Iced Buns

Iced Buns have been on my ‘To Bake’ list for a while, especially after they were featured on the 2nd series of Great British Bake Off but for some reason I’d never bumped them to the top of the list.

But then my Faux-Nephew developed a rather large affection for them and it was requested I make some. I know I say this EVERYTIME but it really is an incredible resource – I turned to Pinterest and drooled over lots of lovely pictures of Iced Buns and found three recipes/pictures that stood out for me.

La Popotte de Manue – Finger Buns

These looked very beautiful but used Fresh Yeast – I know it’s pretty easy to get hold of now but it’s still one of those things that scares me, so that was a no no.

Raspberri Cupcakes – Finger Bun Bites

Also beautiful but required me to make a water-roux first, which sounded like too much of a faff.

Good to Know – Swiss Buns

This was originally from a 1956 addition of Women’s Weekly and looked perfect – just like the buns I remember from the bakery as a kid.

But being me, I fiddled a little with the recipe. For starters myself and wet doughs are not particularly good friends, no matter how much I try to do them by hand it just doesn’t work. I’m sure it has everything to do with my super hot hands and nothing to do with my lack of dough talent – stupid hot hands! Because of this I used my trusty KitchenAid to do the hard work, sometimes I think it makes me a bit of a fraud when they are successful – Martha did it! (That’s the name of my KitchenAid by the way – I haven’t shipped Martha Stewart in, that really would be cheating)

On the day I had limited time in the morning and wanted them to be fresh, so decided to make the dough last thing at night and proof them slowly in the fridge overnight – much like I did with the Hot Cross Brioche.

I liked that the buns from Raspberri Cupcakes were glazed before baking, so I added this step.

Finally I wasn’t comfortable with using food colouring, so while standing in my kitchen scratching my head – I remembered that Steph from Riversidebaking had used Belvoir cordial in the buttercream for some Raspberry & Rose cupcakes she had blogged. Luckily I’ve recently made the switch to Belvoir cordials myself and had the perfect Raspberry & Lemon in the fridge – which made beautiful pink icing.

Iced Buns
adapted from Good to Know/Woman’s Weekly
makes 24 small buns

500g / 1lb plain flour
½ tsp salt
60g / 2oz butter – chilled & cubed
7g / ¾ oz quick yeast
2 large eggs
zest of 1 lemon – finely grated
225ml warmed milk

for the glaze

1 tbsp soft brown sugar + 2 tbsp milk

for the icing

90g / 3.2oz icing sugar
1 lemon

90g / 3.2oz icing sugar
raspberry & lemon cordial

In the bowl of a stand mixer – add the flour, salt, butter and yeast. With the paddle attachment – mix for a few minutes until the butter is rubbed in. You could do this by hand, I normally would but it was 11 ‘o’ clock on a Friday night!

In a small bowl, beat the egg with the lemon zest – and slowly add the milk.

Swap the paddle for the dough hook – pour the egg mixture into the stand mixer and start it up. On a slow speed at first and then increasing to medium.

Let the dough hook do its magic. It took just over 10 minutes, until the dough had all come together and was glossy. It should be soft and elastic – like a very thick batter.

Cover the bowl with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight to proof.

Wake Up :-)

Take the dough out of the fridge, it should’ve at least doubled in size. Tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 24 pieces. I weighed my dough and did some maths but you don’t have to – I was just being a bit Virgo about it!

Shape each of the balls and place on a lined baking tray – leave to rise. I find that when I have proofed dough in the fridge, it needs a little kick up the bum to help it do its second proof – so I placed mine in the oven on its lowest temperature (which in my oven is 50°c) until they have doubled in size.

Remove the buns from the oven and turn the temperature up to 200°c / 400°f / gas mark 6

Mixed together 2 tablespoon of warm milk and 1 tablespoon of soft brown sugar until the sugar dissolves. Brush onto the tops of each bun.

Bake the buns for 10-12 minutes – keep an eye on them, the glaze means some might catch and burn a little, so you may need to rotate the trays.

Don’t worry about them spreading and touching – that is part of the joy! They should rise a lot – once baked they should be golden on top and sound hollow when you tap them.

Place on a wire rack to fully cool.

Once cooled, make the icing.

In 2 small bowls, add 90g of icing sugar to each. Then gradually add the liquid and stir until you get it how you want it. It shouldn’t be too runny, but it needs to be runny enough that you can spread it with the back of a spoon.

I used just over half a lemon for the white icing and about a tablespoon of cordial for the pink. If you want to use food colouring, you’ll only need a few drops, so use lemon juice until you get the consistency right.

Ice the buns.

Eat the buns.

Love the buns.

MmmMmMmmmm Buns.