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Authentic Swedish Cardamom Buns (learn why you should use a pre-dough!)

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Today I want to share with you my favorite Swedish recipe: the authentic cardamom buns! 

Cardamom buns

I baked the easy version at the French Food Blogging Fair where I was invited to give a 2-hour baking course on Swedish pastries with my friend Audrey from hibiscusblog last week. Today, let’s show you the luxury version of the recipe! I’m totally crazy about cardamom in any kind of pastries and to me these seeds are slightly addictive. The cardamom buns are the other version of the Swedish cinnamon buns and the recipe is basically the same except for the fact we use a different spice in the recipe. The traditional recipe involves one single dough that requires yeast and as a result you need to let the dough rise for a while before using it. I used this recipe in my Swedish cardamom buns with a twist of raspberry for instance.

An alternative to this recipe is to prepare a kind of pre-dough as main ingredient for the final dough of which the end product is made. Starting with a pre-dough is always to your advantage. It increases the fermentation capabilities and the volume. It also improves the consistency and aroma of the product when it’s ready. Using a pre-dough ensures you achieve a significantly better result, with a better texture as well!

Cardamom buns

It is quite easy to prepare and use a pre-dough, all you need is a little bit more time than for the classic recipe, because you need to let the pre-dough rise for a while, then let the dough (that includes the pre-dough) rise, and in the end let the buns rise as well before baking them.

If you are craving for cardamom buns and don’t have so much time to bake, go for the basic recipe of the cinnamon buns and simply replace cinnamon with cardamom, then just fold the buns the way it is explained below. But if you really want to impress your guests and have a better recipe that will yield buns that will stay fresh for  several days, I suggest you go for this recipe using a pre-dough. You will never be disappointed!

And if you do not know where to buy cardamom, I suggest you head over to RawSpiceBar where they ship freshly-ground cardamom.

Cardamom buns

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Cardamom buns

Authentic Swedish Cardamom Buns (learn why you should use a pre-dough!)

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Delphine Fortin
  • Prep Time: 2 hours
  • Cook Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 2 hours 10 mins
  • Yield: 35 1x
  • Category: Breads and Brioches
  • Cuisine: Swedish recipes
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Description

Today I want to share with you my favorite Swedish recipe: the authentic cardamom buns!

Scale

Ingredients

Pre-dough (step 1):

  • 1/2 cube (50g) fresh yeast
  • 2 cups (480 ml) milk
  • 5 3/4 (690g) cups all purpose flour
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar

Dough (step 2):

  • 4 cups (480g) all purpose flour
  • 1 cup (240g) softened butter
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 Tablespoon ground cardamom
  • 1 vanilla pod (seeds)
  • 1 teaspoon salt

For the cardamom filling*:

  • 1 Tablespoon ground cardamom
  • 1/2 cup (120g) softened butter
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar

For brushing:

  • 1/3 cup (70g) sugar
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) water
  • The vanilla pod used in the dough at step 2

Instructions

  1. Step 1 : Crumble the fresh yeast into a large mixing bowl and dissolve with the milk. Add in the flour and sugar, and work until you achieve a smooth dough. Cover with a dishcloth and let rise for 30 minutes, until the dough has almost doubled in size.
  2. Step 2 : Incorporate the ingredients from step 2 to the dough from step 1. Knead the dough for approximately 15-20 minutes (or 12-15 minutes with a stand mixer). Cover with a dishcloth and let rise for 30 more minutes.
  3. In the meantime, prepare the filling: crush the cardamom seeds with a rolling pin (the seeds need to be crushed right before use as they lose their intense flavor if left for too long) and mix them with butter and sugar.
  4. Flip the dough onto a floured worktop, knead the dough a little bit more to reshape it and divide into 2 equal parts.
  5. Roll one of the dough into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface and spread half of the cardamom filling on half of the dough lenghtwise. The fold the dough so that the empty side covers the filled one.
  6. Make cuts in the dough, 0,5 cm wide – every other cut should be all the way through, and the rest should stop 1 cm from the top. Take each 1 cm strip, and twist the two skinny parts to make a rope. Fold into a sort of bun and hide the very end under the bun. Place in a paper baking cup or on a parchment paper. Sprinkle with some pearl sugar and cover with a dishcloth. Let rise for 30 minutes.
  7. In the meantime, repeat steps 5 and 6 with the second dough, spreading the remaining cardamom filling*.
  8. Bake at 440°F (230°C) for about 10 minutes. Brush with the sirup (water and sugar, in which you dissolve the vanilla pod used in the dough – step 2).
  9. Let the buns cool on a rack before serving. You can enjoy them directly or freeze them. In this case, you just need to warm them up a little bit in the oven before serving.

