. It’s basically a kid version of a Rube Goldberg machine.
If you aren’t familiar with a Rube Goldberg machine, then a quick explanation is in order. It’s essentially a contraption that links a bunch of simple actions together to create a domino effect. The end result is an overly complex machine that eventually completes a very simple task. For instance, the Guinness Book of World Records shared a video of a Rube Goldberg machine that takes 4.5 minutes (and that’s sped-up video time) to light a Christmas tree. Could you just reach down and plug in said tree? Of course. But using marbles, levers, pulleys, balls and all sorts of other contraptions is way more fun!
Swirled Cinnamon Bread
Swirled Cinnamon BreadPicking up that game of Mouse Trap got me thinking. If I were to create a gigantic Rube Goldberg machine, what would it do? Would it open a door? Turn on the tv? Or perhaps turn the oven on so I could then bake a loaf of this Swirled Cinnamon Bread? Yup, that’s right. Swirled Cinnamon Bread. Let’s put our overly complicated and rather useless contraptions discussion to the side and focus on this insanely delicious bread!
I’ve always loved cinnamon rolls, and I still remember the smell of waking up on a weekend morning to the smells of fresh cinnamon rolls wafting out of the kitchen. (In high school, my bedroom was directly above the kitchen. If there’s one way to keep a high school kid from sleeping too much, it’s putting their bedroom right over the kitchen!)
Although this Swirled Cinnamon Bread is a bit more cake-like in texture, it totally reminds me of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. And this bread is seriously a piece of cake (no pun intended) to make! Just mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients. Stir together. Put a layer of cinnamon in the middle. Bake it up, and you’ve got a delicious breakfast…or snack…or dessert…ready to go! The hardest part is letting the loaf cool.
If you love the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg baking in the oven, then bake up a loaf of this Swirled Cinnamon Bread. It’s a great way to celebrate the Fall baking season! Cheers, friends! Oh, and if you try this recipe out, take a photo of it and tag me on Instagram. Then swing back by and let me know your thoughts?
If you love cinnamon rolls, then consider these other tasty recipes, too:
Easy Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls
Overnight Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls
Swirled Cinnamon Bread
Ingredients
For the Bread
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1¼ cups buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
For the Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp milk
- ¼ cup pecans lightly toasted
Instructions
For the Bread
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour a 9”x5” loaf pan; set pan aside.
- Using a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; stir until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vanilla, egg and oil until well combined. Pour liquid mixture into bowl with dry ingredients; stir until just combined.
- Using a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture evenly on top of batter and then pour remaining batter on top. Using a table knife, cut through batter several times to create a swirl with brown sugar mixture.
- Bake for 40 minutes. Tent pan with foil and then continue baking for 18-20 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of bread comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack until completely cool.
For the Glaze
- Using a small mixing bowl, whisk all glaze ingredients (except for pecans) together until well combined.
- Spread glaze on top of bread and then sprinkle toasted pecans on top; let glaze set up (~15 minutes) before slicing and serving.
Clue is the BEST! Or it was when I was 8; I wonder what I’d think of it now. I’ve never played Mouse Trap though–I think I need to fix that because it sounds right up my alley. As for this cinnamon bread, I need at least two slices for breakfast; good thing it’s easy to make right? And I have all the ingredients on hand right now. . .suddenly my morning is looking up 🙂
I’m kinda the same way, Kelsie. I remember loving Clue, but that was years ago. I wonder if I would still like it? I’m gonna guess yes! I mean that game was such a classic! And, yes, any morning that includes slices of this cinnamon bread would be considered a win in my book. 🙂
I really enjoyed ‘Trouble’ and ‘Hungry Hungry Hippo’. Clue was pretty awesome too! Oh, those days!! These bread looks deadly, David! I love that generous topping with all the pecans. I could definitely go for a slice right about now with my coffee. When I say ‘slice’ I mean a huge hunk of it, lol. I can practically smell it now! Have a great week, my friend 🙂
I don’t think I remember Trouble, but I do remember Hungry Hungry Hippo. In fact, I think we have that game stuck at the top of Robbie’s closet. We’ll have to pull it out on one of these cold weekends when we’ve got nothing else on the agenda. I suspect he’ll love it! And thank you for the kind words about this bread, Dawn. I’d send you a chunk…but…well… 🙂
I always love Who’s It! It was a great guessing game about which character everyone had. This bread is amazing! I love baking breads of all kinds, but especially ones with a bit of sweetness!
