Easter Magic on Bowen Island

Coconut Swirly Buns and Poppyseed Swirly Buns

It has been an eventful Easter holiday.  I made poppyseed swirly buns, coconut swirly buns, citrus and sour cherry honey buns with marzipan centres, and hot cross buns.  I use my dear Grand-dad's recipe for hot cross buns with a few changes: I use my home made citrus peel and I sometimes add apricots and sour cherries to the mix.

Daffodils from my garden.

In between all the bread proofing, I took some time to weed in my garden.  There were random daffodils all over the lawn and throughout the garden beds.  I managed to put together a pretty decent bouquet without having to pick every flower in  the garden.

On Saturday, a friend and I took a day trip to Bowen Island.  On our hike around Killarney Lake, we almost stepped on this little creature.  This is a rough-skinned newt.  I didn't know that until I got home and looked it up so I called it a Magic Salamander (Mag for short).  We moved Mag off the middle of the path and carried on our way.  

Mag the Magic Salamander

Here is my Grand-Dad's recipe for Hot Cross Buns

(I use a stand mixer but this could easily be mixed by hand)

A:

1 large russet potato

B:

4 cups flour (+ 1 1/2 cups extra)

2 Tablespoons regular yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon allspice

1 cup raisins (I use a mix of currants, sultanas, and golden)

1/2 cup mixed peel

C:

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

D:

2 large eggs

For the crosses

Mix 3 tablespoons flour with 1 tablespoon water to form a gooey paste.  put in a piping bag with a small round tip.

Citrus Glaze

I like to glaze my buns when they come out of the oven.  I zest a lemon or orange (sometimes both), add the juice of one lemon and enough icing sugar (2 cups) to make a thick glaze.

A:  Peel and boil potato.  Put through a ricer or grate on large holes of a box grater.  Set aside 3/4 of a cup

B:  Mix dry ingredients in bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attachment.  Add 3/4 cup riced potato, mix.

C: Scald wet ingredients.  Let cool to lukewarm.  Add to dry ingredients with stand mixer running

D: Slightly beat eggs, add to stand mixer

This is a wet dough.  Turn it out and knead it.  Try to add as little extra flour as possible.  Form a ball.  Place in a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel.  Allow to rise until dough has doubled.

Turn oven on to preheat at 325 degrees.  Put rack in second highest position.

Punch down.  Portion into about 24 rolls.  I like 60 gram rolls.  Place rolls in a rectangular baking tray.  Let them rise to double in size.  Pipe crosses on.  Bake for 25 minutes.  I rotate my pans at 15 minutes and bake for 10 more.

Once the buns come out of the oven, I spread the glaze over them.  I let them cool fully before eating.

Hot Cross Buns - Oh so good.

Birthday Cake in Lethbridge!

My niece turned one this week.  By far, this was my favourite cake that I've had the opportunity to make for someone.  Lucie's mom is half Moroccan and has a sweet spot for orange blossom, so I made an orange blossom chiffon cake filled with orange cream and citrus fruits.  The cake was an especial hit with my niece.  She even refused her lunch and demanded a taste of the tester cake.  It's nice to have an appreciative audience.

It was pretty fun making this cake.  I had very little equipment, so I had to improvise a bit.  I built a cake frame out of a shoebox and instead of lining the box with acetate, I used plain old saran wrap.  The frame came off easily, but the sides of the cake looked a bit messy.  I ended up masking them with the cream.

About the whip cream:  Baking Illustrated by Cook's Illustrated has a great recipe for super stabilized whip cream.   I used it when I made my Mom and Dad's black forest cake for their retirement.  The recipe is simple.

For one litre of whipped cream:

In a small saucepan:
mix 1 Tablespoon cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons of sugar with 1 cup of the heavy cream.  Make sure there are no lumps.  Then cook the mixture on medium heat until it thickens into a pudding like consistency.  Cool the mix thoroughly.

When it is time for the cream, in a big bowl or a stand mixer, add the cream to the pudding mix.  Again make sure there are no lumps.  Then whip it all up per usual.  Add sugar and flavours to taste.

This cream is so stable that it can sit at room temp for a couple hours with no weeping or melting.  Also, it pipes like a dream!

I made one more cake this season.

My Mom and her twin sister turned 60!  I made a special two in one twin themed cake that consisted of a spiced cheesecake sandwiched by fat layers of carrot cake.  I covered the whole thing in white chocolate cream cheese frosting.  The cake was monster sized and super delicious.  Here is a picture of the birthday girls on their special day.