Cinnamon Sugar Bread — This brown sugar cinnamon bread is light and fluffy in the middle, with a crusty cinnamon-sugar exterior that’s reminiscent of a streusel topping! The ribbon of cinnamon sugar that runs through the middle is a perfect touch! Easy, one-bowl, no-mixer recipe!!
Table of Contents
Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread Recipe
This brown sugar cinnamon bread is so fast and easy to make and comes together in 5 minutes with a whisk, in one bowl. I love it when I don’t have to drag out my mixer because it would seem to defeat the purpose of calling a bread a ‘quick bread’ if the ingredients need to be creamed, creating more dishes. Nothing quick about that!
The same cinnamon-sugar mixture that’s sprinkled on top before baking is also sprinkled into the batter, creating a cinnamon-sugar swirl in the middle of the loaf. The only way to create that thick, delectable, wall of sweet crust on top is to sprinkle cinnamon-sugar generously over the surface before baking.
Not all of it adheres to the bread and you’ll have to remind your kids and husband to ‘Please, eat over your plate.’ And remind yourself, too, so that you’re not recreating a sandy beach on your kitchen floor with the stray cinnamon-sugar granules.
The ribbon of cinnamon-sugar that floats through the interior provides another pop of flavor. The cinnamon flavor is present and notable, but it’s not overwhelming. Feel free to add more if you’re a true fiend.
The bread is flavorful enough that it doesn’t need butter, but if you’re so inclined toasting it and smearing liberally with butter takes it from really good to gobble-the-whole-loaf supremely good. Our toaster got a workout and has the cinnamon-sugar bits stuck in the crumb tray to show for it.
Such an easy bread to make with great results, no kneading and no fuss. From start to finish, this should go from cupboard and into your mouth in under an hour.
Cinnamon Sugar Bread Ingredients
For this cinnamon sugar quick bread recipe, you’ll need:
- Granulated sugar
- Cinnamon
- Unsalted butter
- Egg
- Light brown sugar
- Canola oil
- Vanilla extract
- Buttermilk
- All-purpose flour
- Ground nutmeg
- Baking soda
- Salt
Can I Use a Buttermilk Substitute?
If you don’t normally keep buttermilk on hand, you can cheat and make some with regular milk by adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk and waiting for about 10 minutes.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Cinnamon Sugar Swirl Bread
This cinnamon swirl quick bread is super simple to make! Here’s a look at how the bread is prepared:
- In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla, followed by the buttermilk.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Turn HALF the bread batter into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan and sprinkle three-quarters of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over top. Top with the remaining batter and sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over top.
- Bake your cinnamon swirl bread until the top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Tips for Making Cinnamon Sugar Quick Bread
When making the quick bread batter, it’s important that you give the melted butter a couple minutes to cool down before mixing it in with the other wet ingredients. If you mix everything together all at once, you might wind up accidentally scrambling the egg with the hot butter.
The cinnamon bread batter will be a little lumpy, and that’s totally normal. Don’t try to stir out all the lumps, otherwise you’ll over work the batter and your bread won’t be as fluffy once baked.
Lastly, for easier cleanup I recommend inverting the bread over your kitchen sink or a paper towel since some of the cinnamon-sugar topping will fall off when you remove the loaf from the pan.
Recipe FAQs
No, an 8×4-inch loaf pan will be too small for this cinnamon quick bread recipe. You must use a 9×5-inch pan for this recipe.
Yes, cinnamon sugar bread freezes really well. Let it cool to room temperature, then pop it into a freezer bag or wrap it in multiple layers of plastic wrap. When you’re ready to eat the frozen loaf, set it on the counter overnight to thaw.
Most likely, yes! Raisins or chopped nuts would both be great in this cinnamon swirl bread. You’d only want to add about 3/4 cup of mix-ins total, otherwise your bread will overflow in the oven.
Yes, I’ve made this into muffins before and they turned out beautifully! You’ll want to check your muffins around the 18-minute mark and bake a minute or two more at a time until you figure out the exact amount of time they should be in the oven. You’ll know your muffins are done baking when they’re golden and springy to the touch.
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Swirled Cinnamon Sugar Bread
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Bread
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside (don’t use an 8-by-4-inch pan; it’s too small)
- In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar with the cinnamon and stir to incorporate; set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute. After the butter has cooled momentarily (so you don’t scramble the egg), add the egg, brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and whisk to combine. Add the buttermilk and whisk to incorporate.
- Add the flour, nutmeg, baking soda, optional salt, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix. Batter will be thick and lumpy. Don’t try to stir the lumps smooth.
- Pour half the batter into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula. Sprinkle three-fourths (75%) of the cinnamon-sugar mixture (just eyeball it), distributed evenly over the surface of the batter. This creates the cinnamon ribbon.
- Top with remaining half of the batter, smoothing it lightly with a spatula. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture, distributed evenly over the top. It looks like a lot, but it’s necessary to form the crust, and not all of it aheres.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes (mine took 50), or until top is set and firm, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before inverting.
- Invert bread over the sink or a paper towel to catch some of the non-adhered cinnamon-sugar and sprinkle it back on the bread. Place bread on wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Cinnamon Sugar Desserts:
Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Twists – Baked in a muffin pan and made with refrigerated dough to save time, you’re going to LOVE how FAST and EASY these finger-lickin’ sweet pretzel bites are!
Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread — Super soft, tender, moist pumpkin bread with a slightly crunchy cinnamon sugar topping!
Snickerdoodle Bread — Between the cinnamon-sugar on top, cinnamon in the batter, and the cinnamon chips, the bread is full of wonderful and prominent cinnamon flavor without being overpowering.
