These vegan pink cinnamon rolls are soft, buttery and packed with berries! They’re easy to make and use common kitchen ingredients. Filled with a delicious mix of raspberry compote, strawberry jam and fresh strawberries, and topped with a cream cheese frosting, they are delicious and perfect for Valentines day!
Looking for more Valentines recipes, check out my Vegan Love Letter Pastries, Vegan Strawberry Cream Danishes and Vegan Raspberry Cake.
Vegan pink cinnamon rolls
Valentines day is just around the corner and these pink cinnamon rolls are a very cute and romantic Valentine’s treat you can make your loved one / loved ones! Dyed with pink food colour and filled with juicy berries, these pink cinnamon rolls are delicious and will impress everyone!
Why you need to make these pink cinnamon rolls
- They’re PINK!
- Fluffy
- Filled with juicy, fruity flavours
- Vegan friendly
- Easy to make
- Freshly chopped strawberries inside
- Made with simple ingredients
- Dough rises beautifully and creates a fluffy bun
- Super easy, homemade filling
- Great for breakfast
- Great for kids to get involved in making
- The ULTIMATE romantic and delicious treat for Valentine’s Day
How to make the cinnamon roll dough pink?
There are a few ways you can turn the dough pink. You can use a vegan friendly pink or red food gel or go for the more natural food colour of beetroot powder. I used the Rainbow Dust ProGel as you only need a tiny amount, but it colours the dough perfectly. Adding in some beetroot powder is a great natural alternative.
What goes inside a pink cinnamon roll?
I’ll let you in on a secret, no cinnamon is actually in this recipe. I swapped out the classic cinnamon sugar and made a simple raspberry compote and jam combination. It’s delicious, sweet and tart.
I originally recipe tested just with jam, but it was far too runny, so when I tried rolling up the dough, it made a complete mess. Making a thick compote then adding in some jam is the perfect way to keep the filling thick without loosing half of it when you roll it up! It takes a few minutes to make, and around half hour to cool down, but trust me, the outcome is totally worth the little effort!
Ingredients you’ll need to make vegan pink cinnamon rolls
- Dairy-free butter : Use a vegan block butter, such as Naturli Vegan Block or Flora Plant Butter. Margarine will make the dough too soft.
- Dairy-free milk : You can use almond, soya, cashew or oat, any will work fab! Just make sure it’s room temperature.
- Caster sugar : White caster sugar works best. Helps to add sweetness and activate the yeast.
- Yeast : Make sure to use an active dry yeast, this is what will give the rolls a light and fluffy texture.
- Plain flour : Use plain white flour for this recipe.
- Pink food gel : Use a high pigment food gel, I’ve linked to the BEST one here!
- Raspberries : You can use fresh or frozen.
- Water : Room temperature water is great!
- Corn flour : Corn flour or corn starch.
- Jam : This is added into the compote for added flavour. You can use raspberry or strawberry jam.
- Strawberries : Wash, dry and chop up fresh strawberries to go in the filling of the rolls.
- Vegan cream cheese : Make sure to use vegan friendly cream cheese, such as Violife or any vegan cream cheese you have available to you.
- Icing sugar : Sift the icing sugar before adding into the frosting to prevent lumps.
- Vanilla : You can use extract or seeds from a vanilla bean / pod.
- Freeze dried strawberries : For the decoration, optional.
How to assemble these pink cinnamon rolls?
These sweet rolls are assembled like classic cinnamon rolls but are slightly messier due to the gooey fruity filling. If you haven’t made cinnamon rolls before (or need alittle refresher), the process is VERY simple, so keep reading to learn how it’s done!!
- Roll out the dough into a rectangle
Once you have kneaded all the ingredients together into a smooth dough, allowed the dough to have it’s first prove, lightly dust a clean work surface with some flour and place your dough on top. Dust a rolling pin with flour then roll out the dough roughly into a large rectangle shape.
