Cinnaholic Gourmet Vegan Cinnamon Rolls in Berkeley

Growing up, I used to love the smell of fresh cinnamon rolls. I didn’t always eat them because all that frosting was way too sweet for me, but you can’t escape that aroma.

So even though I’m not a cinnamon roll connoisseur, I had to check out Cinnaholic in Berkeley after my friend David told me they had the best cinnamon rolls – and they’re vegan!

I’m not vegetarian or vegan, but I’m always curious that if I ever gave up meat or dairy, would there be anything worth eating?

Cinnaholic is a bakery west of the entrance to the University of California, Berkeley campus. It sells primarily cinnamon rolls, but in the glass case the rolls are pimped out with special toppings and creations like Smores or Oreo Surprise.

Can you believe this is vegan cream cheese? It looks so creamy.

David ended up getting the regular cinnamon roll, called the “Old School” ($4.25). And yes, it’s pretty huge.

But not as huge as the specialty rolls, like the Oreo Surprise ($5) that I got. What’s nice about the rolls is that they’re nice and soft, and quite airy. It definitely tastes good warm, but you can probably guess that it is definitely on the sweet side. (BTW, those are faux Oreo cookies, some kind of vegan version, but they did the trick.)

So I guess Cinnaholic answers the question that you can give up dairy, but you definitely don’t have to worry about giving up sweets.

Cinnaholic, 2132 Oxford St., Berkeley. PH: 510.647.8684. Open Tuesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; weekends, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.,; closed Monday. www.cinnaholic.com