Recipe: chelsea buns

Soft buns with raisins infused with tea and orange zest, topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting

One of dad’s favourites, chelsea buns have been something that i’ve wanted to make for a long time. My parents came to visit us in Sweden this week, so it felt like an appropriate time to finally make them. I steeped the raisins in black tea with the zest of an orange, which made them beautifully plump and fragrant. The pillowy dough is rolled and brushed with butter, brown sugar and a touch of cinnamon before sprinkling with the raisins, rolling into a cosy spiral and cutting into individual buns. After baking, they’re brushed with melted butter and when cooled, topped with vanilla-flecked cream cheese frosting–not the typical topping for a chelsea bun, but the topping that I think I will be using for them forevermore. I prefer a thinner layer of frosting, which is what the recipe below makes, but if you prefer more, you can double the recipe.

This recipe, as with many of my bun recipes, uses a tangzhong to make sure the dough is wonderfully soft, and helps to keep the buns fresher for longer.