Cake Mix Dinner Rolls

Soft, fluffy dinner yeast rolls that start with a store bought cake mix! This recipe is very versatile and can be used to make homemade cinnamon rolls as well. 
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went out of town for the holiday and spent Thanksgiving with our family. As great as it is to see everyone there really is no place like home. I'm so happy to be back and so are the kids.

I promised I would post a new recipe so, I wanted to get this posted before it gets too late. You might think it's a bit strange adding cake mix to Dinner Rolls, but it really works. It's a great time saver if you re in a pinch for rolls. Years back I tried this recipe out of curiosity. I'm all for using a cake mix as a time saver, but in rolls.

In most recipes that call for a cake mix you cant even detect that one was used. Those are my favorite types of recipes. These rolls are slightly sweet and don't taste like a cake mix at all. My husband thought the rolls were really good and couldn't even tell that a cake mix was used until I told him.

This recipe is very versatile and can be used to make cinnamon rolls as well. Just roll out the dough into a rectangle and slather butter all over the dough and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon sugar. Roll up length wise and cut into slices. Place cinnamon rolls on a greased dish and bake. You can sprinkle more cinnamon sugar on top if you like.

Then top them off with your favorite frosting.  These rolls turn out awesome every time I make them. Keep in mind when making this recipe that a traditional cake mix is about 15 ounces so you will only need a 9 oz of the cake mix. 

You can measure out a little over a cup as I did or you can use one box of Jiffy yellow cake mix. I prefer to use the Jiffy cake, because some of the other cake mixes can tend to be really sweet.

If you use a regular boxed caked mix (15 oz)  just save the remaining cake mix to make more rolls or use it for a dump cake or cobbler. Lets get started and I will show you how easy it is to make these rolls.







 

46 comments

Heart 4 My Home said…
Oh my gosh! How ironic that you posted this recipe today. We went to the Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World today and they had a cookbook called Meemaw's Manna. I thumbed through it and jotted down and recipe for "no fail yeast rolls" that is exactly the same as this recipe you posted. Oh how ironic that we both were thinking of or looking at the same recipe on the same day. I guess great minds really do think alike! *grin*

~blessings
Tina Butler said…
Oh Nichole how funny. I have that exact cookbook Ü. I to was thumbing through that cookbook at Bass Pro Shop, there were so many recipes i liked i just ended up buying the book. It is one of my favorites in my cookbook collection.
VG said…
Quick buy a lottery ticket. It's a believe that when something uncanny happens, it's a sign of good luck!

