Create the ultimate Easter treat with these cute and delicious bunny shaped cinnamon rolls. Using my cinnamon roll recipe and my strawberry cream cheese frosting, these sweet rolls not only look adorable, but taste amazing! Watch my video to see how to roll up, shape and frost this fun Easter cinnamon roll!
What dough you’ll need
I use my favorite cinnamon roll recipe for this dough. It’s so easy to make and work with. Mix the dough and place it in a greased bowl. Let it rise until doubled in size. Depending on how warm your kitchen is, this could take 60-90 minutes.
Find my cinnamon roll recipe HERE.
While your dough is rising, you can prepare your cinnamon sugar filling and mix your strawberry cream cheese frosting.
Making strawberry cream cheese frosting
My Cream Cheese Frosting is perfect for these cinnamon rolls. To give it an extra Springtime flavor, swap out the vanilla extract and add one half teaspoon of Super Strength Strawberry Flavor LorAnn Oil to the frosting. LorAnn makes incredible flavors you can use for baking! When adding flavored oils to your frosting, be careful not to use too much – the flavor is powerful. I also add a few drops of pink gel food coloring to go along with the strawberry theme.
Find my Cream Cheese Frosting HERE.
Add some fun Spring colored sprinkles too – it makes it extra festive and cute!
Video
Watch this short video for a step by step demonstration of how to roll up, shape and frost bunny shaped cinnamon rolls.
Rolling out and dividing the dough
- First, preheat your oven. It takes a good 30 minutes for ovens to fully preheat. You’ll want to bake your bunny cinnamon rolls as soon as they are rolled up. You’ll notice in my regular Cinnamon Roll recipe, there is a second rise after they are rolled up. We’re going to skip this step, because if you let them rise after shaping, they will become too puffy and lose their bunny shape. Since we already did one rise, they will still bake up nice and fluffy – even without the second rise.
- Using a dough ball of about 28-30 ounces, roll the dough to a rectangle, 12 inches by 18 inches.
- Spread melted butter onto the surface of the dough, leaving a one inch clean border on the left, 12-inch side. Leaving this clean border will help the dough pinch together when you roll up the cinnamon rolls.
- Sprinkle on 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of the brown sugar cinnamon mixture and spread it out evenly – again leaving that one inch clean border on the left side.
- With a pizza cutter, cut the dough down the center both vertically and horizontally. Then cut the dough horizontally into 8 equal pieces, yielding 16 strips of dough.
Shaping the bunnies
- With the 8 pieces on the left side, roll them up, from right to left, ending on the clean border. Tuck the end of the dough under the cinnamon roll and set onto a baking sheet either lined with parchment or sprayed with nonstick spray. This round cinnamon roll, will be the bunny face.
- Now, it’s time to make the bunny ears. With the 8 pieces on the right, fold each of them in half and then turn the ends down in the opposite direction, forming an “m” shape. Place the m-shaped piece above the top of the cinnamon roll, pinching them together. Now you should have a bunny shaped cinnamon roll.
- Place them about three inches apart as they will puff up in the oven. I can comfortably fit 6 bunnies on a half sheet baking sheet (13×18).
- Once your pan is full, bake immediately in a preheated oven for 16-20 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Frosting the bunny shaped cinnamon rolls
- If you want to pipe on a frosting like mine, allow your cinnamon rolls to cool completely before icing. If you want more of a glaze or runny type frosting, frost them while slightly warm.
- To pipe your strawberry cream cheese frosting, fill a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Starting in the center of the round cinnamon roll, pipe a circular swirl from the center out to the outside edge. Pipe an outline of the bunny ears.
- Optional, sprinkle with pastel sprinkles for more of a Springtime or Easter look.
Since this dough bakes up so fluffy, you might occasionally have one or two of the bunnies come out looking less than perfect – and that’s okay! Don’t stress! I’ve found that the piping technique really helps to distract from any imperfections that may have happened during baking. The outline will really emphasize the bunny shape, and topping with sprinkles will make it look even cuter! The good news is, your cinnamon rolls will be light and fluffy, look cute and taste amazing!
