Hot Cross Bun Doughnuts stuffed with Chocolate

Hot Cross Bun Doughnuts stuffed with Chocolate

by | Mar 27, 2018 | 2 comments

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If you love Hot Cross Buns, then brace yourself because Hot Cross Bun Doughnuts are even BETTER! I’m pretty sure I was the first person to create the Hot Cross Bun Doughnut. About 4 years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea; what if you DEEP-FRIED a hot cross bun?! I often think of deep-frying things, so this was not unusual but a quick google search confirmed that this did not yet exist. YES! Do you know how rare it is to come up with something completely new?!

That’s how these hot cross bun doughnuts ended up on Food24 and on the Expresso show (see I have proof I was the first!) BUT I’ve always regretted that I never filled them with something… I also don’t know what I was thinking making them miniature. Go big or go home, right?

The recipe is pretty simple; prepare a basic bread dough using Stork Bake (‘cos the doughnuts will stay fresher for longer) and load it up with spices, raisins and candied fruit. If you’re a raisin dodger, you can simply swop the fruit out for choc chips and nuts. Proof the dough as you would when making bread, but instead of baking them… you FRY them!

I like to grease the baking paper with a little Stork Bake to stop them sticking, and here’s the trick, when you’re ready to fry the doughnuts, simply cut the paper around the dough ball and pop the entire thing (dough ball with baking paper stuck to it) into the hot oil. As the doughnut browns, the paper will fall off.

Immediately give them a quick dip in a mountain of castor sugar. They are delicious as-is but filling them with an absurd amount of chocolate hazelnut spread (or custard!) really makes them special! These are best served still-warm on the day that you’ve made them. The dough will happily keep the in the fridge overnight so feel free to make that the day before.  You could even shape them, place on a baking sheet, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, simply let them proof, pipe the crosses on and fry! Happy Easter!

Hot Cross Bun Doughnuts stuffed with Chocolate

Makes 12 large doughnuts

 

60g Stork Bake, cubed, at room temperature

420g cake flour

1 tsp salt

50ml soft brown sugar

1 tsp mixed spices

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed peel (optional)

10g Instant dry yeast

1 large egg, beaten

200ml warm water

½ cup raisins

 

Crosses

¼ cup cake flour

1 tbsp melted Stork Bake

2 tbsp water

 

Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Castor sugar, to dust

200g chocolate hazelnut spread, to fill

 

Rub the Stork Bake into the flour and mix in the salt, sugar, spices and mixed peel, if using. Add the yeast and mix. Beat the egg and warm water together and add to the dough. Mix to form a soft dough then knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Mix in the raisins. Divide into 12 pieces (or 24 if you’d prefer them to be a smaller bite-size) and roll into balls. Place on 2 x baking trays lined with baking paper, cover with cling wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size – the balls should feel puffy (see TIP). Mix the flour, Stork Bake and water together and place in a piping bag. Pipe crosses onto the buns. Heat a deep fryer or large pot of oil to 180C and fry the doughnuts, in batches until golden and puffed. Remove from the oil and immediately dust in castor sugar. Place the chocolate hazelnut spread in a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle. Pierce a hole in the side of the doughnut, insert the nozzle and fill each doughnut with chocolate hazelnut spread. Serve immediately.

TIP To speed up the proofing process, turn your oven into a proofer by preheating it to the lowest setting – about 50 degrees celsius and place a baking tray filled with water in the bottom of the oven. Place the buns in the oven, covered, then turn the oven off and leave them to proof in the hot and humid environment.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

by | May 16, 2014 | 0 comments

I never bake for myself. If I bake, it’s for a reason; to spoil a friend, to share with colleagues or to (hopefully) inspire someone on this page to create something delicious to share with their friends or families – like a ripple effect of baking love! So when I discovered that this year’s theme for World Baking Day on Sunday 18 May is #PledgetoBake for someone special, I decided to do what I usually do and bake with love, but this time, it’s for the person who inspired my love for sweetness and baking, the sweetest person I know – my mom (who, by the way, is probably the only person who can take down a tin of condensed milk faster than I can – I know, hard to believe isn’t it?!).
 
It was a mini baking set I received for Christmas at 6 years old that sparked my passion for whipping and whisking but it actually began way before that, with me poking my nose over the kitchen counter and watching my mom and grandmother baking up all sorts of delights. My mother would bake fresh bread each morning and churn butter from the cream skimmed off the top of the milk that came from our cows on the farm. Homemade strawberry jam was also a regular thing in our kitchen. Despite insisting she isn’t a talented baker, we still got the most beautiful, creative birthday cakes each year, made in the dead of night. Wishing wells, Humpty Dumpty’s and Garden walls crawling with sweetie insects were the cakes I could only dream of. But didn’t have to.

So when I started hosting my own cooking shows in our family kitchen, with every single ingredient neatly measured out in a gazillion little prep bowls (a la Delia Smith-style), my mom never complained about the mountain of washing up (despite it driving her nuts inside!). The older I got, the more challenging the recipes I attempted became. I never stuck to the simple stuff; having once seen spun sugar in a food magazine, I attempted to make it myself, only to leave my mother chiseling molten sugar off her kitchen floor and walls for weeks afterwards! Yet still, she was always encouraging of my dream.

 Mom, this recipe and post is for you. You’ve always supported and encouraged me; from your kind words after little flops on national television to sending me countless recipes from your cookbooks and the many, many dishes you’ve washed during my endless photoshoots. But most of all, it’s a little thank you for the passion and love you gave me for food.  These pretty red velvets remind me of my mom. Graceful and elegant; I’ve always thought of the red velvet cupcake as the lady of all the cupcakes. It’s bright and cheerful and sweet as can be. But who will you be baking for on World Baking Day, which by the way, is this Sunday (18 May 2014)? Let me know in the comments below and also, WHAT you’ll be baking for them!  Don’t forget to make your pledge official here – it puts your #pledgetobake into a cute little card that you can share on social media and also allows you to tag the lucky person you’re baking for so that the world knows how awesome they are!  Happy World Baking Day!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe by Stork Bake

Makes 12

 

180g Stork Bake

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

400g (2 1/2 cups) cake flour

315g (1 1/2 cups) castor sugar

Red food colouring (I used the gel variety)

2 tbsp The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder

250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk or natural yoghurt

3 tsp baking powder

 

Frosting

55g Stork Bake

300g Icing sugar, sifted

125g smooth full fat cream cheese

 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases. Cream the Stork Bake and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.  In a separate bowl, combine the cocoa, food colouring and 2 tbsp water then beat into the mixture.  Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and add into the mixture gradually, alternating with the buttermilk and beating on a low speed.  Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases, filling them 3/4 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until springy to the touch, or a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack, before frosting.  For the frosting, cream the Stork Bake until light and fluffy then add the icing sugar and beat well. Once very light and fluffy, add the cream cheese.