- Spread over the filling
Use a spoon or spatula to spread over the berry filling, making sure it’s evenly spread out. Sprinkle over the chopped strawberries. Leave an inch border around the edge of the dough.
- Roll up the dough
Starting from the long edge, carefully and tightly roll up the dough into a long log. Keep the roll tight, don’t worry if things get messy!
- Cut the cinnamon rolls
The easiest way to cut cinnamon rolls neatly is to use some cotton or unflavoured dental floss. Lay the rolls, swirl facing upwards, in a lightly greased ceramic dish, cover and allow to rest in a warm place until puffed up, not quite doubled in size.
- Bake
Bake until puffed up, delicious and golden in colour.
- Cream cheese
Whip up a batch of vegan cream cheese frosting, spoon it on top of the rolls, swirl around and enjoy.
Options for decorating the rolls
These vegan pink cinnamon rolls are perfect with either:
- A simple vegan cream cheese frosting, which is what I opted for (recipe written in the recipe card below)
- A strawberry or raspberry frosting, which is simply the plain cream cheese frosting with a spoonful of compote inside. It adds more colour and fruity flavour.
- A lemon drizzle glaze. Simply mix icing sugar in a bowl with some fresh lemon juice until it’s runny and drizzle over the top of the rolls. It adds a really lovely citrus flavour which pairs wonderfully with the fruit.
Pink cinnamon roll FAQ
Is this recipe vegan?
- YES! This recipe is 100% vegan friendly and doest use any animal ingredients!
What size dish do I need?
- You want to use a rectangular or round dish. I use an 11 x 9 inch white ceramic dish and it works perfectly!
Can I flavour the rolls?
- YES!!! You can add in a teaspoon of two of vanilla extract, or make them even more tasty and fruity with some orange flavouring!
How to cut perfect cinnamon rolls?
- Cotton or dental floss is the best and neatest way to perfectly slice your rolls. It’s better than a sharp knife or any other method I’ve tried. The cotton / floss slides cleanly through the dough, cutting it into slices without tearing or smooshing.
What does the dough taste like?
- The dough is a simple plain cinnamon roll dough. The only difference being that it’s coloured with pink food gel. If you opted for a more natural food colour and added in beetroot powder or any other natural pink coloured powder, it might help give the dough more flavour.
Why did my frosting melt when I added it on top of the rolls?
- The main reason is you rushed and spread the frosting over the rolls when they were still warm. You need to allow your cinnamon rolls to cool completely in the dish before you frost them. Frosting them too early will melt the frosting and you will end up with super sticky and gooey rolls, not what you want!
How to prevent the dough from sticking?
- Make sure to flour your work surface and rolling pin with flour before kneading or rolling out. The dough will be slightly sticky. Don’t add too much flour through, as if you do add too much, you risk getting tough and chewy dough / rolls.
How to store the rolls?
- Make sure to store the rolls in a sealed / air tight container in the fridge. Allow to come to room temperature before enjoying. You can store un-frosted rolls in a sealed container at room temperature. Eat within 2 days of making, but best enjoyed fresh day of making.
If you make, and love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you & happy baking! Make sure to tag me in your photos on Instagram and Facebook! And if you want to pin this recipe for later, you can use the button on the recipe card, above or below this post, or on any of the photos. Happy baking all!
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Vegan Strawberry Sweet Rolls
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: Approx 9
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan strawberry sweet rolls are super gooey rolls that taste like strawberries and cream. They’re filled with a mix of raspberry compote and strawberry jam, fresh strawberries and topped with a delicious vanilla cream cheese glaze. These are perfect to make for Valentines Day / Mother’s day!