Ah! Who’s It is a classic, too. I haven’t thought about that game in ages. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it! Also, I love baking breads as well…and then eating them all up. Haha! Thanks, Kathy!
David, I couldn’t agree more about high schoolkids and delicious aroma “alarms”… Lil S’s bedroom wasn’t anywhere close to the kitchen, but if I ever fixed anything in the morning that gave out an aroma, that kid would be up before her alarm! Though, I’d be up before my alarm on a weekend morning for this! This looks so darn delicious – a slice of this, a hot cup of coffee and a board game or two makes for one awesome Saturday morn IMO. Speaking of which,Clue is still a fav in our home though I cannot say the same for never ending Monopoly!
Well then I know how to get you gals out of bed! I’ll sneak into your condo early in the morning and get a loaf of this cinnamon bread in the oven. 🙂 And if we happened to include a cup of strong coffee and a game of Clue? That would indeed be the perfect day! Thanks, Shashi!
Hi David! This is wonderful mash up of quick bread and cake! Who doesn’t love the aroma of something baking?? I like that it uses pantry staples (except for the buttermilk). I need a sweet treat!
I might have mentioned this before, Dorothy, but I use a dried buttermilk. I found it in the baking aisle, and you can mix up the dried powder with water to make however much you need. It’s way easier than remembering to pick up buttermilk! Of course, you could also do the vinegar + milk trick, too. Either way, I hope you enjoy this one…it has so much flavor!!
Hi David! I totally forgot about the powdered buttermilk! I’ll have to get some. Usually when I buy a quart of buttermilk I will find recipes to use it up, like biscuits,cakes and fried chicken. I also use the milk and lemon juice trick.
That’s a good point. Leftover buttermilk just screams fried chicken! 🙂 But the powdered version is perfect for when I only need a little bit for a recipe. One of our stores stopped carrying it recently, but I know the other one still has it. And of course there’s always Amazon!
I love board games! I always liked Monopoly, but, like you, not sure I ever finished a game (on purpose anyway). These days for me it’s all about Blokus! Kind of a strategy game, but you need 4 people. Sometimes it’s tough to find that many who WANT to play me. But this cake – Yum! This looks so scrumptious! I’ve had cinnamon rolls on the brain recently, too! Pinned!
I love me some Blokus, too, Laura! A friend brought that game over a couple of years ago, and we got hooked. Then we ended up picking up our very own copy of it. Easy strategy game. I love Settlers of Catan, too, but that’s a more drawn-out strategy game. I’m thinking if you had slices of this cake on hand, you’d find more people willing to play board games with you! 🙂
When I was a kid, there weren’t many options in Russia, and Monopoly was one of those available games. I did like it. I also loved to be a banker, and I might or might have not cheated once in a while (Just a little compensation for my hard work, you know!) Many years ago my nephew introduced me to the Catan, and this has been my favorite game since that. Our recent addition is the Alchemists; it’s rather fascinating but – gosh – takes forever! But I guess if play the game along with this delicious cinnamon bread and coffee/wine, the time won’t be an issue anymore 🙂
Wait a second! You can’t cheat the banker! That’s just wrong. You should get thrown into jail for that…without passing Go! 🙂 Haha. I do love Catan as well, and we play that one with our friends quite often. I’m not familiar with Alchemists, though. I’ll have to google that one! Thanks, Ben!
The hardest part is letting the loaf cool. Truer words. When the kids were little, there was a boxed cinnamon swirl bundt cake they went gaga over. This might be the next level up, I’ll give it a try.
