So this is our last post for the Tinkerbell party! We’ve shared the decorations, the red rock cake pops, green storm cloud cotton candy, sunflower truffles and the Gruff cake. The final character is our FAIRY, Fawn, an animal fairy. She got a new look for this movie, she went from a long thin french braid to this big, thick, full twisted braid. So I KNEW I wanted to have a braided food item.
I was originally going to go with a bread… But bread can get heavy and we already had a lot of food, so I went with cinnamon rolls that I turned into a twisted loaf. Cinnamon rolls are a lighter dough (and let’s face it any chance to have a ton of cream cheese frosting on something and I’m gonna say YES!
Cinnamon roll Braid
Ingredients
dough
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 C water warmed, between 100 and 120.
- 8 Tbsp butter melted
- 3/4 cup whole milk warmed
- 3/4 C granulated sugar
- 1 lrg egg
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 C all purpose flour plus more for dusting counters
Cinnamon/Sugar Layer
- 8 Tbsp butter softened
- 3/4 C packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
Frosting
- 8 ounces full fat cream cheese softened
- 4 Tbsp butter softened
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- lightly stir the yeast, sugar and warm water together in the bottom of your mixing bowl
- let sit 5-10 mins (until double is size) to activate the yeast
- With the mixer on low add the milk, butter, sugar, egg and salt
- Add the flour 1 C at a time (you might not need the full 5th C) you don't want the dough to be sticky, but you don't want it to start pulling away from the sides either
- Pour it into a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel and let rise, someplace warm, until doubled in size, about 60 mins.
- flour your counter top and pour the dough on to it, knead it LIGHTLY and roll it out into a long rectangle, about 26 inches long (twice as long as wide easily). You want it thin, that will give you more twists, about 1/4 inch thick
- cover the dough from edge to edge with the soft butter. Use it all, don't be stingy.
- mix the sugars and cinnamon and cover it entirely, again use it all.
- roll it into a LONG roll, pinching the ends closed, and cut it in half (13 inches long each).
- pace it on some parchment paper and cut it down the center lengthwise, and open it up so you see the ribbons of buttery sugar
- Start twisting, one side over the other, until you get to the end, and fold the ends over together.
- Place the twists side to side in a 9x13 pan (this will help it from spreading too much) and let it sit, and rise slightly, 30-45 mins.
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Cook about 10 mins, then using the parchment paper, swap the loafs (so the center that is less cooked is now on the outside so you can cook them evenly, it's so thick it took longer to cook than a traditional cinnamon roll.)
- Bake another 10 mins. When it's golden brown and doesn't feel squishy anymore it's done!
- Beat the frosting ingredients together until smooth and you can either spread across the top, or serve on the side (I did this so you could see the braid)
- slice and serve!
Video
Nutrition
Look how pretty it looks raw! This is after the 45 mins of rising. It’s a toss up, if you cook it right away you’ll get more defined braids, but a denser one. I decided to let them rise to get that lighter bread, and I thought the cinnamon lines would define the braids enough.
I don’t LOVE the cinnamon flavor to be super heavy, but if you LOVE cinnamon then by all means double what your adding to the sugar mixture. But make sure your using brown and white sugar, that really gives that sweetness depth. I’m a little obsessed with brown sugar for flavor.
Mmmmm These braids were a huge hit. Good thing the recipe makes two cause the first one was gone RIGHT away… the second one too. I actually made a double batch (so 4) but my husband and kiddo’s taste tested them for me before the party… I made ANOTHER batch today, even my husband, who is kinda anti cinnamon rolls (weirdo) LOVED this and finished off the first one before I even tried any!
Tinker Bell and the Neverbeast posts:
- Pistachio Dessert Lasagna Recipe - April 18, 2020
- Homemade White Bread Recipe - April 17, 2020
- Easter Egg Pinata Cake with Chocolate Nest – recipe and video - April 8, 2020
Sherry Bohrmueller
That cinnamon braid looks delicious I’m going to have to try it this weekend!
Ashlee
it is so good! and I love pretty food!
Clarisa Wanlass
I’m totally going to try this! Looks pretty and yummy! What do you mean by “swapping the loaf”? I was a little confused about that part. Would this work on a cookie sheet vs a 9×13 plan or would that makes it really flat even after rising? Thanks for the recipe, love your site and YouTube channel!
Ashlee
well the outer edges cook faster than the center so by swapping the loaves from left to right and right to left (so that the side in the center is no on the outside edge) so you can get each loaf evenly cooked. and no, I wouldn’t use a cookie sheet, you could use two large bread loaf pans instead, but not a cookie sheet.
Deborah Zemek
Hi Ashlee,
I know you live in Utah (and can I say you have the most beautiful children – every one of them!) so I’m curious about your recipes and how they do at high altitude. Do you make them just as you list them or do you tweak them somehow? I have a little trouble with bread recipes sometimes although I seem to be able to make cinnamon rolls and I will be trying this recipe very soon because I simply cannot resist.
Your chocolate cake recipe is my go-to now – it comes out perfectly every single time and I get huge compliments. I tell them, of course, where I got the recipe 🙂 So thank you for your hard work and your excellent recipes!
Ashlee Marie
with bread I start by adding half the flour then add the rest of the flour 1/2 C at a time until the dough cleans the sides as you beat. there isn’t a high altitude adjustment that work every time when it comes to bread. then knead until the dough has the right smoothness and stretch. adding too much flour is the worst thing you can do for bread.