Kanelbullar (Spelt Swedish Cinnamon Bun Cake)

Cinnamon Bun Cake

Serves: 16 servings

Ingredients

For the dough

• 5g dried active yeast ( if you manage to find fresh yeast, use 30g of that, it will make the buns a lot softer and lighter )

• 250ml lukewarm whole milk (37 degrees Celsius)

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 125g room temperature grass-fed butter, cut into small chunks ( I even used Lurpack light spread and they came out beautifully )

• 100g sugar ( you can use honey, coconut sugar, plain sugar... )

• 5-10 cardamom pods, crushed and seeds removed

• 500g strong bread flour, sifted ( I used half white and half brown)

For the Filling

• 75g unsalted block butter

• 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp cornstarch (this is important! It keeps the filling inside the buns)

• 50g brown sugar

• 50g caster sugar

Sugar coating

• 100ml double cream

• 2 tbsp icing sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

- Add the yeast and sugar to a large bowl then quickly pour over the milk. Let sit for 5-7 minutes or until frothy and bubbly.

- Add in the chunks of butter, cardamom, and sugar. Once combined, add in the flour, gradually while continually whisking. Lastly, add in the salt.

- Keep whisking until the dough looks smooth. It will be very sticky so you will not be able to knead with your hands!

- Cover the dough with a damp tea towel and let it rise for 1 1/2 hours. To know when it has finished rising, The dough should 'bounce back' when lightly pressed.

- Roll it out into a long rectangular shape, around 15x30cm.

- Whisk the filling ingredients together in a bowl then spread over the dough. Cut the rectangle into strips the width you wish your cake to be. Roll one strip up into a tight coil, then take another strip, and wrap that around the coil. Keep wrapping your strips of buttered dough around the coil until you have used all the strips.

- Pop the cake into a greased cake tin and let it rise for a further 30 minutes, covered again by a damp tea towel.

- While they rise, preheat the oven to 200 degrees c, fan. Once the cake is finished rising, brush the top with beaten egg then pop them in the oven until golden, around 15 minutes.

- While the cake cooks, you can make the drizzle by whisking the icing sugar, vanilla and cream. Set aside.

- Remove the cake from the oven and brush the sugar coating on top of the buns. This will allow the buns to retain their moisture. Allow the cake to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing and eating with a nice cup of coffee for a Swedish 'Fika'!