These Berry Sweet Rolls are a fun, fresh variation of traditional homemade cinnamon rolls. They’re filled with a mixed berry and lemon juice compote, baked until golden brown, and then slathered in a sweet and tart buttercream frosting.

Berry sweet rolls rising in a white baking dish.

Mixed Berry Sweet Rolls

These berry sweet rolls are the perfect mix of sweet and tart, all rolled into a rich buttery dough and topped with the most amazing fresh lemon buttercream frosting. I love making them for Easter morning, baby showers, and special brunches.

Homemade sweet rolls aren’t exactly the quickest breakfast to make, but they are absolutely worth all of the effort. Plus, you can prepare them in advance so that all you need to do in the morning is bake.

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If you love berry desserts, be sure to try our Strawberry Shortcake, Berry Trifle, and our Razzleberry Pie Recipe.

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Key Ingredients

Water – you want this to be lukewarm to help activate the yeast. You can also substitute milk, warming it to no more than 115 degrees F.
Sugar – we use white granulated sugar for the dough, or you could certainly use the same amount of honey instead.
Yeast – this recipe calls for rapid rise yeast, which must be activated, or “proofed.” It comes in a few different-sized packages – a small envelope, a small jar, or a large 1-pound air-sealed package.
Butter – you want the butter to be either melted or incredibly soft. You could also use avocado oil if you’d like.
Eggs – any kind of large eggs will do. It helps if they have come to room temperature, but don’t worry if you forget. You can also run them under warm water while they are still in the shells. The eggs help with rising, and the yolk fats help keep the dough tender and light.
Flour – we like to use all-purpose flour, but you can also substitute bread flour if you would like.
Mixed Berries – using frozen mixed berries makes things simple. You can purchase bags of either individual berries or mixed berries in the frozen foods section at the store.
Fresh Lemon – you’ll need to use both the zest and the fresh juice.
Cornstarch – this helps to thicken the filling.

Baked cinnamon rolls covered with icing in a baking dish.

How to Make Triple Berry Sweet Rolls

Make the berry filling. Bring the water, frozen berries, lemon juice, and sugar to a rapid boil. In a separate bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and cold water, then whisk into the boiling berry mixture along with the lemon zest. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and cool.
Make the sweet roll dough. Mix together the warm water, sugar and yeast and stir well. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until it gets bubbly and activates the yeast. Add the melted butter, eggs, salt and 3 cups of flour, then mix on low using the dough hook for 2 minutes, or until everything is well-mixed. Add an additional 2.5 cups of flour, then stir on low to combine and add up to 1 cup more flour slowly until the dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl.
Let the dough rise. Turn off the mixer and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Let the dough rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Roll the dough out. Once the dough has doubled, turn it onto a floured surface and gently roll it into a rectangle ½” thick and approximately 24″ x 18.”
Spread the berry filling. Using an offset spatula, or knife, carefully spread the berry filling evenly onto the rolled dough, leaving about 1″ of bare dough around the edges.
Roll and slice. Starting at either 24″ side, roll the dough up evenly, ensuring a nice tight tube, then cut into 1-1.5″ slices using a very sharp knife or floss. Lay the slices ½”-1″ apart in a greased 9 x 13″ baking pan and cover loosely with a kitchen towel.
Let the dough rise again. Let the sweet rolls rise for another 30 minutes until doubled and touched in the pan.

Sweet roll dough rolled out into a rectangle and covered with berry compote.

Make the icing. Add the softened butter and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low using the paddle attachment. Once combined, increase the speed and beat until light and fluffy, or about 3-5 minutes. Add the lemon juice, turn the mixer on high speed, and beat again until fluffy.
Bake. Bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the bottom and the top are golden brown.
Frost and serve. Remove from the oven and spread the Lemon Icing over the tops while they are still warm. Let them cool for about 5 minutes, then serve warm. Enjoy!

Triple berry sweet cinnamon rolls rising in a baking dish.

Tips and Tricks

To make these in advance, you can complete every step right up until baking. Once you have shaped them and tucked them into your baking pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, just pull them out while you preheat the oven and then bake as directed.
If possible, use fresh lemon juice as it has far more flavor than bottled.
When rolling out the dough, it’s helpful to start in the middle and roll outwards from the center. If the dough is a little sticky, pull back the dough and add some more flour to your surface.
Try to keep the dough as symmetrical of a rectangle as possible. This will help keep the size and thickness of the cinnamon rolls the same.
You can use fresh berries if you would prefer, especially if they are in season in your area.
When baking, check the center rolls to ensure they are baked through before pulling them out.
We’ve found this works best with smaller berries such as raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and huckleberries. Costco sells a great frozen berry mix for an amazing deal.

Berry sweet roll on a plate with lemon icing.

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These Triple Berry Sweet Rolls are the perfect mix of sweet and tart all rolled into a rich and buttery dough and topped with the most amazing fresh lemon buttercream frosting. They are destined to become a family favorite.