Tiramisu in cinnamon roll form – light and fluffy milk bread cinnamon rolls filled with coffee and topped with mascarpone cream.
This post may contain affiliate links, please read the privacy policy for details. This post is sponsored by Papanicholas Coffee. All opinions are my own. || Recipe updated 04/25/25.
tiramisu cinnamon rolls
Today we’re combining two very delicious recipes (tiramisu and cinnamon rolls) to make one super delicious recipe: tiramisu cinnamon rolls. They start out with a super soft and fluffy milk bread, get rolled up with a coffee-infused butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, aaand are topped off with a mascarpone cream that’s also infused with coffee. They’re super delicious and perfect for enjoying over a cup of coffee.
So let’s get into it! ☺︎
why you’ll love these tiramisu cinnamon rolls:
- Soft and fluffy: The tangzhong (milk bread) method makes these super soft and fluffy.
- They’ve got all the flavors of tiramisu: coffee, mascarpone, a little bit of cocoa and a little bit of coffee liquor bring all the delicious flavors of tiramisu into these cinnamon rolls.
- Easy to make: well, easier than you might think! Once you’ve got the dough together, the hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the dough to rise.
papanicholas coffee
My favorite brand of coffee is PapaNicholas Coffee, so it’s perfect that I get to work with them! I use their coffee beans every single day and am so happy to be able to spread my love of their coffee to you. Today I partnered up with PapaNicholas Coffee for these tiramisu cinnamon rolls and used their French Vanilla Coffee which is smooth and sweet with notes of vanilla bean & sweet cream. I can’t recommend them enough, so please be sure to check them out! You can find their website by clicking here. And if you do end up purchasing their coffee be sure to use code FRESH20 which will get you 20% off any of their coffee!.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Use room temperature ingredients:
It’s important that your ingredients are at room temperature so that they can easily incorporate with each other. Take out your cold ingredients about an hour before you’ll need them.
the dough will take a while to knead
Kneading this dough will take a longer time than you are probably used to. This dough is enriched with eggs and butter which makes it take longer for the proper amount of gluten to develop. Kneading in the mixer can take me anywhere from 10-20 minutes. The dough is ready to be used when it passes the windowpane test and has pulled away from the sides and bottom of the bowl. If you are weighing your ingredients, just trust the process! If you are using cup measurements and the dough just is not coming together after 15 minutes, try adding in 1 tbsp. of flour at a time.
how to tell your dough is done kneading: the windowpane test
The windowpane test is (in my opinion) the best way to tell that your dough has been properly kneaded. Once the dough starts to pull away from the sides and the bottom of the mixing bowl, it is most likely ready. However, just to be sure that it’s good to go I check if it passes the windowpane test. To do that, take some of the dough in your hands and start to slowly stretch it out. If it can get thin enough to where light passes through it before tearing, then it’s good to go! If not, keep kneading until it does!
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for tiramisu cinnamon rolls –
Brioche dough:
- Bread flour: for structure. You can use all purpose flour, but please be sure that you are using a high-quality flour that has a high protein %, such as King Arthur (11.7%) so that your gluten will develop. If you’re using a low protein flour, the gluten will not develop enough and you will probably need to add in some more flour – which will dry out the dough.
- Active dry yeast: for making the dough rise. You can easily substitute in instant yeast if that is what you have on hand (more notes on that later on.)
- Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the dough. Salt also “controls” the yeast to make sure that it does not overly expand.
- Granulated sugar: sweetens the brioche and helps the yeast with rising.
- Eggs: for binding and adding moisture.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the brioche and giving it a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth feel. I would not recommend substituting in salted butter since salt is important to controlling yeast growth and the amount of salt in salted butter is quite variable.
- Whole milk: for tenderizing and hydrating the dough. Whole milk will provide the softest rolls because the extra fat helps tenderize the dough. You can however swap in 1%, 2% or your favorite non dairy milk alternative! Just note that the dough may be a little less soft and fluffy due to the varying fat content.
cinnamon coffee filling:
- Unsalted butter, light brown sugar & ground cinnamon: the usual cinnamon roll filling suspects.
- Coffee grounds: I used these coffee grounds, but any unflavored or flavored coffee grounds will work, as long as they’re the flavors you want!
mascarpone cream:
- Heavy whipping cream: to make the cream a bit fluffy.
- Coffee grounds: for infusing into the cream.
- Mascarpone: the star of the show, of course. We’ll need mascarpone to help give these rolls a classic tiramisu cream flavor on top.
- Granulated sugar: to sweeten the frosting.
- Vanilla: for flavor.
- Coffee liquor: optional, for a little bit of that alcoholic flavor you get in regular tiramisu.
- Natural cocoa powder: for dusting on top of the rolls.
how to make tiramisu cinnamon rolls
Here’s just a little overview of making these tiramisu cinnamon rolls. You can find the full recipe at the end of the blog post!
- Make the dough and let it rise in a warm environment until it has doubled in size.
- Roll out the dough, then spread the cinnamon coffee filling evenly over it.
- Roll up the dough into a log and slice it into 8 pieces. Let the cinnamon rolls rise again, then bake.
- Mix all the mascarpone frosting ingredients together then spread it over the warm rolls. Dust with cocoa powder, then serve and enjoy!
tiramisu cinnamon rolls recipe q&a
what is tangzhong?
