browned butter walnut cinnamon roll cake

Phew!  That's a mouthful of a name huh?

I'm fascinated with the idea of roll-up cakes.  Not cake-rolls shaped like logs, but thin layers of cake rolled and placed on a plate, flat side down so you can see the swirls on top.  I have a recipe I'm dying to try when I can locate the right ingredients, but for now I decided to adjust a classic cinnamon roll recipe to scratch my roll-up cake itch.

I used my favorite cinnamon roll recipe but changed a few things.

fragrant and toasty browned butter

Changes for the filling:
Brown 2/3 cup of unsalted butter and brushed a thin layer of it on the dough before spreading on the filling.
Add 1 cup of pulverized walnuts to the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Changes for the frosting/icing (depending on how much milk you add)
1/3 cup browned butter was used in place of softened butter for the icing

Changes for the assembly:
Instead of rolling up the dough into a long log and slicing it for individual cinnamon rolls; I sliced 4 long strips. Approximately 3 x 24 inches.  The first long strip I rolled into a large cinnamon roll and placed it in the middle of a 9 inch greased and parchment paper lined (only on the bottom) round cake pan.  The next strip carefully wrapped around the cinnamon roll in the middle and continued doing this until the cake pan was a giant cinnamon roll.  This method is not easy.  Lots of the filling is lost in transfer and trying to get the dough to wrap well.  Don't fret, just push the filling in between the layers.  It' won't look perfect but it doesn't really matter because the second rise will fluff out any mistakes.

Changes for baking:

I still baked this cake at 375 degrees like I do the cinnamon rolls.  It took a good 25-30 minutes though.  The last 8 minutes I covered the pan with aluminum foil so the top wouldn't brown any more.  To ensure your cake is done use a knife and gently peak between the middle layers.  It it's still too doughy, cook it for a few more minutes.  I would start peaking around minute twenty five.

Let the cake rest in the pan for about 5 minutes after removing it from the oven.  It should come out smoothly without issue because of the parchment paper on the bottom.  Let it cool a bit longer then drizzle the icing on top and sprinkle with any stray nuts that fell off the cake.  Slice and enjoy with coffee or if your my daughters tomorrow at breakfast; jump for joy about getting an awesome treat like this on a school day!