Ingredients
Ingredients for the pink cinnamon rolls
- 115g of dairy-free butter
- 400ml of dairy-free milk (room temperature)
- 50g of caster sugar
- 1 pack active dry yeast (approx 7g)
- 480g of plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
- Pink food gel
Ingredients for the filling
- 100g of fresh / frozen raspberries
- 50g of caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon of water
- 2 tablespoons of cornflour
- 130g of strawberry / raspberry jam
- 50g of chopped fresh strawberries
Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting
- 60g of dairy-free butter
- 40g of dairy-free cream cheese
- 150g of icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- Dairy-free milk (if needed)
Ingredients for the decoration
- 2 tablespoons of freeze dried strawberries/ freeze dried raspberries
- Fresh strawberries
Instructions
Method (rolls)
- In a small saucepan melt the butter on medium heat.
- Add the warm melted butter into a mixing bowl and add in the room temperature milk, sugar and active dry yeast. Whisk to combine, then cover with a tea towel and set aside somewhere warm for 10 minutes. I like to place mine in my conservatory, near a heater or near a pre-heating oven. Just somewhere where the bowl can warm up, but not in the oven as this can kill the yeast. The mixture will froth up, as the yeast actives. You’ll know it’s activating as you’ll be able to smell the yeast.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, pour in the activated yeast mixture along with a drop of pink food gel.
- Knead the dough until its smooth and when you press it, it bounces back. The dough should smooth out and become less tacky. You can use a stand mixer with a dough hook or you can do this with your hands on a clean floured surface. Don’t over knead or the rolls will be tough. If you need to add some more flour, add a little bit at a time to get it to a smooth, bouncy dough.
- Form the dough into a neat and smooth ball and place into a bowl which has been lightly greased with some oil (I like to use sunflower oil, or a neutral flavoured oil.) Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to prove in a warm area for 1 – 2 hours or until doubled in size.
Method (filling)
- Place the fresh or frozen raspberries into a medium-sized saucepan and sprinkle over the sugar, water and cornflour. Add in the strawberry/raspberry jam too.
- Place on top onto the hob over a low heat and bring to a simmer. This will take around 5-8 minutes. Keep stirring with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from sticking and burning. It will start to thicken. Once thick, remove from the heat and allow to cool before using. As it cools, it will thicken up even more and turn jelly-like.
- Store in a sealed container in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. If the compote turns too thick, give it a stir to loosen it before using.
Assemble the rolls
- Once the dough has doubled in size, grease a 11 x 9 inch square or round dish with oil and set aside.
- Turn the risen dough out on to a floured surface. Use a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 16” x 24” rectangle. The thinner the dough, the more swirls you’ll get.
- Using a spatula or spoon, spread the jam mixture over the entire rectangle of dough, making sure to leave an inch border round the edge. Sprinkle over some finely chopped fresh strawberries (optional).
- Working from the long edge, roll the dough into a large log, pinching the ends together so it stays together and doesn’t fall apart. Using cotton or floss, cut the dough (Watch my video tutorial here). This recipe makes approximately 9-10 rolls, depending how large or small you cut them. Place the rolls into the greased dish, leaving a tiny bit of space between the rolls as they will puff up when they prove and bake!
- Cover the dish again with a tea towel and allow the rolls to rise in a warm place for a further 40 minutes – 1 hour. During this second prove, they will be very puffed up and fluffy.
- Pre-heat your oven to 180° C fan. When the rolls are puffed up, brush the edges of the rolls with some dairy-free milk and place into the middle of the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until risen and golden in colour. You can test they are baked by inserting a toothpick into the rolls. If it comes out clean, they’re ready but if the tooth pick has some dough or batter on, they need more time in the oven to bake.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully in the dish before frosting.
Method (frosting)
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and cream cheese, whisk until creamy. You can use a stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment or a electric hand whisk. You can even use a standard hand whisk for this.
- Add in the icing sugar and vanilla. Whisk together until no lumps remain. If it’s too runny, add in more chunks of butter to get it to the right thick and creamy consistency. If it’s too thick, add in a splash of dairy-free milk.
- If you want a glaze, drizzle over the buns while they’re warm. If you want the frosting to hold it’s shape on top of the buns, spread it on when the buns are cool.
