Cinnamon Swirl Vanilla Slice

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Delicious, moist, light as a feather, squares of vanilla sponge cake infused with a generous amount of a sweetened cinnamon and cardamom salted butter and drizzled with a buttery, vanilla icing. If, like me, you are a massive fan of Cinnamon Rolls but rarely have the time, or remember, to start making them a few hours in advance, this recipe is definitely for you.

When is the best time to serve these delicious squares?

You can have these incredible slices on the table in just over an hour, and for most of this time, they are cooking in the oven. Wonderful for breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea or dessert, these slices store well and will keep in an airtight container for a few days.

Are they best served warm?

Although they are wonderful served slightly warm, soon after they come out of the oven, they are also delicious at room temperature. If serving for breakfast or brunch, I get all the ingredients ready the night before, throw it in the oven first thing and then shower and dress whilst it bakes. What a fabulous way to start the day!

How to make Cinnamon Swirl Vanilla Slice

Collect all your ingredients together and line the baking tin:

In order to guarantee the correct texture of your cake, it is important to use the correct size tin – in this case it is a 20cm/8inch square tin. If your tin is larger, the depth of your cake batter will be less and the cake will cook more quickly. Equally, if the tin is smaller, your cake batter will be deeper and cook more slowly.

1. Sit the tin on greaseproof paper making sure the paper is large enough to line the tin, come up the sides and have a little overhang.
2. Cut out the corners of the paper so it will fit easily into the tin
3. Fold the paper from corner to corner so the size of the centre of the paper matches the base of the tin. Slot inside the tin.

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Ingredients:

Cinnamon Butter –

• unsalted butter
• cinnamon powder
• cardamom powder
• light brown sugar
• caster sugar
• fine salt

Vanilla Cake –

• unsalted butter, at room temperature
• caster sugar
• eggs
• plain/all-purpose flour
• cornflour/cornstarch
• baking powder
• bicarbonate of/baking soda
• vanilla extract
• fine salt
• sour cream (or natural yoghurt)

Vanilla Icing –

• icing/confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• melted butter
• vanilla extract
• milk or cream

How to make this incredible slice:

First, make the Cinnamon Butter –

1. Weigh all the ingredients into a bowl and beat with an electric whisk, until light and fluffy. Set aside.

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Next, make the Vanilla Slice –

1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
2. Preheat oven to fan 160°C/180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and line a 20cm/8inch square tin with greaseproof paper.
3. Weigh the butter into a mixing bowl. It is important that the butter is at room temperature and soft enough to beat. If it is a little hard, beat it with a whisk before adding the other ingredients. If it is already quite soft, you do not need to do this. For information on softening butter, see here.
4. Measure all the remaining ingredients into the mixing bowl with the butter. I place my mixing bowl on top my scales and weigh everything in directly.
5. Use an electric whisk to beat until combined. This should take less than a minute. Half way, use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and ensure even mixing.
6. Tip half of the cake batter into your lined baking tin and level the surface, ensuring the cake goes into all the corners.
7. Dot over half of the cinnamon butter and swirl into the cake batter.
8. Repeat with the remaining cake batter and cinnamon butter.
9. Bake in a preheated oven for 50 – 60 minutes until cooked. It is cooked when:
   • the centre feels springy when lightly touched with your finger and no imprint remains
   • a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean
   • the cake is beginning to come away from the sides of the tin/dish.
10. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then, using the greaseproof paper over-hang, remove from the tin onto a wire rack.

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Finally, finish with the Vanilla Icing –

1. Mix the icing sugar, butter and vanilla extract together.
2. Slowly add the milk until you achieve a thick, smooth, pouring consistency.
3. Drizzle over the cinnamon slice 15 minutes after you take it out of the oven.
4. Serve the slice warm or at room temperature. Delicious for breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea or as a dessert!

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.