Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze
Soft, spiced and generously iced
These cinnamon rolls take a Scandinavian turn with ground cardamom, the warm, floral spice beloved across the Nordic countries, worked into both the dough and the buttery filling. The result is fragrant and complex, the cardamom lifting the familiar cinnamon into something more grown-up. A tangy cream cheese glaze, spread over while the rolls are still warm, melts slightly into every soft swirl. Pull-apart soft and generously iced, they are weekend baking at its most comforting.
Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 7g fast-action dried yeast
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp ground cardamom
- 250ml whole milk, warmed
- 1 large egg
- 75g butter, softened
- 100g butter, softened, for the filling
- 120g soft brown sugar
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cardamom, for the filling
- 100g cream cheese
- 50g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 0.5 tsp vanilla extract
Method
- Combine the flour, yeast, caster sugar, salt and 1.5 tsp cardamom in a large bowl. Pour in the warm milk and egg, then mix to a shaggy dough.
- Knead in the 75g softened butter a little at a time, then knead for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover and prove for 1 hour, until doubled.
- Make the filling by beating the 100g butter with the brown sugar, cinnamon and 1 tsp cardamom to a spreadable paste.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a large rectangle, roughly 40 by 30cm.
- Spread the spiced butter evenly to the edges, then roll up tightly from the long side into a log.
- Cut into 12 even slices with a sharp knife or a length of thread. Arrange cut side up in a lined baking tin, slightly apart.
- Cover and prove for a further 30 to 45 minutes, until puffy. Meanwhile heat the oven to 190C.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
- Beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, milk and vanilla to a smooth glaze and spread over the warm rolls.
3 The Story
Sweet, spiced buns made from an enriched yeast dough are woven through the baking traditions of northern Europe and beyond. The American cinnamon roll, large and soft and lavishly iced, is one well-known descendant, but it shares ancestry with the Swedish kanelbulle, the cinnamon bun so cherished in Sweden that it has its own national day. This recipe deliberately bridges the two, taking the generous size and cream cheese finish associated with the American style and the cardamom that is the hallmark of Nordic baking.
Cardamom is the quiet star here. The spice, the dried seed pods of a plant in the ginger family, is native to southern India but became deeply embedded in Scandinavian kitchens, where it scents countless breads, buns and biscuits. Its aroma is at once warm, citrusy and faintly eucalyptus-like, and it has a remarkable affinity with cinnamon, deepening and rounding out the familiar spice rather than competing with it. Using it in both the dough and the filling means the flavour runs all the way through.
The dough is what bakers call an enriched dough, meaning it contains fat, sugar and egg in addition to flour, water and yeast. These enrichments slow the yeast a little but reward you with a soft, tender, golden crumb that stays fresh longer than a plain bread dough. Strong bread flour provides the gluten structure needed to trap the gases from the yeast, and a thorough knead develops that structure so the rolls rise tall and pull apart cleanly.
Two proves matter. The first lets the dough develop flavour and double in volume; the second, after shaping, lets the cut rolls relax and puff so they bake light rather than dense. Rolling the log tightly gives those neat spirals, and cutting with thread rather than a knife avoids squashing the soft dough.
The cream cheese glaze is the modern American flourish that sets these apart from a simple sugar icing. Its slight tang cuts through the richness and sweetness of the buttery, spiced rolls, and spreading it while they are warm lets it soften and seep into the swirls. Eat them on the day they are baked, ideally still warm from the oven with a strong coffee alongside.
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