Swedish Chocolate & Cardamom Buns

Chocolate and Cardamom Buns, sound good don’t they?  Those of you who follow me will know that I love buns in all shapes, sizes and flavours.   After sharing a coffee with my son the other day, we talked about making them, so now I would like to share them with you.

These tempting, sweet, enriched, yeasted buns are flavoured with cardamom, filled with a buttery-chocolate paste and then delicately sprinkled with sugar nibs. They’re light as a feather and mouthwateringly delicious.

This enriched dough is a fail safe recipe I use for all my Swedish sweet breads.  I have introduced a tangzong, this involves cooking a portion of flour and liquid into a thick roux prior, to then add to the dough ingredients, resulting in soft, fluffy bread, that stays fresh a little longer.

With this method, I believe the buns are even better if the dough (stage 1) has been proved in the fridge overnight. Another advantage is, this enables you to have freshly baked buns, first thing in the morning.  Because the dough is cold after refrigeration, they do take longer to rise after shaping.  A handy tip is to place the prepared buns on the tray you are going to bake them on, in the oven, SWITCHED OFF with a bowl of freshly boiled water, don’t cover them. This speeds up the process.

You can find a video on how to shape the buns here.

If you’re a chocolate lover, then you really must to give these a try!

Print Recipe

Chocolate & Cardamom Buns

Prep Time40 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Servings: 14 buns

Ingredients

Tangzhong

• 70 ml water
• 70 ml milk
• 25 g strong white bread flour

Dough

• 30 g fresh bakers yeast or 14g fast action dried yeast
• 250 ml whole milk
• 595 g strong white bread flour
• 5 g freshly ground cardamom
• a good pinch sea salt
• 110 g butter, cut into small dice & room temperature
• 70 g caster sugar
• 1 large egg 55g

Chocolate Filling

• 110 g caster Sugar
• 150 g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 45 g cocoa

Topping

• Egg for glazing
• Sugar Nibs

Instructions

Tangzhong

• Place all three ingredients in a small saucepan. Whisk together with a balloon whisk, on a medium heat until it thickens and bubbles. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl and cover. Once it’s cooled to room temperature, it’s ready to use.

Dough

• Place the flour, tangzhong, cardamom, sugar and salt in a free standing mixer. Heat the milk in a saucepan to 38C, remove from the heat and add the fresh yeast and stir. If you’re using fast action pour it over the flour. Pour the milk mixture over the flour and turn the mixer on medium-low. Now add the egg and blend for a minute or so. Once the egg is incorporated add the butter and continue to mix. Once it has blended with the dough increase the pace to medium-high and work the dough for another 6-8 minutes or until it feels smooth, silky and shiny. Flour your work surface lightly and place the dough on top, shape into a round, pop back into a clean bowl and cover with a damp tea towel and prove for 20-30 minutes. (Cover with plastic wrap if you're proving in the fridge overnight).
• Mix together the butter, sugar, cocoa to make a smooth paste.
• Shaping the dough: On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into 80x40cm. Spread the chocolate butter mixture on approximately half of the surface. Fold the dough in half, then roll again gently to make an approximate rectangle measuring 45x30cm.
• Cut the dough into roughly 2cm wide strips, I find a pizza wheel good for this job. Twist each strip several times, slightly stretching it as you do so. Cut another strip in half and coil it round the bun, tucking the ends underneath. Continue with the rest of the strips.
• Arrange the buns on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (if they’re too crowded, use 2 sheets), keeping as much space between them as possible. Cover and let prove for 30–45 minutes or until doubled in size.
• Meanwhile, set the oven shelf to the middle position and preheat to 200C Fan.
• Brush the buns with an egg wash, sprinkle with sugar nibs, and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Allow buns to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• The buns are best the same day they are made, but can be frozen for up to 2 months and reheated in the oven before serving.

Tips:

• Add a little cinnamon to the chocolate filling for extra flavour.
• Please use freshly ground cardamom for this recipe! I cannot stress this enough, to get the best flavour.  The seeds are available to buy online, just grind what you need when you bake.