- Decorate the rolls with a sprinkle of freeze dried berries and some fresh chopped strawberries. This is optional but adds more colour and fruity flavour.
Notes
To store: Store the rolls in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Best eaten on day of making.
What dairy-free butter to use? My favourite vegan block butters to use are Naturli Vegan Block, Flora Plant Butter and Violife VioBlock. For the frosting, I would suggest a thick vegan butter as opposed to margarine.
What vegan cream cheese to use? To be honest, any dairy-free cream cheese will work perfectly in this recipe. My favourites to use are: ‘Violife Cream Original’, Sainsbury’s own Free From Cream Cheese’. Any soft, and creamy cream cheese is great!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
I was hesitant to make these as I am rubbish at baking bread but WOW they turned out better than I would have ever thought. Thank you so much for this recipe holly, going to make more with blueberry jam filling 😀
Author
Hello, I am absolutely over the moon you enjoyed! Thank you so so much!! xxx
😋DELICIOSOS
Author
Aw thanks SO much!!! x
I am in love with strawberry anything and these were just AMAZING!!! My husband loved them as well!! Melt in your mouth to die for!!
Author
Hello Lauren, thank you SO much! I am over the moon you enjoyed! That makes me so happy xxx
i needed up bringing these to my friends and they actually really enjoyed them!! it made about 12 big rolls in the u.s measurements
Author
Hello, aw thank you so much!!! Ohhhh thats awesome, the more the merrier haha! x
Hi, is it possible to replace the raspberries & strawberries with blueberries/wild berries or something similar?
So excited to try the recipe out!
Author
Hello,
of course! Use whatever filling you fancy! xx
Hi there, i really want to make these for my boyfriend and i was wondering what regular ingredients i could replace the vegan ingredients with, vegan ingrediedients in my country are either way ovepriced and something i can’t afford or they just don’t exist for sale >~<
Thank you ^^
I was also wondering the same thing but you should be able to replace the vegan butter with normal butter on a 1:1 ratio, and same with the milk and cream cheese 🙂
Author
Hello,
As i have only recipe tested and made this recipe using vegan ingredients , i am not sure how it would work without the vegan ingredients. If you do try it, let me know how it goes x
Author
Hello Wanda,
As i am vegan and only recipe test my recipes using vegan ingredients, i am unsure if ”regular” would work or not as i haven’t tried it. If you do give them a go, let me know how it goes xx
Has anyone tried these with Einkorn flour?
Author
Hello Angie,
I have actually never heard of einkorn flour so i have no idea id this would work or not i’m afraid! if you do give it a go through, let me know how it turns out! I would be really intrigued to know x
Really nice recipe but if you are going to hand knead the dough, be prepared to use a lot more flour and please DO NOT knead the dough on your kitchen counter. I started kneading on my counter but the dough was so sticky it just made a whole mess. I used a bowl instead and kneaded on the counter only towards the end. also do not put your hands in the dough, use a wooden spoon instead because your hands will have sticky dough on them for the rest of time.
The doctor just told my husband to go gluten and dairy free, which I’m a novice at catering toward, so I made these with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free flour, and they never rose/rolled out right. They turned out as dense little boulders😭what a sad Valentine’s Day 😂fortunately my husband still LOVED them and ate 3 and wouldn’t let me throw them away haha. Hope to try these again someday!
Could I freeze this in advance to baking? Thinking about making these for a friend’s birthday, but I’d be too busy to make them all the day off.
I really want to get the strawberry flavor in the dough too — I have strawberry powder (freeze dried strawberries ground into a fine powder) and I feel like there’s some potential there but I’m worried about throwing off the dry ingredients balance if I just add it with no adjustments. What do you think?
Author
Hello,
Ohh As i’ve not personally tried it, i wouldn’t be able to say 100% if it would work or not BUT i am guessing it would! If you try, definitely let me know how it goes, ill have to try it myself soon too! Sounds delicious!! xx