Wales buns for Lise
My friend Lise lives in Wales. It is her birthday today. Hurray, hurray, HURRAAAAAAAAAY.
The first time I met Lise was a “few years ago” on a Roskilde festival.
We had a lot in common, born the same year, a little sister (Lise also has a big brother) and we both LOVED The Cure.
The Cure – a classic band that still is a favourite of mine. Everything that Robert Smith touches musically just gets better – look at the Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles – Not In Love ft. Robert Smith of The Cure – YouTube according to my taste in music, Crystal Castles are only good with Robert!
Lise is a bit bigger The Cure fan than me, back then she told me what she would name her son – and she kept it.
That’s another thing we have in common – we both have one child, a boy – and they are almost the same age.
Lise is our contact overseas.
My sister and I always gets tips from her before we take a sister trip to London. Lise generally know what it is going on – that is super!
So I want to give Lise a birthday cake – a Wales bun with a twist.
I don’t think my Wales buns for Lise are very Welsh. I Googled Welsh cakes and found out that they are some kind of a flat scone with raisins, baked in a special pan.
I’ve made a recipe for scones with fruit and nuts – they are not Welsh. (Recipe only in Danish so far)
I’ve been trying to find out were Wales buns came from. The cream bun; choux pastry, cream puffs and other cream buns, was invented in the early 1900s, so it is a classic Danish cream cake.
Traditionally in Denmark you make the Wales buns with jam, pastry cream filling and whipped cream and on top white icing and red currant jelly.
My Wales buns are not quite classic, for Lise is a very creative woman and I wanted to give her a special version.
These Wales buns are with marzipan foam and homemade apple jam, white icing sprinkled with coarsely chopped hazelnuts and dark chocolate.
Because it is a birthday the cake is decorated with a flag with Lise’s logo.
Lise makes purses, make-up, wash and toiletries bags, made using bright, shiny and colourful oilcloth. She is selling her fine creations online and at Craft fairs in England. I borrowed her logo for the occasion.
Congratulations Lise.
Wales Buns
Ingredients
- Choux pastry
- Coarse apple jam
- Marzipan Foam
- Powdered sugar
- Water
- Chopped baked hazelnuts
- Chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
Take a choux pastry and split it.
Start with some apple jam at the bottom half.
On top of the jam add a generous spoonful – or more, of your marzipan foam.
Put the choux pastry lid on and decorate with a mid-thick glaze made of powdered sugar and water.
While the glaze is wet sprinkled the Wales Bun with coarsely chopped hazelnuts and chopped dark chocolate.
Garnish with flags.
Recipe Notes
Use your favourite jam – a raspberry jam will be nice.
If you don’t like marzipan, try to mix your whipped cream with vanilla sugar and fresh berries cut into pieces.
Instead of a glaze, you can sprinkle the buns with sifted icing sugar.
Choux pastry
Ingredients
- 100 g butter
- 220 g water 2 dl
- 100 g wheat flour
- 2 organic eggs size Large or 3 size Medium eggs
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 250ºC (482°F) conventional oven, place a baking sheet on the middle shelf.
- Put water and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Sift flour and add it with vigorous stirring using a whisk.
- Heat the dough very thoroughly, it should be fine and glossy; use a spatula to stir.
- Let the dough cool for 3 minutes and put it in a mixer with a K-padle or use a hand mixer.
- Add the first egg and beat for 2 minutes. Take the spatula and scrape down the edges, add the second egg and beat for 1-2 minutes. Continue whipping the eggs in one at a time, for about 1-2 minutes each, before you add the next egg. Scrape the edge down when necessary.
- Put the dough on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, using an piping bag/freezer bag or use a few spoons to make the buns.
- Turn down to 200°C (392°F) conventional oven WITHOUT fan, transfer the baking paper with the buns to the hot baking sheet and bake the choux pastry for approximately 25 minutes - depending on the size. REMEMBER, DO NOT open the oven door the first 15-20 minutes of baking time, the buns will collapse!
- When the choux pastry are golden and beautiful, take a bun out of the oven to test it. See if it collapses while it cools a little. If so, then bake the others a little more. If not, then they are finished.
- Cool the choux pastry and they are ready for use.
If you use US Customary, remember that the recipe is made using Metric and converted via a plugin.
Private notes
Coarse apple jam
Ingredients
- 475 g peeled apples without core 2 cooking apples
- 90 g peeled apple without core 1 Ingrid Marie apple or another eating apple
- 200 g light cane sugar
- 40 g dark cane or use more light cane sugar
- 1 pc organic lemon juice and peel
- ½ teaspoon vanilla powder or seeds from a vanilla pod
Instructions
- Clean and peel the apples.
- Cut them into cubes.
- Add the apples in layers in a saucepan with the sugar, vanilla powder, lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes with the lid on.
- Stir the mixture and continue to cook the apples over low heat, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Stir and cook the apples without the lid for the last 10 minutes.
- Pour the jam in scalded glass, I use "Atamon" it is a Danish product that is used in jellies and pickles to preserve the freshness of the food for longer.
- Cool off and enjoy.
Notes
If you use US Customary, remember that the recipe is made using Metric and converted via a plugin.
Private notes
Marzipan Foam
Ingredients
Whipped cream:
- 3 dl whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons homemade vanilla sugar
Instructions
- Put marzipan and egg white in a mixer and mix it until the mixture is homogeneous.
- Whip the cream with the vanilla sugar, it must be stiff but lightly whipped.
- Take a bit of the whipped cream and mix it in marzipan mix, to smooth the mix.
- Fold the rest of the whipped cream in the mix.
- The marzipan foam is ready for use.
If you use US Customary, remember that the recipe is made using Metric and converted via a plugin.
Private notes
I am definitely making choux pastry again. My sister and I have talked a lot about some of the old danish cakes. One of them is the Potato cake, the RIGHT version with choux pastry, NOT the fake version with layer cake bottoms.
So pastries is something you can do yourself – obviously 😀
I absolutely love this – thank you so much Christel ❤️ Once I’ve made the Wales buns I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Thank you Lise ❤️ I am looking forward to that!