Eggless Black Forest Buns

I am way behind in posting this recipe.These buns were the chosen ones for February’s edition of Aparna’s We Knead To Bake group. I baked it in Feb but kept it aside to post for this marathon. Without further delay / intro, let me take you to the recipe…..

Here are some details from the recipe note…

Black Forest
cake is all about chocolate cake, cherry compote and kirsch (cherry
brandy) and loads of cream. These bunsuse chocolate cake and
cherry compote. You could always flavour the compote with a little
kirsch if you want to aim for the “real deal” in terms of flavour.

As for the egg, the original recipe uses it as it adds to the texture of the dough and the finished buns, but I did not use.

The method of kneading, rolling out the dough, covering it with the
filling, and then rolling it back is just like making cinnamon rolls, so
it is not too difficult. You can also finely chopped nuts
(toasting them first improves flavour) or mini chocolate chips if you
like.

I halved the recipe to make make 7 buns and given below is the measurement that I used…

Ingredients: 

For the Dough: 

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
25 gm butter
1/8 cup sugar
A little less than 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 – 1 3/4  cups all-purpose flour

For the Filling:

A little more than 2/3 cup  strawberry compote

1 1/2 cups crumbled chocolate sponge cake
A few finely chopped glaced cherries.

For drizzling:

Chocolate sauce as needed

Here is how we prepare these buns…

Pour
the water and milk in a saucepan, and heat on the stove till quite hot
but not boiling. Pour this liquid into a large bowl and add the butter.
Stir till the butter is melted. Then add in the sugar and stir till the
sugar dissolves. Let this mixture cool down till it is lukewarm, so that
the yeast will proof. If it is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

You may knead the dough by hand or in the
processor .Take the flour,salt and yeast in a bowl and mix. Add 3/4th of this to the luke warm milk mixture. Start kneading.Once the mixture becomes difficult to
mix, turn it out onto your work surface. Add more flour and continue to
knead for about 10 minutes till the dough is not sticky and elastic.

Place
the kneaded dough in an oiled bowl, turning the dough till lightly
coated with oil. Cover loosely, and allow to double in volume, for about
1 – 1 1/2 hours.After it has doubles, remove from bowl and place on the work surface.

Now place the dough on a flat surface and roll
it out into an approximately 9″ by 12″ rectangle.
Spread the cherry, compote over
the dough leaving a 1/2 inch all around.

Sprinkle the chocolate cake crumbs
on top of this. Roll the dough away from you, as snugly as possible,
starting with the 18” edge like a jam/ jelly roll (as for cinnamon
buns). Try to pinch the dough closed as best as possible, or dampen the
edge with a little water to seal well.

Cut the roll into 1 1/2″
wide pieces with a very sharp knife/ dough scraper. You should have 12
pieces for the full recipe and 6 for half of it.

Place each piece in a
mould (or make collars using foil or parchment paper to fit well around
each piece) and then on a baking tray.. Otherwise place them in a cake
tin leaving enough space for them to expand. If you place them too far
apart, they will spread rather rise in height. Cover loosely, and allow
to rise, for about 1 hour or till almost double.
Bake at 180C for 25 – 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Drizzle with melted chocolate/ chocolate sauce….

Note:

Just make sure you roll the dough, with the filling, as tightly as you can and well because these buns swell up quite a bit.