I Tried The Viral Cinnamon Rolls Hack That Makes Canned Dough Taste Like Cinnabon

Have you wondered about the viral cinnamon roll hack you’ve seen floating around TikTok or Instagram? I tried it so you don’t have to.

OK, so if you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet, you have likely seen the hack for cinnamon rolls. Specifically – the cinnamon rolls hack that makes canned dough taste like a pillowy soft Cinnabon. I can practically smell the mall just typing this out. Anyway, the real “hack” behind it is simple: heavy cream.

People claim that by adding a layer of heavy cream elevates a package tube of cinnamon rolls from the store from boring to bursting (with doughy thickness). If you’re not intrigued by this (at a minimum…I was practically salivating watching a TikTok video), you’ve never been wronged by a can of dough from the store.

I Tried The Viral Cinnamon Rolls Hack That Makes Canned Dough Taste Like Cinnabon

It seemed simple enough: go to the store, grab a can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, put them in a greased baking dish, and pour heavy cream on top until there is about half an inch of cream in the bottom of the pan. Then, you bake as directed on the can. The only thing I didn’t do that this hack advises is cover the rolls with tinfoil. I didn’t have any and it seemed like an unnecessary step to me anyway.

20 minutes after I put my rolls into the oven, I pulled them out and was SHOCKED to see how large and – yes pillowy – they looked. I have made a lot of cinnamon rolls in my life and I can tell you that none from a can have ever come out of the oven looking this voluptuous. 

For reference, this was a 5-roll pack of Pillsbury rolls with cream cheese icing, which I happily slathered all over the jumbo rolls while they were still hot. As you can see, the rolls are so big that I didn’t even have a ton of icing to pile on. 

Concerns I had included:

Would they cook evenly with all that moisture? Yes, not only did that cook evenly, that doughy texture was maximized throughout each roll – no weird crusty edges.

Would there be weird raw spots? While I personally love this, not all people are a fan. Also no – this did not happen. See above.

Would they be sitting in wetness with all that cream? Once again – no. Most of the cream is absorbed into the dough, making it fluffy kind of fusing the rolls together.

So, if you’ve been wanting to try this easy and delicious way to elevate canned cinnamon roll dough, I’m giving it my official YES YOU WILL LOVE IT seal of approval.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy Cookie Butter Breakfast Rolls