Cinnamon and Apple Pie Sticky Buns (Chelsea Buns)

I made these after a very long day studying and practising for the Outdoor First Aid Certificate.  I still have another long day ahead of me tomorrow and the thought of these just eases the pain slightly.

Not that it was an exceptionally hard course, just tiring and intense.  Very, very useful though.  I now know what to do if I come across an unconscious person, if someone is choking, if someone is drowning, having a heartache, a seizure, is in shock and generally just injured.  And there is more to learn tomorrow.

The instructors were very good too, making us do the sequences and procedures again and again until they were completely drilled into our heads. 

It’s funny how a little knowledge can impart so much confidence.  Because that’s what I’ve come away with today – quite a bit more confidence than I had yesterday.  I know that if I was to come across a situation in which someone was in trouble, then I could do what I needed to the best of my ability, and more importantly, what I couldn’t do which is just as important really.

This is a Paul Hollywood recipe, a savoury one called ‘Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberry Chelsea Buns’.  It was featured in a Great British Bake Off Masterclass and I knew that I wanted to make it into a sweet recipe instantly.

The flavours are basically all inspired from apple pie and the method is very easy to do.  After making the dough and rolling it out into a rectangle spread the softened butter, cinnamon and dark brown sugar over it but leaving the sides or edges free.  Then grate an apple or two and spread it over the filling.  If you’re grating the apple in advance like I did, make sure that you soak it in some citrus to prevent it going brown (I used a simple syrup made from limes and sugar that I had lying around). 

The syrup that goes into the baking tray contained walnuts with more brown sugar, butter and a little oil.  The effect was cinnamon buns with a hint of apple pie flavour.  The dough from Hollywoods recipe was amazing!  So soft and pliable and not too rich with butter.   

Everyone really enjoyed these with a cup of tea and make sure you eat them fresh as, although they’re still delicious and soft, they’ve just not got that magic the next day.

Cinnamon and Apple Pie Chelsea Buns

·         500g strong white flour

·         50g caster sugar

·         10g salt

·         40g butter, cut into small pieces

·         2 eggs

·         2 x7g sachet fast-acting yeast

·         150ml lukewarm milk

·         90ml lukewarm water

Filling:

·         100g butter, softened

·         3 tsp cinnamon

·         150 dark brown sugar

Topping:

·         80g butter

·         20g oil

·         300g dark brown sugar

·         50g maple syrup

·         75g walnuts, chopped

Place the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl and combine well.  Add the butter, eggs, yeast, milk and warm water.

Mix all the ingredients with your hands until a rough dough is formed.

On a well floured surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic.   Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for 1 hour.

Make the topping by mixing the ingredients together with an electric whisk until well combined, then pour into a 20cm x 30cm baking tin.

Make the filling by combining all ingredients together to form a spreadable paste – the butter has to be very soft in order to achieve this.

Once the dough has almost doubled in size, roll it out into a large rectangle that is about ⅓ inch thick on a very lightly floured surface.  Spread the filling over the rectangle as well as you can (including the grated apple), then begin to roll the dough up from the longer side.  Once the dough is rolled up, brush some water on the very edge of the dough and ‘glue’ this bit on so that the roll doesn’t open up.

Slice the roll into pieces around 1 ½ cm thick and place these on the topping you have filled the baking tin with.  Leave a slight space between each so that they room to expand in their second proving.  Prove for a second time for about 40 min to 1 hour.

Bake for between 25-30 minutes in a preheated oven gas mark 180 C.

Once out of the oven, leave to slightly cool for about 10 minutes then tip the baking tin over on to a large enough tray, so that the buns are upside down with gooey topping on top.  Eat warm with a cup of tea.

Cinnamon, Walnut and Courgette Cake

I’m so sorry for the bad lighting in some of my photos so far.  It’s been pouring down in Scotland (and the UK!) for the past few weeks – you know, the type of weather where you have to keep the lights on even in so called daylight hours.  Not that we have much daylight right now as it’s dark by half past three.

I’m also very new at photography.  I got my camera just a couple of weeks before I started this blog and it’s my first DSLR camera.  I have absolutely no idea about the functions or workings of DSLR cameras.  The minute I got it I briefly checked how to turn it on, what buttons to press to take a pic and how to charge the battery.  Then it was a matter of turning it on to auto-focus and snapping away.  I love my camera and do want to learn more about it, so I’m going to take a module at the Open University in May on how to become more knowledgeable about one.  Can’t wait.

Now this cake was made because after owning The Humming Bird Bakery: Cake Days for over a year, I hadn’t used it all that much.  The only recipe I think I made of theirs were the Earl Grey Cupcakes which turned out very nice indeed.  But I hadn’t made anything after that and thought it was about time.

This caught my eye naturally because of the cinnamon and also because I had lots of courgettes that needed using up.  I also love oil based cakes.  I think oil gives the cake a lot more bounce, softness and a much tighter crumb.  I feel that oil- based cakes cut better without crumbling all over the place and make the cake lighter somehow too.  I know butter will always win out on taste, but where the cake is heavily flavoured (like here with cinnamon) then it doesn’t become that important.

This is the type of recipe I love because it is so easy to make.  It’s one of those ‘mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients’ method and the main ingredient quantities are all in ‘3s’ (3 eggs, 300ml oil, 300g sugar etc) so very easy to remember.

I replaced the butter and yoghurt icing that the recipe specified, for a Swiss Meringue Buttercream icing instead.  The cake really impressed everyone; it was lovely and soft with a warm cinnamon flavour and contrastingly nice crunch from the walnut bits.  I made this again (after numerous requests from my sister-in-law) but with almonds instead of walnuts and no icing and it was just as good for a teatime treat.  I honestly think this cake is wonderful on its own sans any kind of icing but I will include the one given in the recipe if you would like to try.

Cinnamon, Walnut and Courgette Cake (from The Humming Bird Bakery: Cake Days)

·         3 large eggs

·         300ml sunflower oil

·         300g soft light brown sugar

·         ½ tsp vanilla essence

·         300g plain flour

·         1 tsp baking powder

·         1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

·         2 tsp cinnamon

·         ½ tsp ground ginger

·         ½ tsp nutmeg

·         300g courgettes, peeled and grated

·         100g walnuts, chopped roughly

Preheat oven to 180C and prepare two 8” round cake tins.

Combine the wet ingredients together; eggs, sunflower oil and sugar, in large bowl.

Sift together the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two batches, mixing well after each batch.

Add the grated courgettes and chopped walnuts into the batter making sure you fold them in thoroughly.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes (although check after about 30 minutes to see if they are done).  Allow the cakes to cool for about 5 minutes in the tin before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool.

Frosting (from The Humming Bird Bakery: Cake Days)

·         240g unsalted butter, softened

·         1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

·         750g icing sugar

·         75g Greek yoghurt

Whisk together the butter, cinnamon and icing sugar until the mixture is sandy in consistency with all the butter fully mixed.

Whisk in the yoghurt on a low speed until it is combined, then turn the speed to high and whisk the icing until light and fluffy.

Assembly

Once the cakes have cooled, slice each in half to make four layers. 

Stack these on top of each other with frosting between each layer, using a little between each layer and leaving a larger amount to frost the top and outside of the cake. 

Dust the top with a little cinnamon – I used a craft stencil and dusted the cinnamon through that, giving a pretty effect.