Tangzhong is a cooking method that involves cooking a portion of the flour in a recipe with 4-5x the amount of liquid. Cooking the flour pre-gelatinizes the starch in the flour, allowing it to hold on to more liquid. This leads to a bread that can hold way more liquid than it normally would be able to, which makes the bread softer, and fluffier, and keeps it from staling as fast. It’s basically a secret ingredient for better bread, using ingredients you already need for the bread! If you ever see the word “milk bread”, that means that that bread uses tangzhong!
how to store tiramisu cinnamon rolls
Is there anything better than fresh brioche? These will taste their best on the day that they are baked. I’d recommend only frosting the rolls that you want to eat, so you can store the rolls at room temperature in an airtight container, and the mascarpone frosting in the fridge. If you frost them all, you’ll have to refrigerate the leftovers which will dry out the dough faster and lead to a melted mascarpone frosting situation if you want to heat them.
can I double this recipe?
Definitely – simply double all the ingredients and knead! You may want to make two separate doughs just to lessen the load on your stand mixer. Note that if you double the recipe and make it as one dough that the dough may rise faster.
can I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast?
Definitely – just pop all of the dough ingredients into your mixing bowl to start kneading! You won’t need to wait as long for the rising so just be sure to keep an eye on the dough.
can I make the dough ahead of time?
Yes, and I highly recommend it! Brioche dough is a very enriched dough that can be hard to work with when warm. Knead the dough together, cover it, and leave it to rise in the fridge overnight. When you’re ready, take the dough out of the fridge and proceed with the recipe.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Tiramisu Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Coffee Cream
- 110 g heavy whipping cream (4 oz.)
- 2 tbsp. coffee grounds
Tangzhong
- 24 g bread flour (3 tbsp.)
- 100 g whole milk (3 ½ oz.)
Brioche Dough
- 240 g bread flour (2 c.)
- 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 56 g unsalted butter room temperature (4 tbsp.)
- 1 ½ tsp. active dry yeast
- 1 ¼ tsp. salt
- 90 g whole milk (3 ¼ oz.)
Cinnamon Coffee Filling
- 50 g unsalted butter (3 ½ tbsp.)
- 1 tbsp. coffee grounds
- 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream or whole milk
Mascarpone Cream
- 85 g mascarpone (¼ c. + 2 tbsp.)
- 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
- 1 tbsp. coffee liquor optional
- natural unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
Instructions
Coffee Cream
- The night before, or a couple hours before making the rolls, mix together the 110g heavy whipping cream and 2 tbsp. of coffee grounds, then set it in the fridge to infuse.
Brioche Dough
- Make the tangzhong. Add the 24g flour and 100g milk to a microwave safe bowl and whisk them together. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir and microwave for another 30 seconds. The mixture should now be a thick slurry, but if it's not, microwave it in 10 second intervals until it has thickened.
- Add the tangzhong, flour, sugar, egg, butter, yeast, salt, and milk to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.
- Knead the mixture on medium speed for ~15-20 minutes. The dough is ready when it is no longer sticking to the sides or bottom of the bowl, and passes the windowpane test.*
- Once the dough is done kneading, shape the dough into a ball and place it back into the mixing bowl. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap, and place it in a warm area to rise until doubled in size (~1 hr.)**
- While the dough is rising, start on the cinnamon coffee filling.
Cinnamon Coffee Filling
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Mix together the coffee grounds and butter, then leave the mixture to sit for 10 minutes. Strain the coffee grounds out of the butter, then let the butter sit at room temeprature until you're ready to assemble the rolls.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Once the dough has finished rising, lightly punch it down to remove any excess air in it. Transfer the dough to a clean and lightly floured surface, then roll it out to a 12″ x 16″ (30 x 40 cm) rectangle. If the dough keeps springing back a lot while rolling it out, let it rest for 5 minutes before continuing.
- Carefully spread the butter over the dough, then sprinkle the cinnamon brown sugar mixture over the butter in an even layer. From the longer side, use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 6 evenly sized strips, then tightly roll up each strip.
- Transfer the rolls to a lightly buttered and/or lined eighth sheet pan*** Lightly cover the pan with a towel, and let the rolls rise in a warm environment until doubled in size (~30 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
- Brush the heavy cream over the rolls. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops of the rolls start to turn golden brown and the internal temperature of the rolls has reached 180℉ / 82℃.
Mascarpone Cream
- In a small bowl, beat together the mascarpone, sugar, and vanilla and coffee liquor until combined.
- Remove the coffee cream from the fridge. Place a fine mesh sieve over the mascarpone mixture and pour the cream through it to strain out the coffee grounds.
- Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.
- Once the rolls are almost room temperature, frost them and dust them with cocoa powder. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
These were so good! The only thing different that I did was make double of the mascarpone frosting because it was so good. I put so much on my cinnamon roll. I will definitely be saving this recipe for future use! I put everything in my kitchen aide stand mixer and let it spin on medium for 22 minutes with the hook attachment. It came out perfect and easy to work with.
Thank you so much Lexy, I’m so happy you liked them!! 🙂
Cinnamon rolls were delicious! I think the components work well together, balanced. Unfortunately, the dough itself works out to be like 89% hydration – it never really formed a ball in my stand mixer and it was wet and challenging to work with. Overall, great little recipe.
Hi Rebecca, thank you so much! The dough is definitely more hydrated than your average dough since it’s a milk bread, and the tangzhong helps the dough hold on to more milk without the dough being super wet since it forms a thick slurry. I can’t be sure exactly what happened but making sure you cook the flour & milk until it forms a thick slurry, using bread flour > ap flour, weighing your ingredients & kneading until the dough passes the windowpane test (which can take up to 20 mins) are all important for making sure the dough comes together properly. I hope this is a little helpful and thanks for trying out the recipe! ☺︎
If using a 9×13 pan should i just double the recipe? Thanks!
Yes you would just double the recipe for a 9×13 pan! And you could then cut the dough into 12 slices (3 by 4 in the pan) for larger rolls or 15 (3 by 5 in the pan) for smaller rolls!