This small batch raspberry cinnamon roll recipe is perfect to make a few heart-shaped buns for an extra special brunch treat! Cinnamon dough with an almond raspberry filling and topped with a quick and easy almond cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients for Fresh Raspberry Cinnamon Buns
This recipe is split into three parts:
- Cinnamon dough
- Fresh raspberry filling
- Almond cream cheese frosting
For the Dough
You'll need:
- Flour - for this cinnamon dough, you'll want strong white bread flour.
- Sugar - a couple tablespoons of light brown (muscovado) sugar for the dough recipe. You'll also need just a bit of granulated sugar, to help activate the yeast.
- Milk - use either full fat or whole milk. This needs to be warmed to a comfortably lukewarm temperature (about 113°F is ideal for yeast). If you heat in the microwave or on the stovetop, be sure that you allow it to cool a bit before adding the yeast.
- Dry active yeast
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
- Egg - one large egg.
- Butter - unsalted butter, softened to room temperature.
Raspberry Filling
- Raspberries - fresh raspberries, smashed with a fork to release their juices.
- Cornstarch - or cornflour in the UK. This helps to thicken the juices of the raspberries to prevent these buns becoming soupy.
- Ground cinnamon
- Almond extract
- Butter - unsalted butter, soft enough to spread over the dough.
Using Raspberries in Baking
So you may notice that many recipes will call for frozen raspberries. These may be more convenient to use depending on your location and the season.
I would normally recommend fresh raspberries for the best flavour, but you can certainly substitute with frozen raspberries in this recipe.
To use frozen raspberries, allow them to defrost first. Frozen fruits are often softer and will break down more easily, so these are likely not to require as much smashing as the fresh.
Almond Cream Cheese Frosting
This is an incredibly simple three ingredient spread:
- Spreadable cream cheese - the soft spreadable variety is the only option in the UK and in fact the best option for a quick soft and tangy frosting.
- Powdered sugar - also known as icing sugar or confectioners sugar. My recipe will provide measurements, but these can be adjusted to taste.
- Almond extract - just a little almond extract goes a long way! And makes for a delicious tasting icing on these raspberry cinnamon rolls.
How to Make These Easy Raspberry Rolls
Making the Dough
Start with the dough for these buns. You'll need to activate the yeast first, by sprinkling this over top the warmed milk along with the granulated sugar. Stir this together and let it sit until frothy.
Place the dry ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Then add the foamy activated yeast, immediately followed by the egg and the butter. Begin kneading at a low setting until the dough comes together. Knead for about 15 minutes until the dough is pulling itself off the side of the bowl.
Transfer this cinnamon dough to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit in a warm place at room temperature for between 90 minutes and two hours until doubled in size.
Filling and Shaping Cinnamon Buns
While the dough is proofing, you can make your raspberry filling. Simply smash the raspberries with a fork, add the cornstarch, cinnamon and almond and stir together.
You can make this a day in advance of filling the buns (just keep in the refrigerator until needed).
After the first proof, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface, knock back and roll to a roughly 11" square.
Spread with softened butter to within about an inch of the edges and then spread the raspberry filling over about three quarters of the buttered section of dough starting from the left side, leaving about a quarter without filling on the right hand side. Then roll from the left to right.
The gap in filling on the right is because the raspberry filling will be pressed out while you roll up the dough. Leaving some uncoated will help keep the filling inside the buns.
Heart Shaped Cinnamon Buns
Once rolled, slice about 1.5" off each end to remove unfilled and uneven dough. Then cut into 9 equal pieces with a dough cutter. These will be nine mini cinnamon buns, which can then be fitted into heart shaped pans to create 3 large heart shaped buns.
After placing in the heart-shaped pans, cover with a clean tea towel and allow to proof for a second time for about 90 minutes.
When ready, bake at 350°F for 20 minutes until risen and golden.
Alternative Shaping for these Buns
This recipe is scaled specifically to provide three large heart shaped buns. This is roughly half a batch of conventional sized cinnamon buns.
