Recipe: Cinnamon Roll Bread

Just like everyone else, I have been baking during the quarantine (I've already made chai-spiced banana bread and confetti bars). I saw this recipe from Jennifer Fisher while scrolling through Twitter and thought I'd give it a go. The list of ingredients and the directions were pretty short, so I thought it would be easy, too.

Kind of looks like any other, nondescript bread. And that's cinnamon on top; it's not burnt!

I will admit that I didn't read them that closely, though, so that was a bit of a mistake. For one, I didn't have any milk, so I went with half light cream, half Lactaid. Also, the directions themselves from a baker's standpoint aren't very good (see my comments below). So this was a gamble recipe.

Ingredients

For Bread:

• 1 c. organic sugar
• 2 c. organic flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 organic egg
• 1 c. milk
• 1/3 c. vegetable oil

For "Swirl In" :

• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/3 c. organic sugar

For Topping:

• 4 tbsp. butter, softened
• 2 c. powdered organic sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 tbsp. milk substitute

Directions

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees - I think you mean oven, right? And are we talking Fahrenheit or Celsius?
2. Combine the "swirl-in" ingredients
3. Combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt - No Oxford comma. *judging*
4. Beat the egg, milk and oil
5. Grease the loaf pan and pour half of the mixture, followed by half of the cinnamon sugar mixture to swirl in - Notice at no point are we told to mix the wet and dry ingredients together. After seeing some of the baking "fails" from quarantine, some people need true step-by-step instructions!
6. Pour in the remaining batter (the pan should only be 3/4 full) and swirl in remaining cinnamon sugar
7. Bake for 1 hour
8. Allow to cool and remove from the pan
9. Drizzle the icing on top

Along with my milk situation and the fact that my pan was only about half-full instead of 3/4 full, I wasn't sure how it would turn out. In the end, the bread (cake) tasted good, but it was a bear to get out of the loaf pan. I guess I didn't spray it enough, especially in the corners. I might recommend lining the pan with foil and then spraying it, just so you'll have an easier time getting the bread out (and it helps with faster clean-up, too).

I didn't bother to make the topping/icing since I figured the bread would last longer without it (and the bread would be easier to store). I can always heat up some store-bought icing and drizzle it on top when I feel like it. Oh, and I probably don't need to say this because I'm a no-BS, practical kinda lady, but non of the ingredients I used were organic. Nobody has the time (or the funds) for that!