When I was a kid growing up, one of my all-time favourite treats (apart from jelly pies with mock cream, but that’s another story!), was iced buns. Back then, it was basically either what we in NZ (incorrectly) called a Sally Lunn (a large circular bun jam-packed with raisins, topped with thick white icing and shredded coconut) or, if you were particularly lucky, a raspberry iced bun, made with fresh cream and a daub of jam.
And, it’s the latter that I made this weekend. Actually, I got the idea after watching one of my favourite programmes, ‘The Great British Bake Off’ master series, where Paul Hollywood demonstrated what he called his ‘Iced Fingers’.
The recipe, from Paul Hollywood at BBC.co.uk, is super easy, though I found some of the quantities didn’t work for me. For instance, the dough was way too wet so I had to add more flour to make it workable. Also, the icing sugar wasn’t anywhere wet enough, so I had to add quite a bit more water. Not sure why the inaccuracies, but in case it was me, I’ve left the recipe as is. Just bear in mind you may need to adjust the quantities.
Other than that, the only changes I made to the recipe was to add some raspberry powder to the icing mixture to make a raspberry version, and to use raspberry jam instead of strawberry. You can, of course, use whichever flavours float your boat. Oh, and by the way, I halved the recipe and made 7 buns which fed the family perfectly.
I was really stoked with the result – lovely, light and flaky bread paired with freshly whipped cream, raspberry icing and jam… yum. Every bit as good as I remember!
ICED BUNS WITH RASPBERRY CREAM
Equipment
Ingredients
For the buns:
- 1 lb strong white flour (I used Italian strong flour)
- 1-3/4 oz caster sugar (super fine sugar)
- 1-1/2 oz unsalted butter, softened
- 2 free-range eggs
- 1/4 oz sachets instant yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 oz warm milk
- 4-1/2 oz water* (you may need much less water – check the notes below).
For the icing:
- 7 oz icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
- About a quarter teaspoon freeze-dried raspberry powder
- 5 tsp cold water or more as needed
For the filling:
- 7 oz Heavy cream
- 4 oz raspberry jam
- Icing sugar confectioner's sugar, for dusting
Instructions
For the buns:
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F.
- To make the dough, place all the ingredients into a large bowl, holding back a quarter of the water. Stir the mixture with your hands, then slowly add the remaining water (but only if needed)to form a dough and knead in the bowl for four minutes.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for one hour.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces, each about 75g/2.6oz, then roll into balls and shape into fingers about 13cm/5in long.
- Place the dough fingers onto a greased baking tray, leaving space for them to double in size, then set aside in a warm place for 40 minutes. They should just touch each other when they’ve risen. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes then set them aside to cool.
For the icing:
- Add the icing sugar and raspberry powder in a wide bowl and gradually stir in the cold water to form a thick gloopy paste (it shouldn't be overly runny though, or it won't hold it's shape on the bun).
- Dip the top of the cooled fingers into the icing, smoothing it with a damp finger, then leave to set on a wire rack.
For the filling:
- Lightly whip the cream and spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle (I used a 1cm round nozzle). Spoon the raspberry jam into another piping bag with a smaller round nozzle.
- Sliced the iced fingers diagonally, leaving the back edge intact. Pipe in a generous line of whipped cream into the middle of each finger, then a thinner line of jam over top. Dust the iced fingers with icing sugar and serve. NB: These need to be eaten as soon as possible (within an hour). Otherwise, store them in the fridge until required, then bring them out to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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21 responses
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Hi Abbey. No, the yeast (just make sure it’s instant yeast) does not need to be mixed in water first. Hope that helps.
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Listen here Susan I’m slightly offended by your buns I followed your recipe step by step to the point of sitting at my dinner table with an egg timer to get them to perfection….. and I’m sorry to say but they turned out like hot dog buns.
Know I can’t decide whether to put a dog in them or jam.
Then with every bit of positivity I had left came the taste test surely they should taste better than theh look yet again I was 100% wrong I gipped and it ended up back on my plate and in the recycling bin.
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Sorry to hear that. Perhaps you might pass on your comments to the recipe author Paul Hollywood – the link is in the post.
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You might do better doubling the recipe at https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/paul-hollywood-iced-buns/. This is the one I used (I wanted only 6 buns) and they were perfect—nice and big and soft.
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Making these now. Mixture was very wet… in bowl rising now… Will let you know if I have failed again
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Hi Alexandra. Yes as I mentioned in the intro the amounts in Paul Hollywood’s recipe seemed a bit off and I added more flour into my dough mix to make it workable, though still tacky. Fingers crossed for you.
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I made this today and also found the dough t be very wet, I had to add flour to make it workable, having said that it tasted delicious even the husband was very impressed x
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Glad you and hubby enjoyed it Forida – good to know it wasn’t just me who found the mixture too wet. You’d think these well-known chefs would triple check their own recipes!
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There is a very high ratio of Liquid in this recipe, including the eggs the liquid weight is roughly 390g, with the Flour amount being 500g it has a very high hydration of around 78%, the average hydration rate for soft buns would be between 66-70%. You could slash the total water weight in half and still be sitting at 62% hydration. Most bread brought from the supermarket bakeries is around 60%. Hope this helps
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That’s really helpful Caressa, thanks. I’ll try it with the reduced water ratio. Perhaps you could have a word with Paul Hollywood! 🙂
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Hi 🙂
I just wanted to ask what the difference is between all purpose flour and strong flour for a recipe like this.
If I use all purpose, will it effect the texture of the bun?
Thankyou 🙂 -
Hi 🙂
I wanted to ask what the difference between all purpose flour and strong flour is.
If I use all purpose, will it effect the texture of the bun?
Thankyou 🙂-
Hi, I’ll leave the explanation to Delia Smith – Strong (high grade) flour is great for bread making due to the higher level of protein (gluten). Gluten works trapping gas as the loaf rises, making a well aerated (think small holes) loaf. So yes, the texture is better when using strong (high grade) flour for bread making. But if you’ve only got regular (all purpose) flour, use it anyway – it’s not going to fail, it will just be perhaps less ‘perfect’ as a bread.
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Hi i made these today 7/3/21 and they turned out super my daughter said they were better than the professional bakery would make, o by the way i only used half the amount of water about 70 ml.
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Hi Michelle. I can’t categorically say it will work, as I haven’t tried it, but the ingredient amounts look to be easily halved and I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. Let me know how you go!
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Hi James. I’ve never used a bread machine so honestly couldn’t say. Maybe worth giving it a try though. 🙂
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