Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread
This simple Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread can be left plain or topped with icing for a cinnamon roll taste! A delicious morning treat to go with coffee or tea.
Why We Love Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread
- This cinnamon quick bread recipe is going to make your house smell fantastic. My family usually thinks I’m making coffee cake, but they get so excited when they find out it’s this bread instead.
- Ready to have the best french toast ever? Use slices of cinnamon swirl bread instead of white bread. Just dip and flip carefully since this crumb is more delicate.
- I love making loaves of this bread and then adding slices of it to our holiday plates for friends and family. It goes great alongside all our favorite Christmas cookies and pumpkin bread.
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Quick Bread
DRY INGREDIENTS: You will need the quick bread basics – baking powder, salt, all-purpose flour, and sugar.
WET INGREDIENTS: Nothing complicated here. You’ll need butter, eggs, milk, vanilla, and sour cream. You might be surprised to see sour cream in this recipe, but it helps with the coffee-cake flavor and moisture level, as well as using whole milk and eggs.
TOPPING: I think the topping is what really makes this quick bread over the top, and it’s how you get that yummy cinnamon swirl effect. You’ll need light brown sugar and cinnamon for the swirly goodness.
ICING: This simple vanilla icing is made of powdered sugar, milk, melted butter, and a splash of vanilla. Just mix until it’s smooth and drizzle over your bread if you like.
How to Make Cinnamon Quick Bread
Jump to RecipeSTEP 1 Preheat the oven and prep a loaf pan ready by lining it with parchment paper or coating the inside with non-stick cooking spray. Then mix together the wet ingredients in a mixing bowl.
STEP 2 Mix together the dry ingredients in another mixing bowl and then pour them into the wet ingredients. Sirt until just combined, you don’t want to overwork the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
STEP 3 In another bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle it all over the batter and then use a knife to cut the cinnamon into the bread. (Hold the knife vertically and swirl it all around the batter. You can lift and restart again, but a couple of passes around the whole pan should be enough.)
STEP 4 Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then take out the bread and cool completely on the wire rack. We usually get about 8 slices from 1 loaf.
Tips & Tricks
- This bread isn’t cake-like. It’s a little denser and probably closer to a coffee cake consistency. YUM!
- You can store this quick bread in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze it for up to 6 months once baked.
- How to Make Vanilla Icing: In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons milk, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla until smooth.
Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread FAQ
What are the three types of quick bread?
- Pourable: The batter is thin enough that it easily pours from the bowl into the prepared pan.
- Drop: The batter is thicker and you will need to scrape it using a spatula from the bowl into the pan.
- Soft: This bread has an actual dough that forms quickly and you can roll it and shape it before baking.
How do you make quick bread moist?
Adding in fatty liquids helps to make quick bread nice and moist. In this recipe, we’re doing that with some sour cream which has a higher fat content than milk. Some recipes will call for cooking oil to add moisture as well.
Another way to keep your quick bread moist is to make sure you don’t mix the batter too much. You want the ingredients to be incorporated, but not overworked.
Other Recipes You May like
- My Husband’s Favorite Banana Bread
- Cinnamon Raisin Bread
- Blueberry Streusel Muffins
- Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
- Sour Cream & Dark Chocolate Oat Bread
Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
Bread
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
Topping
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a metal loaf pan with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla, and sour cream. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, stirring with a rubber spatula just until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- In a small bowl, stir the brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle it over the top of the batter in the pan. Run a knife through the batter to swirl the cinnamon-sugar mixture into the bread.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Then remove bread from the pan and cool completely on the rack.
Notes
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.