GBBO Week 10 - Cinnamon and Apple Iced Buns

 I can’t believe the Great British Bake Off 2015 is over!!! It was a struggle to work out which of the bakes I’d make for this week’s blog post, but I finally settled Tamal’s Cinnamon and Apple Iced Buns. The original recipe is here. However I made some adjustments – firstly I wanted to make the buns slightly lighter, so switched the double cream for yoghurt. The flavour of the yoghurt contrasts nicely with the apple compote. Also, after the final showstopper challenge, I was desperate to try making Nadiya’s marshmallow fondant. For that reason I topped the buns with this rather than the traditional royal icing. I didn’t have access to my stand mixer, but the dough still ended up super airy and delicious after kneading by hand :)

Makes 16 buns

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 200ml milk (I used skimmed, which worked fine)
• 2 eggs
• 735g strong bread flour
• 80g caster sugar
• 1 ¼ tsp salt
• 3 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 80g butter, softened

For the apple compôte:

• 500g bramley apples, peeled, cored and grated
• 125g caster sugar
• 75ml apple juice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the marshmallow fondant:

• 150g white marshmallows
• 275g icing sugar
• Food colouring (optional)
• Vegetable fat, for greasing

To finish:

• 250g plain yoghurt

Method:

1. Make the dough. In a jug mix together the milk with 175ml boiling water. Beat in the eggs.

2. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the texture is like fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the mix and pour in the wet ingredients. If you have a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment and knead the dough for 5 minutes. If you don’t, knead the dough with your hands – it will be very messy but gave me a fantastic result.

3. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave to prove for an hour, or until doubled in size.

4. Once proved, divide the dough into 16 pieces. I found that my dough was still quite sticky, but try to get them roughly the same size. Roll out the dough into sausages about 10cm in length.

5. Place on a lined baking trays. Space the dough sausages fairly close together (about 2 fingers widths apart), so that when they rise, they will meet. Cover the baking trays and leave to prove again for an hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 200c/180c fan/gas mark 6.

7. Bake the buns for 10-12 minutes until the tops have browned and the buns are well risen. Set aside to cool.

8. Make the apple compôte. Mix all of the ingredients together in a saucepan and cook on a low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Most of the liquid will evaporate. Leave to cool.

9. Make the marshmallow fondant. Put the marshmallows, ½ tsbp water and a little food colouring (optional) in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in short bursts (10-15 seconds) in the microwave. Stir after every burst, until the marshmallows have melted.

10. Add the icing sugar, and stir until it forms a rough paste. Grease your hands and your work surface with vegetable fat. Tip the fondant onto the surface, and knead until smooth.

Roll out to about 5mm thickness and cut out decorations for the iced buns. These can be the traditional strips, or shapes of your choosing (e.g. leaves or hearts).

11. Once baked and cooled, the buns are ready to be assembled. Tear the buns from each other, and slice in half horizontally.

12. Place 2 tsp of plain yoghurt over the top of one cut half of bun, and spread evenly. Top with 2 tsp apple compote. Top with the other half of the bun. Dab the marshmallow fondant with a tiny amount of yoghurt (so the fondant sticks to the bun),  and place on top of the buns.

13. Enjoy!

Are there any bake off recipes I haven't made that you'd like me to try? Have you tried any of the recipes from this season and have tips/tricks? Let me know :D