Recently I was invited to check out a new bakery called Cinnaholic. The PR person told me it was a new “vegan bakery” and I instantly cringed at the thought of “vegan baked goods” but figured I’d give it a shot anyway. Cinnaholic specializes in making gourmet cinnamon rolls that are 100% vegan and made with beet sugar. At Cinnaholic the dough is made fresh every day. The way that Cinnaholic make the dough doesn’t allow them to keep the dough overnight so it’s made twice a day. This allows Cinnaholic to make a very fresh product!
Cinnaholic is located at a kiosk in Mission Valley. The kiosk is in front of Macy’s on the east side of the mall. I noticed they don’t really tout the “vegan” aspect. It’s an important issue but they don’t want it to be the focus. Probably because “vegan” sometimes has that cringing reaction from people (as seen above). Can something vegan still taste as good as the “normal” thing? We shall find out!
At Cinnaholic you can get a regular “Old Skool” roll with vanilla frosting but the thing Cinnaholic really specializes in is making you a customized cinnamon roll. There are over 20 different flavors of frostings and toppings to choose from!
It’s overwhelming to consider the sheer number of combinations you can create. Flavored frostings are an additional $0.35 cents (on top of the base price of $4.90) and toppings are $0.60 cents each. I kind of just stared at the menu for a few minutes trying to figure out what I wanted to try.
The kiosk offers cookies, brownies, cookie dough, and even day old cinnamon rolls for a discount.
I placed an order for Jake and I and we waited at a shaded table near the kiosk. Maya couldn’t wait to try it, either!
The cinnamon rolls are packaged up in a recyclable container so you can take it to go or eat it on the spot. We dug right in! Screw waiting!
[cinnaholic roll with peanut butter frosting, pie crumbles, and blueberries / $6.45]
Peanut butter frosting sounded like a natural choice for me. I topped it off with pie crumbles (which is an oat-brown sugar mixture like the kind you see on top of blueberry pie or apple crisp) and Jake decided our creation also needed blueberries.
The peanut butter frosting was savory with a hint of sweetness. It tasted more like regular peanut butter than a sweet frosting. Maya got to have a little bit of the peanut butter and lapped it right up. The pie crumbs added sweetness to our roll. The blueberries added a nice contrast with their texture and slightly tart flavor. The blueberries were a good call!
The cinnamon flavor is a bit downplayed on these rolls – you can taste hints of it. With our topping combination you didn’t taste the cinnamon a whole lot but I found that I didn’t mind that. The dough is a bit chewier than your regular non-vegan roll. It had an elasticity to it that I enjoyed.
The cinnamon rolls are a great base to start with. The bottoms are caramelized and crispy. The roll tastes good even without the toppings. Jake and I really enjoyed the roll at Cinnaholic and we were even a bit surprised by just how much we liked it. The roll, the frosting, and the toppings are all made fresh and you can really taste the difference. It wasn’t tooth achingly sweet and it was a nice treat to start the day off on. Jake and I have already talked about going back to try out new combinations of flavors so I’m happy to report that this vegan bakery is good one! Cinnaholic has plans to open two additional locations in San Diego very soon – one in Pacific Beach and one in Gaslamp so more people will be able to eat their yummy rolls.
What kind of flavor combination would you want to try out? I need ideas for my next visit!
Cinnaholic Gourmet Cinnamon Rolls
Mission Valley Mall
1640 Camino Del Rio North
San Diego, CA 92108
Disclaimer: I was invited to Cinnaholic to sample their cinnamon rolls. Our cinnamon roll was complimentary. I was not further compensated for this post and all opinions are my own.
I’m a peanut butter fanatic – this looks so good! I think the combination of chai frosting and peaches or bananas sounds amazing!! Horchata frosting though – pretty intriguing!
Hi Marla – We strongly considered the horchata but decided to go a little simpler for this first round. Chai + fruit sounds like a good idea, too! Thanks for the ideas!
Cinnaholic has just recently opened their 2nd San Diego location in Pacific Beach on October 14th at 4652 Mission Blvd, between Duck Dive & Dirty Birds.
Come on by our largest location on the west coast to get your cinnamon fix on!
Hi Matt – Thanks for the information! Yay, another Cinnaholic!