I hope I’m not dropping anyone’s jaw when I say this, but vegan baked goods are often good but rarely great. What can I say, eggs and butter make anything baked slap. I get that there is a whole group of people who for all sorts of reasons can’t or don’t eat dairy, but I can/ do — so when it comes to choosing to eat a warm and fresh cinnamon roll I’m going non-vegan every time.
Or at least that’s how I lived my life before I walked into a Cinnaholic. If you’ve never been to Cinnaholic but the name still sounds familiar to you, maybe you watched founders Shannon and Florian Radke pitch the concept of gourmet customizable vegan cinnamon rolls on Shark Tank, where the duo dared to promise the “world’s best cinnamon roll experience” on a planet where Cinnabon has existed for some 35 years. After flooring the panel with rolls that featured “half the calories” of their competition, Robert Herjavec offered a deal the duo accepted (though, ultimately, the brand went another direction).
Today, there are over 55 Cinnaholic locations nationwide, and it looks like the brand isn’t stopping expansion efforts anytime soon. Its big selling point is that each cinnamon roll is made from scratch, with over 20 frosting flavors to choose from, as well as a whole host of fresh, decadent, and increasingly wild toppings — all 100% vegan and cholesterol-free.
The 100% vegan and cholesterol-free bit is awesome, of course, but if humanity’s consumption habits have proved anything over the decades it’s that health and the environment take a back seat to pleasing customers. For better or worse, all that matters is what these rolls actually taste like. To find out, I hit my local Cinnaholic to try their new holiday specials as well as a few brand favorites and local specialties. Let’s get into some rolls!
The Winter Lineup
Sweater Weather Roll
This is the roll that totally dispelled any notions I had about what a vegan cinnamon roll could be. It’s packed with wonderful textures and flavors, combining freshly baked banana bread bites, slices of banana, walnuts, powdered sugar, and maple and cream cheese frosting. It’s an explosion of delicious sweetness that captures everything great about a banana split in a form factor that matches perfectly with the colder winter weather we’re experiencing.
I know “Sweater Weather” evokes a certain sort of season and vibe, but Cinnaholic would be crazy not to add this flavor to the permanent menu.
The Bottom Line:
Cinnabon who? The Sweater Weather roll may be the best sweet snack I’ve eaten all year.
Spiced Apple Cobbler Roll
Cinnamon and apple are a classic winter flavor combination, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this roll’s flavors work so well together. The Spiced Apple Cobbler features baked apple cobbler, cinnadoodle cookie dough, crushed graham cracker cookies, cinnamon sugar, and chai and caramel frosting.
The cardamom and bouquet of spices from the chai frosting really make this roll something special, it’s refreshing and inviting, while still delivering on the sweetness you expect from a cinnamon roll. The inclusion of fresh and crisp apple slices serves as a nice counterbalance to what this decadently sweet roll offers.
The Bottom Line:
Of the two winter classics, I’d say the Sweater Weather is a must while this one is a little bit more forgettable. But if you’re all about warm apple pie, this is definitely worth a try and that chai frosting is a must-taste.
Year-Round Rolls
Caramel Apple Pie
While I loved the Spiced Apple Cobbler roll, I’m way less enthusiastic about this Caramel Apple Pie flavor that enjoys permanent menu status. This roll features fresh apple chunks, pecans, pie crumbles, and caramel sauce with a matching caramel frosting.
To my palate, it’s just way too sweet and the inclusion of apples didn’t do anything to balance out the sweetness like with the previous roll. Instead, this just struck me as a mishmash of flavors with little focus.
The Bottom Line:
If you love apple pie, it might be worth giving this flavor a try. But if you’re not thrilled by sweet apple flavors, this one isn’t going to win you over. Skip it.
Cookie Monster
If you can’t decide between ordering a cookie (which Cinnaholic has) or a cinnamon roll the Cookie Monster attempts to satiate your appetite for both, and it manages to be way more enjoyable than the sum of its parts. This roll features cream cheese frosting peppered with bites of cookie dough, chocolate chips, and a generous portion of chocolate sauce.
