Give your Chelsea buns a naughty twist with the Hairy Bikers chocolate and cherry buns recipe. This delicious recipe is a treat you'll want to make again
This Hairy Bikers’ chocolate and cherry buns recipe gives a devilish twist to classic Chelsea buns.
Hairy Bikers (opens in new tab)are famous for their delicious desserts and this cherry bun recipe is another brilliant one to add to the list. This recipe uses traditionalChelsea bun dough (opens in new tab), combined with melted chocolate chips and sweet sticky glace cherries, to make 10-12 tasty buns. Each one is then dusted with cinnamon and mixed spices, giving it an extra kick of flavour. We recommend drizzling these chocolate and cherry buns with homemade icing and serving as fresh as possible.
Ingredients
75g butter, plus extra for greasing
250ml milk
500g strong white bread flour
1 tsp mixed spice (optional)
7g instant yeast
75g soft light brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
vegetable oil, for greasing
100g butter, softened
50ml maple syrup
25g dark soft brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground mixed spice
pinch of salt
100g glacé cherries, halved
100g chocolate chips
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp demerara sugar
1–2 tbsp just-boiled water
200g icing sugar
WEIGHT CONVERTER
grams
to
cups
Method
Line a 26–28cm deep cake tin or a deep roasting tin with baking paper and grease it generously with butter.
Put the milk in a saucepan, place it over a gentle heat and bring it to just below boiling point. Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter, then set aside until the butter has melted and the mixture has cooled to blood temperature.
Put the flour and mixed spice, if using, in a large bowl and add the yeast, sugar and a pinch of salt. Make a well in the middle.
Beat the egg into the milk and butter mixture. Add this to the flour and stir until well combined – it will be a very soft, sticky dough.
Lightly oil your hands and the work surface, then turn out the dough. Knead until the dough is no longer sticky and has become smooth and elastic. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover it with a damp tea towel, then leave it to rise until doubled in size. This will take about an hour and a half.
For the filling, beat the butter with the maple syrup, sugar, spices and a pinch of salt to make a creamy, toffee-coloured mixture.
Turn the dough out and roll or pat it into a rectangle of about 30 x 23cm. Spread the butter mixture over the dough, then sprinkle with the chocolate chips and cherries. Roll the dough up fairly tightly, then cut it into 10–12 pieces.
Arrange the rounds, cut-side down, in the deep cake tin. Brush them with some of the beaten egg, then leave for another 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Brush with egg again, then sprinkle with the sugar. Bake the buns in the oven for 20–25 minutes, or until they are a rich golden-brown and well risen.
For the optional glaze, gradually add enough just-boiled water to the icing sugar to make a glaze that’s thin enough to pour, but won’t run off too much. Leave the buns to cool in the tin, then drizzle over the glaze. Leave to set.
Recipe taken from The Hairy Bikers British Classics cookbook (opens in new tab)
Tips for making Hairy Bikers' chocolate and cherry buns:
If the buns are browning too quickly in the oven before they fully cook all the way through, cover them with tinfoil after the first 15 minutes or so.
Simon King and David Myers are the fantastic duo that make up the Hairy Bikers and are best known as Si and Dave. The Hairy Bikers have several cookbooks published including How to Love Food and Lose Weight and Eat for Life. Hairy Biker recipes are always triple tested and try to be as fuss-free as possible so you can trust the timings. Si and Dave have also had several hit cooking shows as they remain as one of the UK’s favourite cookery duos.
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