Need extra help?
Be sure to read through my Homemade Cinnamon Rolls post for more help mixing the dough. And if you are a beginner bread maker and need extra help, I offer virtual baking classes with step by step pre recorded videos, including a Cinnamon Roll Class! These videos are so helpful for visual learners!
Find out more about my virtual baking classes HERE and more about my Baking Academy HERE. My Baking Academy gives you access to ALL of my classes, including a new one each month! I love helping people have fun while making delicious recipes!
Follow and Share!
I love seeing how people are enjoying and making my recipes their own! If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and even share a picture on Instagram, tagging me @thatbreadlady. Follow me on Instagram and Pinterest where I like to share lots of helpful tips and information about my recipes! Let everyone admire your baking creation!
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More recipes to try
Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Homemade Crescent Dinner Rolls
Bunny Shaped Cinnamon Rolls with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 batch Homemade Cinnamon Roll Dough mixed and risen once
- 1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting see note to make it strawberry flavored
- optional: sprinkle mix
Filling Ingredients:
- ¼ cup salted butter melted
- ¾ cups dark brown sugar
- 4 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Prepare my Homemade Cinnamon Roll Dough, cover bowl and let rise until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes.
- Prepare my Cream Cheese Frosting (see notes to transform it to a strawberry flavored frosting).
- Preheat your oven to 350° F. It takes a good 30 minutes for ovens to fully preheat.
- Prepare baking sheet with either parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray.
- On a floured work surface, divide dough into two equal pieces, about 28-30 ounces. Roll the dough to a rectangle, 12 inches by 18 inches.
- Spread melted butter onto the surface of the dough, leaving a one-inch clean border on the left, 12-inch side. Leaving this clean border will help the dough pinch together when rolling up the cinnamon rolls.
- Sprinkle on 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of the brown sugar cinnamon mixture and spread it out evenly – again leaving that one-inch clean border on the left side.
- With a pizza cutter, cut the dough down the center both vertically and horizontally. Then cut the dough horizontally into 8 equal pieces, yielding 16 total strips of dough.
- With the 8 pieces on the left side, roll them up, from right to left, ending on the clean border. Tuck the end of the dough under the cinnamon roll and set onto a baking sheet either lined with parchment or sprayed with nonstick spray. This round cinnamon roll, will be the bunny face.
- Now, it’s time to make the bunny ears. With the 8 pieces on the right, fold each of them in half and then turn the ends down in the opposite direction, forming an “m” shape. Place the m-shaped piece above the top of the cinnamon roll, pinching them together. Now you should have a bunny shaped cinnamon roll.
- Place the bunny shaped cinnamon rolls about three inches apart as they will puff up in the oven. You should be able to comfortably fit 6 bunnies on a half sheet baking sheet (13×18).
- Once your pan is full, bake immediately* in a preheated oven for 16-20 minutes, or until lightly golden.
- If you want to pipe on a frosting like mine, allow cinnamon rolls to cool completely before icing. If you want more of a glaze or runny type frosting, frost them while slightly warm.
- To pipe with strawberry cream cheese frosting, fill a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Starting in the center of the round cinnamon roll, pipe a circular swirl from the center out to the outside edge. Pipe an outline of the bunny ears. Optional: sprinkle with pastel sprinkles for more of a Springtime or Easter look.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- *You’ll want to bake your bunny cinnamon rolls as soon as they are rolled up. You’ll notice in my regular Cinnamon Roll recipe, there is a second rise after they are rolled up. We’re going to skip this step, because if you let them rise after shaping, they will become too puffy and lose their bunny shape. Since we already did one rise, they will still bake up nice and fluffy – even without the second rise.
- To make a Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting, mix recipe as usual, but replace the 1 teaspoon vanilla extract with 1/2 teaspoon LorAnn Strawberry Oil. Add 2-4 drops of Americolor Soft Pink gel food coloring to tint the frosting a beautiful shade of pink.