It tastes less like the lovechild of a cookie and a cinnamon roll, and more like a piece of well-crafted cake. Be warned though, this cinnamon roll is very sweet and decadent, so don’t end your night by grabbing this roll as an after-dinner dessert. It is the dinner.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a cookie merged with a cinnamon roll, and somehow better than both.
Campire S’mores
The Campfire S’mores is Cinnaholic’s version of a s’more, obviously, but where the Cookie Monster excelled, the Campfire S’mores sadly fails. It’s not that this cinnamon roll is bad, it’s not, but while you’re eating it it’s a little hard to not want to actually have what it is so desperately trying to mimic.
This isn’t quite as good a s’more but it does have all the same ingredients: marshmallow frosting over graham cookie crumbles, marshmallows, and chocolate sauce. It just never comes together right. It doesn’t have the same mouthfeel as a s’more, it’s way mushier and the chocolate sauce, while delicious, isn’t enough to capture the magic of melting a milk chocolate bar between two graham crackers.
The Bottom Line:
It sounds like a good idea but doesn’t hold up quite as well as you’d imagine.
Local Favorites (exclusive to Long Beach location)
Each individual Cinnaholic has a handful of location-exclusive flavors. Theoretically, these flavors can be recreated at your nearest Cinnaholic by ordering a custom roll. So while you might not find these rolls on the menu, if they sound good to you, build ’em! My tasting was at the Cinnaholic Long Beach, which offered up these four custom rolls slightly inspired by the city.
Shoreline OG
I love the Shoreline, it features textured-filled crushed pecans, banana bread bites, and pie crumble, over cream cheese frosting with a caramel drizzle that comes together and manages to taste almost exactly like a slice of good pecan pie. This roll is a bit like the Sweater Weather but with better texture and less sweetness. You lose the decadent-dessert quality of the former, but gain a crunchy mouthfeel with earthy and nutty flavors.
The Bottom Line:
Sweet and earthy, the Shoreline boasts great texture and a nutty flavor that captures the magic of pecan pie in cinnamon roll form.
Cookies And Cream
In my review of the Campire Fire S’mores roll, I mentioned Cinnaholic wasn’t able to pull off the magic of a real s’more, that’s not really the case for the Cookies and Cream. This is as it looks, a giant Oreo, it features vanilla frosting with a couple of cracked Oreo cookies on top and manages to capture the experience of eating an actual Oreo. On steroids.
The end result is a cinnamon roll that tastes like the best Oreo cookie you’ve ever eaten. This one leans on the decadent end, so order this one and split it with one or two friends.
The Bottom Line:
Yes, it’s essentially a giant Oreo cookie and it tastes even better than it looks and sounds.
Strawberry Cheesecake
I’m not the biggest fan of cheesecake, so this one was never going to win me over. It accurately translates the flavor and texture of a rich cheesecake into cinnamon roll form. If that’s your thing, more power to you, but for me, this was just too heavy on the sour tang.
I can see it being enjoyable during the warmer spring months but in the middle of a beachside California winter, I wasn’t feeling this one. I like the inclusion of the fresh strawberries and the crumbled graham cracker dust, but overall this didn’t offer anything that speaks to my palate.
The Bottom Line:
If you like cheesecake you’ll like this, if you don’t, this isn’t going to win you over.
Queen Berry OG
Why deal with the cheesecake cinnamon roll when you can have this refreshing and sweet berry-based roll. The Queen Berry features a generous portion of fresh-cut strawberries alongside whole blueberries that make each forkful an explosion of natural sweetness.
This is by far the most refreshing cinnamon roll I’ve ever eaten, the strawberry and blueberry blend adds a nice level of sweet tartness to the roll without being overwhelmingly bright. I’ve never thought of cinnamon rolls as breakfast food (they’re an after-dinner dessert!) but the Queen Berry is my new go-to on mornings when I want something that tastes like a leveled-up pancake.
The Bottom Line:
A perfect breakfast cinnamon roll that is refreshing and, dare I say, healthy. Okay, not healthy but maybe… healthier than your average cinnamon roll. Healthy adjacent.
Find your nearest Cinnaholic here.
