Vegan Semlor

Vegan Semlor - these Swedish cream buns are a delicious treat for Shrove Tuesday!

Flavoured with cardamom, filled with almond paste and topped with whipped cream, these buns are soft, sweet, indulgent and very more-ish!

What Are Semlor?

Semlor (singular semla), are sweet cardamom flavoured yeast buns with an almond filling, whipped cream and a dusting of powdered sugar.

They are traditionally made in Sweden and a few other countries for Shrove Tuesday/fat Tuesday (pancake day in the UK), though they are available in bakeries from early January.

The dough is enriched with butter and milk, sometimes egg, and obviously they are topped with a lot of whipped cream, so traditional semlor are not exactly vegan friendly. Fortunately there are so many vegan products available now that it is very easy to make a vegan version.

Ingredient Details:

Bread flour: White bread flour helps to give the buns their soft, fluffy, chewy texture. Plain (all-purpose) flour will also work though the texture isn't quite the same. I don't recommend using wholemeal flour as that will make the bread too dense.

Instant/fast action yeast: I always prefer to use fast action yeast when making bread as it can just be added straight to the flour and doesn't need to be activated first.

Non-dairy milk: Soy milk is always my favourite for baking as it has the highest protein content so most closely resembles dairy milk. Any variety of non-dairy milk will work however, but go for an unsweetened one if you can.

Sugar: I use caster sugar in the dough as it dissolves easily; it can be swapped for granulated if that is all you have. You will also need caster or granulated sugar for the filling, and icing/powdered sugar for the cream and for dusting.

Vegan butter: A block style butter such as Flora plant butter or Naturli vegan block is best but a spreadable one will also work (but not a light variety).

Vegan whipping cream: I use Oatly whippable or Elmlea plant double cream. If you aren't in the UK then you need to use a cream that can be whipped, not a pouring cream. It may work with coconut cream but please note that I haven't tested it.

Ground almonds: This is what forms the base of the filling. I believe that in the US it would be called almond flour rather than ground almonds.

Cardamom: Use freshly ground cardamom for the best flavour, if you are using pre ground it is not as strong so you will need to add more of it. I've kept the amount variable so add the smaller quantity if you prefer more of a subtle flavour, or the full amount if you like a strong kick.

Baking powder: Adds a bit of extra lift to the dough but you can omit it if you want.

How To Make Vegan Semlor:

(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)

Step 1: To make the dough, mix the bread flour, yeast, salt, cardamom and sugar in a large bowl. Add the milk and mix to form a shaggy dough.

Step 2: knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough will be sticky at first.

Step 3: Knead in the butter then place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.

Step 4: Punch down the risen dough and divide it into 9 even pieces. Shape each piece into a ball by gathering the edges up and pinching them together. Keep going until you have a neat, well-sealed ball.

Flip the ball over, cup it with your hand over the top and roll it until it is smooth.

Step 5: Place the balls well spaced apart on a lined baking tray. Loosely cover and set aside to rise until puffy.

Step 6: Gently brush the risen buns with a mixture of milk and maple syrup then bake for 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Step 7: Use a sharp serrated knife to slice the top off of each bun and hollow out about a third of the centre. Crumble the insides of the buns into a bowl.

Step 8: To make the filling, mix the ground almonds, sugar, 50g of the breadcrumbs, vanilla and almond extracts and milk together to make a spoonable paste.

Step 9: Spoon some of the filling into each of the hollowed out buns, filling them right to the top.

Step 10: Whisk the vegan cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract together with an electric mixer until it forms stiff peaks.

Step 11: Transfer the cream to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe a generous swirl of cream on top of each bun. Replace the lids, dust with icing sugar and serve right away.

Top Tips:

All of my recipes are developed using grams, and as with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!

Make sure that your yeast hasn’t expired! Out of date yeast can lead to bread that doesn’t rise.

Don't be tempted to add more flour to the dough (unless it is wet rather than sticky), it is supposed to be a bit soft and sticky. If you add too much flour the bread will end up being dry and dense, not light and fluffy.

If you want, you can give the dough it’s first rise overnight in the fridge rather than at room temperature. This breaks up the workload and gives the bread an even better flavour.

The rising time of the dough will vary depending on how warm it is; on hot days it will rise much faster than on cold ones. If you refrigerate the dough for it's first rise, the second rise will take longer than if it's first rise was at room temperature.

The best way to tell if a loaf of bread is cooked in the middle is to use a probe thermometer. It is impossible to give a one-size-fits-all baking time as ovens vary so much. The bread should be done when it reaches 90°C / 195°F.

I recommend serving these vegan semlor as soon as possible once you have added the cream as vegan whipped cream doesn't always hold it's shape very well.

FAQ's:

More Vegan Bun Recipes:

• Vegan St. Lucia buns
• Cranberry orange rolls
• Chocolate swirl buns
• Rhubarb frangipane buns
• Vegan Belgian buns

If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess

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