Cinnamon Coffee Cake — Between the cinnamon-sugar crust AND the cinnamon-sugar swirled through the center, this EASY coffee cake is IRRESISTIBLE!! Soft, fluffy, light, and of course it’s perfect with coffee!!
Honey Bun Cake — Tastes like a Honey Bun in cake form!! Sweet, rich, decadent, and reminds me of the Honey Buns I used to eat as a kid! Fast and EASY!!
Glazed Cinnamon Roll Cake — The flavor of cinnamon rolls in a soft, tender, EASY cake!! One bowl, no mixer, and you’re going to love the tangy-sweet GLAZE!!
Originally published April 24, 2013 and republished October 2, 2020 with updated text.
I am getting ready to make some of this yummy looking bread. I have a problem though. I only have the smaller size bread pans. Should I leave out a portion of the batter? Help!
You’d want to fill the pans no more than about 2/3 full to prevent an overflow.
Thank you! We made the bread and it is wonderful!!
So glad to hear it came out wonderfully!
I can’t see the recipe and i need to bake this now!!!
Not sure why…I can…just tested in Chrome and Safari and it’s fine and present! Restart your computer and try again :)
So odd, I can see the ingredients on pinterest, which is where i found you, but no method . :(
S’ok I found it, YAY thanks!!
This looks delicious! Do you know if replacing the all purpose flour with bread flour will make it softer/fluffier?
Bread flour will make it stiffer. Don’t do that!
Ah okay! Thanks for the quick response! And thanks for sharing the recipe, will try it this weekend :)
Made this as a loaf and it was delicious. Thank you!
I saw you tried it as muffins also. I was thinking of doing that.
How many does it make? And how long should you cook them for?
It’s this recipe https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/04/salted-caramel-buttermilk-brown-sugar-muffins.html and you can follow along and read all about the directions, yield, etc.
Thanks for trying the bread and glad you loved it!
Ahhhh thank you! I thought those looked good too but didn’t realize they were the same recipe! I’ll be making them soon…..
Yummy! Thanks for sharing. What a great breakfast bread!
Thanks for trying it! Glad you’re enjoying!
Thank you for this easy recipe. Made it last week and we all love it. However I thought the cinnamon-sugar sprinkle was a bit too much so I only put 2/3 , it turned out great!
Glad you loved the bread and did as much of the topping as you saw fit for your tastes :)
Thanks for a great recipe! It was so easy to make, and produced such a moist tender bread. I had to stop my daughter from picking off the whole top crust, which she says is the best part!!
That’s exactly what I think about the crust – that I want to pick it all off (and do!). Glad you enjoyed the bread and found it easy, moist & tender!
I saw this on pinterest this morning, saw buttermilk in the ingredients and closed the page. BUT I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I made it with a few alterations because I’m temporarily dairy free. I used vegetable ghee instead of butter and war water mixed with a tbsp of white vinegar instead of buttermilk. OOOOHH it’s soooo yummy it’s dangerous. It jusst came out of the oven a little while ago and my husband and I have finished half already! I’m gonna save this recipe as the “diet saboteur” … But it’s so worth it! Thanks
Glad the vegetable ghee and DIY dairy-free buttermilk worked well for you! So proud of your for being resourceful! And glad you and your hubby have polished off half already! Thanks for the glowing feedback!
I made this for breakfast this morning after finding it on Pinterest. It’s fabulously good, not too sweet and very easy. I am not sure that any will be left for this toasty goodness of which you speak. ;) Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe & glad you’re loving it!
Hi Averie. Fabulous recipe as always. The ‘ribbon’ is lovely and makes this bread memorable. I made this for my man and I and we pretty much devoured the whole loaf. *blush* haha It has a muffin-y texture which we enjoyed very much. The nutmeg flavour was excellent. Thanks for sharing.
And I’ve now made the recipe as muffins :) https://www.averiecooks.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=46500&action=edit
Glad you guys devoured it!
I was a pro crust remover when I was a kid. No joke. I couldn’t stand it! Now I’m not so fussy about it, as long as it’s soft and fluffy. Or topped with cinnamon sugar. This looks amazing, Averie! Pinned.
Thanks for pinning and this is my fave crust, EVER!
I made it today and OMG its delicious! My family really loved it and I did too :D the cinnamon swirl is the best part ^_^
And it took so little work to prepare- the perfect recipe when you don’t have much time and crave cake. Thanks for posting this recipes I’ll definitely make it again!
So glad it’s a keeper for you and that it was easy to prepare in a hurry! :)
I just tried this recipe. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! It will become one of my staples.
Thank you for not keeping it to yourself :)
So glad you love it so much and it’ll become a staple! And I’ve never understood recipe hoarding. If I have a great recipe, I blog about it! That’s the point of a food blog, right! But I know not everyone shares this mentality!
This is absolutely delicious and so easy to make. I couldn’t wait for it to cool completely – had to steal a slice. Not too sweet, moist, and that crust is such a nice contrast. Tragically, when I inverted it over the sink, I lost one nice corner of the crust. What a waste! I do have one question. After the 15 minute cool time, my bread settled a bit so it’s not as tall as yours appears to be nor as it was when I removed it from the oven. But it is completely done and the toothpick came out clean when I tested it (45 min was plenty of time). Any idea why? Thank you for this great recipe! It’s a keeper.
Glad you are a big fan and enjoying it! Regarding the height, maybe you pan was fractionally larger than mine, thus a shorter loaf. Also sometimes food on camera/pics looks MUCH larger than it really is. I wouldn’t worry about it too much :)
Thanks so much. I’ll just enjoy it then!