Cinnaholic Cinnamon Rolls Seattle

Surprise! I am in Seattle! Though for those of you following my Twitter, Instagram, etc. you already knew. And if you didn’t, well, why aren’t you following me?!! The icons are in the upper left it is so easy! Beyond that, let’s get to it.

I would say it was the heat and humidity that drove me from ‘ol NC, but, as with many things, there was always more to it. As for why here, after reviewing all my options it was the best place at this time to meet my criteria. Sure, back to SF would have been nice, but affordability wise it just wasn’t in the cards. Oddly enough, Seattle offered up a handful of my friends and a decent apartment in a decent hood with a not too shabby rent. Plus the chance to be back in a mid-size city I did not really need a car in also charmed me. I do so enjoy being able to just roll out of bed and walk to the store on the corner—-without breaking into a full body sweat! Thus I purged, packed what I had left into the tiniest Uhaul they had and hit the road with Ms M which seemed only right since she escorted me on the move from SF to NC so why not NC to Seattle. This time it was only five days as some of the northern states have such wide swaths of…..nothing. It doesn’t take as long when you don’t feel the need to stop. Though we did hit up Mt. Rushmore, because you just have to.

While rock face carvings of American history presidents is fine and all, I’d rather be relishing a dessert covered in frosting, but then I’m sure you knew that. I had been to Seattle a number of times before and the one thing which always surprised me was the ample selection of bakery and donut shops. It seemed with such a proliferation of them, the folks here would be bigger? I guess walking all the hills and having access to all the hiking, skiing and outdoor activity stuff keeps people fit so good for them. They can have it. I will be content with food gorging and the occasional run. Of course, looks like I will have my work cut out for me in trying every baked good and donut I can in this town. And if anyone can do it—it’s me!

I had first walked by Cinnaholic one late evening and noticed it had a small line out the door. For a place strictly dealing in a dessert treat it seemed odd but then when you are surrounded by a number of bars, who knows what drunk food mood one is going to be in. I figured I would come back in the light of day with less people to check them out. Further online viewing also let me know the place is 100% vegan (that means no dairy, no egg, etc.). Yeah, to be honest it initially made me hesitant to go back because some of my past experiences with vegan baked goods has been less than stellar. Still, the smell wafting from them was enticing and the pics looked good, what could it hurt.

I hit the spot up on a weekday morning and had the place to myself. I didn’t want to go too crazy and decided to just go basic with a classic Old Skool Roll with “cream cheese” frosting. Seems normally these come with a “butter cream” frosting and the “cream cheese” is an upgrade which means this will run you $6.60. With the other frosting it is about $6. It didn’t look too bad as you can see and they did put on copious amounts of frosting.

They keep the buns warm and put frosting on when you order so at least the two haven’t been sitting around to the point where the frosting has completely melted into the bun like they do at that other mall based place we have all heard of. Upon initial bite it does have the taste of a regular egged and dairy-ed up roll. Soft pillowy dough and creamy topping. Further bites though do give my taste buds essence of something just slightly off but ultimately, not really enough for me to stop eating it.

The bun probably could have used more cinnamon for my tastes and it does have a texture that reminds of sourdough bread a bit. Or maybe how those cinnamon rolls you buy in stores taste a lot like the biscuits the same company makes instead of being a different dough. The “cream cheese” frosting is also different? Texture wise it pretty close though there are moments of elasticity you may not find in real cream cheese. You can tell as it does not quite melt the same or feel as whipped. There was also a ton of sugar going on it which is something you sometimes find with vegan baked goods. People think they are healthier or something but the sugar quotient is generally ramped up to over lay any shortcomings of flavor or texture you might get. It is a fine line. I probably should have asked what type of vegan cream cheese they use but kind of did not want to know so I could keep some of the illusion going.

When it comes down to it, for the most part, I did enjoy it. I miss some of the buttery flakiness you might get from a traditional bun and the creamy whipped-ness of frosting but as far as vegan baked goods go this is good variation of a classic cinnamon roll. Plus, I did feel the need to come back with company to see what these add on options were and if it mattered.

Since Ms. M was hanging out for a bit after our long road trip I figured we could both hit up the place for an early morning treat before site seeing around town. Though I did sort of leave out the fact this place was vegan so I could get an unbiased opinion.

The toppings and combo choices here are pretty endless but we decided to go with some pre-set options of blueberry pie and caramel apple pie. As you can see from the pics above they did not skimp on topping the buns off. And while first bite impressions were not bad, the more we dove into these the more we felt a few changes could actually help them be better.

First, for whatever reason, the buns we got were not exactly warm as I’d had before. They were closer to room temp. Kind of like the bun warmer wasn’t fully up to speed yet. Also, the pie crumble topping was more like some oats mixed with brown sugar, which when you think of how much they have ramped up the sugar in the frostings sort of sends these into overdrive. So much so you kind of miss out on the cinnamon in the rolls which could have been kicked a bit in the ones we got. Also, will using fresh fruit is fine and all, it doesn’t really say pie and didn’t seem, to us. to blend well with the bun. If you are gonna do pie then do actual pie fillings that are also warm. Same with the caramel, it should have been warm instead of straight from a squeeze bottle. (It is an open space and you can clearly see them preparing your order behind the counter)

I guess we could say at least we were getting some fruit and vitamin C with our sugar fix though it was a bit of a taste bud disconnect. The bits may be fine on their own but when put together just didn’t mesh. In the end, while it wasn’t some outright fail, me and Ms. M just didn’t seem fully satisfied with the final outcome.

I’m not not going to recommend you try this place. The classic roll with “cream cheese” frosting seems to be a decent if overly sweet substitution if you are looking for a comparable vegan option. And considering how hard that can be to find sometimes, for those of you looking, this is going to be right up your alley. For me, and judge me all you want (don’t care!), I am a little old school and purist in my cinnamon roll treats. I want some buttery flakiness and creamy whipped tang of real butter, sugar and cream cheese. Fortunately, for everyone there seems to be a bakery or donut shop catering to more than one taste in this town which is great. Sort of one of many reason for me moving here to have so many options to choose from all within a short walking distance from my humble abode, as opposed to my hovel by that abandoned mall in NC. And I won’t break into a full body sweat just walking there to check them out! Aaahhh, Pacific Northwest city life. I do some love me some clouds!