There are worse ways to spend a Saturday morning in Corvallis than walking through the Saturday Market, eating cinnamon rolls. So, a few friends and I set out with a simple goal: find the best one downtown. Five OSU students, five bakeries, five cinnamon rolls, and by the end of it, a final ranking.
At first, it felt a little ridiculous to be critiquing pastries. Even a mediocre cinnamon roll is still warm bread filled with butter and sugar and coated in frosting. But by the last stop, it became obvious that “cinnamon roll” can mean a lot of different things. After eating five of them consecutively, the small differences stopped feeling small. We took into account texture, frosting, freshness, taste, creativity, and cost. Here’s where we landed:
1. Camron Ridge Farmstead
Saturday Market Vendor—$6 Farmhouse Cinnamon Roll
The best roll of the morning came from Camron Ridge Farmstead, a small farm based out of Jefferson run by Chad and Liz Shinn. Their farmhouse cinnamon roll was served warm with frosting on the side, which immediately prompted debate.
“A good cinnamon roll doesn’t need frosting,” Avery Wickham, the designated friendgroup accountant and a third year finance major said, setting the container aside entirely.
I disagreed. The frosting worked for me here. It tasted uncomplicated and nostalgic, reminiscent of Pillsbury cinnamon roll icing: buttery, sweet, and simple.
The roll itself had the best texture of the group. The top had a slight caramelized crunch, while the inside stayed soft without becoming doughy. It was heavily spiced, properly buttery, and held together well even while pulling apart layer by layer. Megan Aanderud, studying design and innovation management with a talent in outdressing our group constantly, had her reservations and thought the top edge leaned slightly too dry. But overall, this was the roll people kept reaching back for. By the end of the crawl, it landed comfortably in first place.
2. New Morning Bakery
219 SW Second St., Corvallis, OR— $4.95 Cinnamon Roll
New Morning Bakery’s cinnamon roll was the least aesthetically pleasing of the bunch, but also one of the most satisfying. It was almost comically huge, soft, heavily iced, and clearly designed to be eaten alongside a large hot cup of coffee. The texture was more cake-like than laminated or chewy, and the cinnamon flavor stayed fairly mild throughout. Still, though, it worked.
The classic icing soaked into the folds of the pastry while still leaving plenty on top, and defined the roll as comfort food rather than artisan baking. Aanderud ranked it her favorite overall, while others thought it needed more spice and flavor. Nobody argued about the value, though, at $4.95, it was one of the more affordable rolls we tried, and despite its simplicity, sticking to the classics won it the silver.
3. Alpine Sourdough Bakery
220 NW 1st St., Corvallis, OR—$4 Sourdough Cinnamon Roll
Alpine Sourdough Bakery offered the cheapest cinnamon roll of the morning at $4, though it was also the most divisive. They have been serving the Willamette Valley since 1985, specializing in naturally fermented breads and pastries, so naturally, the sourdough flavor came through immediately. This was definitely a bread-first cinnamon roll: tangy, chewy, and less sweet than everything else we sampled. Because of this, the glaze sat on top instead of melting into the layers. Some people appreciated it while others wanted something softer and richer. The edges were slightly firm, and the pastry lacked the indulgence generally expected from a cinnamon roll, but it also felt the most practical to eat for breakfast without needing a nap afterward. Whether or not that is a compliment probably depends on the person.
4. Wild Yeast Bakery
648 SW 2nd St, Suite 120, Corvallis, OR— (varying menu) Hazelnut Chai Cinnamon Roll
Wild Yeast Bakery’s hazelnut chai cinnamon roll had the strongest flavor combination of the day and the weakest texture. The filling was excellent with chai spice that came through clearly without overpowering the pastry, and the hazelnut added enough crunch to keep each bite interesting. The problem was the roll itself. By the time we got to it, the outside had become dry and crumbly enough that pieces broke off onto our napkins as we ate. We all had nearly the same reaction: disappointment followed immediately by another bite because the filling tasted so good. It was a roll we wanted to like more than we actually did.
5. Boones Ferry Berry Farms
Saturday Market Vendor—$6 Blueberry Cinnamon Roll
Boones Ferry Berry Farms took the biggest swing of the group with a blueberry cinnamon roll covered in cream cheese frosting. The frosting, which was tangy, rich, and genuinely delicious, overpowered everything else. The blueberries themselves tasted fresh and sweet, which makes sense coming from a farm known across Oregon for berries, but there simply were not enough of them to justify the concept. The issue was also that the cinnamon roll underneath almost disappeared entirely.
“It feels like it forgot what it wanted to be,” said Austin Finch, an architecture student who knows what it means to translate a concept into proper execution.
That ended up being the consensus. Nobody disliked it, but it felt more like a blueberry pastry than a cinnamon roll. Good in its own right, just slightly misplaced in the lineup. A good pastry? Definitely. A good cinnamon roll? Much less convincing.
The Final Ranking
After a long debate, walking back through downtown, the final ranking ended up here:
- Camron Ridge Farmstead
- New Morning Bakery
- Alpine Sourdough Bakery
- Wild Yeast Bakery
- Boones Ferry Berry Farms
By the end of our crawl, no one agreed on what a cinnamon roll is supposed to be, but regardless, everyone had a clear idea of which roll they’d order again.
By Taylor Pedersen
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