The hype around hot cross buns in Melbourne around Easter time is no laughing matter. Every bakery and patisserie makes their version, websites publish full guides on where to snag the best ones and influencers flock all over town to capture their hot cross hauls. So, it begged the question, why couldn’t Tarts Anon capitalize on the action?
Hot cross ice-cream, gin and croissants all exist, which goes to show that the flavors of a hot cross bun transcend any format and work together spectacularly. We’re not sure if this tart version will ever surpass an actual hot cross bun, but it’s definitely something unique to bring to the Easter celebration. Start this recipe a day ahead to soak the raisins.
Recipe taken from Tarts Anon by Gareth Whitton and Catherine Way.
Ingredients
1 baked Shortcrust Pastry shell
Soaked raisins
70g (21/2 oz) raisins
30g (1 oz) orange juice
10g (1/4 oz) soft brown sugar
3g (0.1 oz) brandy
pinch of mixed spice
Hot cross bun cake batter
3 oz natural almond meal
1 oz plain (all-purpose) flour
1 oz candied orange peel
1 oz candied lemon peel
2g baking powder
2g salt
2 oz superfine sugar
2˙ oz soft brown sugar
0.2 oz mixed spice
4 oz egg
4 oz Brown butter
Brown butter
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) unsalted butter
Brown butter glaze
6oz Brown butter (above)
14 oz milk
0.14 oz salt
2 oz soft brown sugar
10 g (®˘ oz) pectin X58
Cross
3oz milk powder
Method
To bake the tart, pour the batter into the pastry shell. Bake the tart for approximately 30 minutes, or until the crust is an even golden brown and the centre of the tart is firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool inside the tin.
Brown butter
Place the butter into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once completely melted, allow the butter to simmer gently until it begins to foam. Continue to cook, stirring with a whisk on occasion to prevent burning on the bottom of the saucepan. Once the butter starts to expand, small flecks of browned milk solids appear and the fizzing sound of the butter stops, remove it from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Strain through a fine sieve to remove the milk solids (this is optional, the milk solids won’t change the flavor or texture of the tart). Store this in a container in the fridge until needed.
Brown butter glaze
Bring the brown butter, milk and salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Meanwhile, mix
the sugar and the pectin together in a bowl to ensure that there are no lumps and the pectin is fully dispersed through the sugar. Once the liquid is boiling and the butter has melted, add the sugar mix and simmer gently, while whisking, for 20 seconds.
Remove from heat and blend this mixture with a hand-held blender. Pour into a container to set.
Cross
Place the milk powder into an oven heated to 300°F with the fan turned down low. Leave this to toast for 10 minutes then give a quick stir. Continue to toast for another 5 minutes or until the powder has turned a medium golden colour and has a nutty, buttery smell to it. Allow this to cool and keep in a container.
Take a piece of acetate and cut out a large cross shape to use as your stencil.
To glaze
Once the tart has cooled, it’s ready to be glazed. Warm 4oz of the brown butter glaze in a saucepan
until just melted. Pour this mixture over 4oz of cold glaze and mix with a blender until smooth and the texture of thick custard. Pour this over the cake and tilt the tart tin so that the glaze spreads to the edges (for a smooth and clean look, avoid using a spatula). Tap the tart gently on the bench so that it settles in the corners, and place in the fridge for 5–10 minutes to firm up.
Once the glaze is nice and firm, lightly oil either side of the template with spray or wipe on a small amount of oil on it with paper towel (you want to make sure that the powder sticks to the stencil, but the stencil doesn’t stick to the glaze!). Place the stencil on top of the set glaze and use a sieve to dust on a light coating of the toasted milk powder. Remove the stencil gently, being sure to not let any of the powder fall on the undusted portions of the glaze, then remove from the tin.
You can choose to apply the stencil to the whole tart, or portion the tart and do this step on each slice. Clearly, this whole step is completely optional, but it is a nice little touch to add to the tart for the easter season!