Cake mix and bread flour? What a great combination. I am sure the bread rolls must be very fluffy.
Debbie said…
Looks great! Who would have thought... a cake mix?
Laura said…
Those do sound interesting. I'll have to give them a try. Glad to hear you had a great Thanksgiving!
Brindi said…
Wow! I love sweet dinner rolls. I will definitely have to try these!
YaYa's Funhouse said…
can't wait to try...looks yummy!!
priscilla joy said…
wow, tina. this looks so good! yummy. sounds like you had a great thanksgiving!
Tina, you're my hero! Dinner rolls from a cake mix. I was impressed with the banana bread from a cake mix, but now you're over the top. My hat's off to you.
Anonymous said…
Wow, they look so plump and great! What a great idea!
Joan said…
Hi Tina!
Hope you had a wonderful holiday!
I am absolutely going to try these. I also love your previous posts about the cake balls and choc chip pumkin cake. I made them both! When I get a compliment I just say, my friend over in Mesquite gave them to me!!
Tina Butler said…
Hello everyone and thank you so much for the nice words. These rolls were really good I couldnt believe it myself I used all purpose flour this time, but I think next time i want to use bread flour to see the differce in the two. Joan thank you so much wow you have been so busy making all those recipes. The cake balls were fun.
Live.Love.Eat said…
Unbelievable!!!!!! It's amazing these are made with a cake mix. Ha ha. They look incredible!!!!!
Maria said…
Interesting recipe!! Thanks for sharing!
Anonymous said…
I found your blog on another blog and the 'Cake Mix Rolls' caught my eye. I have the same recipe and have made these rolls for years but have never made them in the crescent shape, good idea. I have always thought these rolls tasted a lot like the Hawaiian sweet bread. So glad I found your blog, it looks like you have a lot of good recipes.
Stephanie said…
That looks really yummy! I have never heard of using cake mix in rolls before, how cool!!
jinxi~ aka angi said…
OH these look DIVINE! Im going to try these out very soon!
Jasmine said…
I never would have thought of cake mix in a roll. I am curious too and I'll have to try it!
I do believe I am putting these on the Oct/Nov. menu. I love slightly sweet yeast rolls like you get at Ryan's and I think these will probably taste close.
Denise said…
I am now thinking about doing this using a chocolate cake mix and drizzling with frosting. Maybe even wrapping a marshmallow inside.
I've heard of many things, but this is a first for me! A cake mix to make yeast rolls??? WOW! I will definitely try it - just printed it. Oh how I love trying new recipes. This will be a tasty treat in my kitchen this week. Thanks so much for sharing - I love your beautiful pictures. I think I may have to post this one on my own blog. Keep up the amazing work!
stacy said…
Just tried your rolls.They are delicious!
Tried these last night my family loves them.
Tina Butler said…
I am so glad Julie. We make them in our house as well. They are so easy and tasty.
Karen said…
I love how I comment on posts that are years old. haha.
I can't wait to try these this weekend. They look tasty and you make it look simple.
Thank you!
Anonymous said…
Can't wait until we get our new oven this winter. This will be on my must try list.
TexasWren said…
I'm dredging up things from the past, but these sound yummy. I do have a question. Since I'm travelling on Thanksgiving morning, I'd like to make these the day before. Have you tried doing this and just nuking them right before dinner, or maybe wrapping them in foil and putting them in the oven for a few minutes?
Mrsblocko said…
I made these and wrote about them
here. They were super awesome! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
FrazzledbutFun! said…
I am so happy that I found your blog. I made these rolls and I was going to share some with a friend but my family ate them ALL! I didn't shape them into the crescent rolls because I didn't think I was up for that but I will try to next time. The rolls were delicious. These are now going to be my staple. I do have one question, to roll them out into crescents would I need a wooden board or does it really matter?
Tina Butler said…
It doesn't matter. I just use my counter top when I roll out the rolls. So glad you liked them. They're our favorite as well. Perfect around the holidays.
Anonymous said…
The rolls are wonderful and super easy.
Ruth Dunn Woods said…
Can I use a white jiffy cake mix??
Tina Butler said…
@Ruth,
I think a white cake mix would work just as well.
Leslie said…
Ohhh Tina..I am soooo trying these!
Tina Butler said…
Leslie the rolls are my absolute favorite. I highly recommend the jiffy yellow cake mix, because it is the perfect size and less sweet than other cake mixes.
Unknown said…
These are so great! I will try to use Jiffy cake mix--which I could not find in my regular stores--next time. I used Betty Crocker and, thought, hey, I can just weigh out 8-9 oz of cake mix instead of doing the half pkg like you suggested! NO. They were still VERY good, but it did have cake mix flavor because I'm sure I used more cake mix than necessary. LOL! This will be my new go-to dinner roll recipe as soon as I get some Jiffy mix on Amazon! :P Thank you!
Anonymous said…
These are my favorite rolls and this will be the second year that I will bring them to Thanksgiving dinner. This year I put the ingredients into the bread machine, turned out great. I also use white jiffy cake mix, and they turn out fantastic.
Ms. C. said…
I had made these rolls for dinner and my grandkids love them. My husband said these was the best rolls I had ever made. I will definitely keep these rolls on the menu. It was very easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
Anonymous said…
When you say cake mix,what do you mean,just a box of sponge cake mix or is it something different over there,I live in England so what would be the equivalent over here.Thanks
Thomas said…
can you use real butter instead of margarine. nice recipe this old man is going to give it a rty. but i will wait until i hear from you about using real butter instead of margarine. thank you so much for your help. loner
Tina Butler said…
You can use butter or margarine. In fact butter would be much better.
Anonymous said…
Good morning, love these rolls. Could I use this recipe to make a poppy seed roll and how long should I bake it for? Also can I use buttermilk in place of the water? Thank you for your time and your wonderful recipes.
Juju said…
I have made these for years! I used the Jiffy white cake mix. Unfortunately, I can't find either of these now. They're the best rolls I've ever had. I started making them when I was in my early 20s. I'm 68 now!
Anonymous said…
There is a difference in the two flowers but you can make bread flour
Tina Butler said…
if you don't have bread flour you can use all purpose flour. You can't make bread flour unless you have wheat gluten.