But, if you don't have heart shaped cake tins, never fear! You can easily make these raspberry cinnamon buns in a variety of alternate baking trays. Using the same recipe, you can use a 7" round cake pan or another similar sized baking dish.
By doubling the recipe, you can make nine larger individual buns following the basic process outlined in my Apple Pie Buns recipe.
Frosting
When it comes to frosting raspberry rolls, you have many options! For this recipe, I recommend my easy spreadable cream cheese and almond icing. Simply stir the ingredients together and spread or pipe over the buns.
Alternatively a simple vanilla glaze of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla would go well. Or, you could amp up the raspberry by using a bit of raspberry juice or puree with icing sugar for a quick and easy raspberry icing.
FAQs
Well, when dealing with a brunch classic, you can't really beat eating them fresh! Leftovers can keep for a couple of days, though I'm not going to lie, they won't be as good as on the day they're baked.
If you frost with the cream cheese frosting, you should also store in the refrigerator if leaving overnight, which can contribute to the buns drying out more quickly.
Given the proofing required and the desire to eat them fresh, you might be wondering: how do I make cinnamon buns for breakfast without waking up insanely early?
Well, you're in luck! These buns can be slow proofed for the second proof - this means, you can complete all the steps, fill and fashion the buns the day before. Cover lightly with cling film and place in the refrigerator overnight.
The following morning, take out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for about an hour before baking. Saves you loads of time and 4am alarm clocks!
Of course! If you're needing this to be nut free or just not an almond fan, simply leave out the almond extract. You can replace this with vanilla for a nut free version, or even add a bit of lemon extract to give a zest.
If you like this recipe, try out some other brunch bakes:
- Apple Pie Filled Cinnamon Rolls
- Nectarine Bread
- Mini Brioche Buns
- Cardamom Pistachio Challah Buns
- Easy Zucchini Bread
Raspberry Cinnamon Buns
Equipment
- 3 heart-shaped springform tins
- electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment
Ingredients
Ingredients for Cinnamon Dough
- ⅓ cup full fat (whole) milk heated to about 113°F (45C)
- 1¼ teaspoon dry active yeast
- ½ teaspoon superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar
- 1½ cups strong bread flour
- 2 tablespoon light brown sugar (muscovado) firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter softened at room temperature
Ingredients for Fresh Raspberry Filling
- ½ cup fresh raspberries mashed with a fork
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or cornflour in the UK
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter softened at room temperature
Ingredients for Almond Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup spreadable cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar or icing sugar
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Begin by activating the yeast. Sprinkle the yeast and the granulated sugar over the warm milk, stir and set aside for 10 minutes until foamy.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together the dry ingredients - the flour, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar.
- Once the yeast is foamy, add this to the flour mixture, followed immediately by the egg and butter. Knead on a low setting until combined into a dough and then continue kneading for 15 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Transfer the dough to a buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place for about 90 minutes until doubled in size.
- While the dough proofs, mix together the smashed raspberries, cornstarch, cinnamon and almond. Allow to sit for at least half an hour.
- When the dough is ready, turn out onto a clean work surface. Stretch and roll the dough to a roughly 11" square.
- Butter the dough with 2 tablespoons of softened butter to within 1" of the edges.
- Then spread the raspberry filling over about ¾ of the buttered section, leaving a ¼ gap on the right side.
- Roll the dough tightly from the left side to the right. The gap in filling will help the filling to not leak too much out of the roll as you go.
- Use a sharp knife of dough slicer to cut about 1½" off each end of the dough log, then slice the log into 9 equal pieces.
- Place three of these in each of the three heart-shaped baking tins. (see note)
- Cover the tins with a clean tea towel and proof for a second time for about 90 minutes, until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan).
- When the buns are ready, bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until risen and browned on top.
- While the buns bake, mix together your spreadable cream cheese, almond extract and powdered sugar until you reach a smooth consistency. If you want a sweeter frosting, you can add a bit more icing sugar. Adding milk will help make the frosting looser if you want a thinner consistency.
- Once removed from the oven, allow to cool for about 10 minutes before spreading or drizzling with cream cheese icing.
- Serve warm for the freshest raspberry cinnamon rolls!
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