You should totally give this a shot, Bill! I seriously wanted to lock myself in a dark closet with a cup of coffee and this (cooled) loaf of cinnamon bread. So tasty!! Thanks so much, my friend!
Yep this is for me. The smell of cinnamon (and nutmeg too) baking in the oven is devine. And plus I love bread. Bread of any type. But swirled cinnamon bread? It’s the perfect bake for this autumn / fall season isn’t it? Mouse Trap, yes! I’m sure I have that in a cupboard somewhere. And Monopoly, well that’s next door as it’s one of my favourties. Thanks for sharing that video. But I agree, what a lot of effort just to light up a Christmas Tree when you could just plug it in. Ha ha!
I’m right there with ya on the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg, Neil. It just smells like the holidays to me, and who doesn’t love the holidays?? You and Lynne should totally pull out Mouse Trap and play it this weekend. 🙂
So true. My 14-yr-old is always running downstairs to ask what the aroma is and to tell me how hungry he is! I love it. I’ve never been too into board games, but there’s a game our whole family has been playing with another family when they come over, though not a board game. It requires holding a mobile device and you play on a big screen — it’s called Fibbage. Super fun! As for this bread (I mean, cake!), it sounds and looks so delicious.
Fibbage? I’m not familiar with it, but I’m going to go google it right now. Ok, back. That game sounds fun. I love that you use your phone as the controller! I’ll have to suggest that one to the group. Thanks, Valentina!
The Rube Goldberg machine is new to me, but so clever! I loved playing Clue and also Operation! Did you ever play that?
We always make Cinnamon Swirl Bread for Christmas morning, but this year, we need to try your recipe! Love all of those nuts on top!
I did play Operation a little bit as a kid, but I was always a little too jittery to enjoy it. (It falls in the same category as that biscuit-can-popping…) But Clue? Love it! And, yes, I hear ya on Cinnamon Swirl Bread for Christmas morning. We always have a coffee cake for Christmas. Similar flavors, just slightly different shape. 🙂 Thanks, Marissa!
I always had fun playing Operation. Mouse Trap is a great game too. This swirled cinnamon bread looks great. I love cinnamon in bread.
Mouse Trap is a classic for me, and I was so happy when I stumbled across it at the store. It’s safely tucked up at the top of Robbie’s closet for when he gets a little older! Thanks so much, Dawn!
Oh yes, the smell of cinnamon in the house is the best this time of year!! I made chocolate chip pumpkin cookies with lots of cinnamon & nutmeg last weekend and was dying at how great it made my house smell. This bread sounds delicious!
On another note, the game Candyland comes to mind when I think of childhood games!
I totally agree, Nicole! The smell of cinnamon just immediately makes a house feel warmer…regardless of how cold it is outside. 🙂 Also, Candyland. That’s a great one. I suspect I’ll be playing that one with Robbie before too long!
Sorry, no “Sorry” the game. That was the most played when I was young. Always thought Monopoly was a bit boring, but I’d play if I’d get a piece of your Swirled Cinnamon Bread. Your bread would go perfect with our Swedish fika tradition.
Sorry was always one of my favorites as a kid! I remember our Sorry box was all beaten up because we pulled it out so often. Now I have to go google ‘fika’…any tradition where cinnamon bread can be involved sounds like a winner to me! Thanks, Ron!
This is the most awesome cinnamon bread ever. I had to use melted butter instead of oil because I was out and it turned out more delicious if thats possible. My 8 year old granddaughter comes over every weekend and begs me to make it for her. Only thing is the bread is done in 30 minutes. If you leave it in for 45 minutes it will be either burned or very dry. Thanks for the recipe.
Hey Jacklyn! Thank you so much for the feedback and comment. I’m glad your granddaughter loves this recipe so much. And great tip on reducing the baking time…I wonder if that’s a result of the butter instead of oil? Either way, enjoy!