Notes

* Note: an option is to make only half of the cardamom filling and replace the other half with cinnamon, then you can use the second dough (once divided) to bake some cinnamon buns.

* Note: if you came to the French Food Blogging Fair, you might notice I actually shape the buns in a different way from the one Audrey used during our cooking class (Audrey usually cut one strip and twist it before shaping a little bun). I like to make cuts every other strips (see point 6. in the recipe above) because it gives a lovely shape to the buns and it enhances the cardamom taste that I love. But don’t worry, both methods work!

tutorial cardamom buns

Cardamom buns

On the way back from the French Food Blogging Fair…

We had so much fun baking these beautiful Swedish pastries at the French Food Blogging Fair last week, and I am very thankfull to everyone who came to our baking course, it made the event very special to us and we were so happy to see such an enthusiastic audience!

Thank you 750g for this wonderful organization and all the work you did in advance, and thank you to the French chef Philippe Conticini that I have been happy to meet. I am also honored to have met the very nice Chef Damien whose great humor and enthusiasm are contagious.

Above all, I have been delighted to meet my fellow French bloggers friends and we had an amazing time together. I wouldn’t mention anyone in particular in case I would forget some!

Then of course, thank you to all the sponsors of this event that made us discover some beautiful products and in particular a big thank you to Visit Sweden that made this adventure possible for Audrey and me!

Last but not least, thank you to the two official photographers of the event: Syvain Bertrand and Marc, who did an amazing job as well and allowed us to keep dreaming with the pictures!

SBC 2014 ABBAYE (132)_bis

Credit picture: Sylvain Bertrand

Dels cooking twist_SBC7

Credit picture: Julie Leclere

Dels cooking twist_SBC 2014

Credit picture: Audrey Lebioda

SBC 2014 ABBAYE (131)

Credit picture: Sylvain Bertrand

Dels cooking twist_SBC7

Credit picture: Julie Leclere

Cardamom buns

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Comments

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Je suis très touchée que mes petites brioches te plaisent, Chrys ! S’amuser à former leur jolie petite forme est une activité très ludique et amusante. Et quand c’est beau, c’est forcément meilleur ! 😉

      Reply

  6. hibiscus says

    Très bonne idée, cette manière de former les brioches ! Il va falloir que j’essaye. 😉 Le résultat est magnifique ! Et j’ose même pas imaginer ce que ça donne à la dégustation ! 😛

    Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Oui je m’amuse toujours à les former de cette manière car je trouve que ca leur donne une belle allure. Et puis c’est très récréatif à faire ! Tu vas voir, quand on essaie une fois de cette manière, on peut plus s’en passer ! Sauf si on ne peut pas attendre et qu’il nous faut nous dépêcher de faire les petites brioches pour passer à la dégustation avec les invités qui viennent déjà d’arriver 😉

      Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Oui, c’était vraiment une belle expérience. J’espère t’y voir l’année prochaine, Blandine 🙂 soit à celui de Paris en avril 2015 soit à Soissons à l’automne 2015 !

      Reply

  9. Petite Cuillère says

    Oh comme j’aime ces petites brioches ! ça me donne des envies de Noël 🙂
    La double étape de la pâte me fait beaucoup penser à celle que l’on utilise dans les brioches italiennes contenant beaucoup de garniture et en effet, ça n’a rien à voir sur la manière dont monte la pâte.

    Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Et oui Noël n’est plus très loin désormais et moi aussi j’ai plein d’envies de recettes dans cet esprit là… As-tu une recette d’une des fameuses brioches italiennes auxquelles tu fais allusion ? Je suis très curieuse désormais 🙂

      Reply

  11. Blomma says

    C’est vrai qu’elles sont jolies tes petites brioches, j’en fait à la maison pour mes enfants, mais elles ne sont jamais aussi parfaites que les tiennes 🙂

    Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Oh, tes compliments de “locale” ici en Suède me vont droit au coeur, Rachelle ! J’avoue que j’aime bien m’amuser à passer un peu de temps à leur donner leur jolie forme, c’est un atelier très récréatif je trouve 🙂

      Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      I love cardamom too, and to me these little buns taste like heaven, seriously! I had an amazing experience at the French Food Blogging Fair and I’m looking forward to the next one already 🙂

      Reply

  13. yas says

    Rooh je les teste dès que possible!D’ailleurs j’ai acheté de la cardamome moulue exprès!!!Biz ma belle et merci pr la recette!

    Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Oh top, si tu t’y mets aussi Yasmina 🙂 Je te conseille d’utiliser une partie de la cardamome moulue et de moudre toi même au moins l’autre moitié à l’aide d’un mortier ou d’un moulin à épices, c’est le meilleur moyen de conserver tout l’arôme des petites brioches. Encore ravie de t’avoir rencontrée sur le salon. À bientôt !

      Reply

  14. Royal Chill says

    Wow juste au top ces brioches et tu as l’air d’en avoir bien profité ! On aurait aimé pouvoir y être pour assister à ça ! En tout cas bravo pour tout ! Bisous et on espère vraiment pouvoir te voir un de ces jours !

    Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Oui mon seul regret : ne pas vous y avoir croisées cette année. Mais la bonne nouvelle c’est qu’en 2015 il y a un salon du blog culinaire à Paris en avril et un autre à Soissons à l’automne, ce qui double les chances de pouvoir nous y croiser 😉 Ravie que mes petites brioches à la cardamome vous plaisent, pour ma part j’en suis une fan inconditionnelle !

      Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Wow, I’m so flattered  that you like everything is my cardamom buns, Nicole! I’m a huge fan of cardamom, I can’t help it, it’s very addictivive 😉 I’m also happy that you learned why you should use a pre-dough and I can’t wait to see the result when you will try the recipe as well.

      Reply

  16. Anne-Charlotte says

    Merci beaucoup Delphine de votre venue à Soissons.
    Nous espérons vous compter parmi nous l’année prochaine pour mieux découvrir la Suède, à travers une autre démo !
    A bientôt,

    Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Merci beaucoup à toi pour une remarquable organisation de l’événement, Anne-Charlotte. Ce fut un véritable plaisir pour nous que d’être parmi vous et nous avons eu la chance d’avoir une équipe formidable à nos côtés. Encore merci pour tout et à l’année prochaine j’espère ! 

      Reply

  23. Sahana says

    Wow!! Great recipe ! I really like how the twists look on the bun. Thank you for linking up at Bloggers Brags. I am pinning this to Bloggers Brags pinterest board. We would love to see you again next monday .

    Reply

  27. Anne says

    Je me souviens avoir goûté des “smabullars” ou quelque chose comme ça en Suède, il y a 20 ans… c’était à la cardamome aussi, est-ce différent?

    Reply

  28. Josephine says

    J’ai voulu me risquer. J’ai eu du mal ça ressemblait pas aux photos, mais le gout était là, c’est le plus important je crois. Non ? 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  29. {Lester|Leonard|Larry|Derek|Michael|Ryan|Elsie|Roger|Hector|Carl|Dave|Clinton|Jacob|Glenda|Daniel|Brett|Mitchell|Greg|Gretchen|Luis|Clyde|Antonio|Wayne|Travis|Corey|Jim|Jeremy|Mathew|Jeff|Gary|Evan|Joel|Jay|Henry|Rick|Jean|Harry|Stephen|Jennifer|Oscar|Kel says

    I’m stunned, I must say!

    Reply

  32. Jean says

    I’ve made this recipe a couple of times now – I love the flavour. I am struggling with the quantity of flour though, and I”m never able to get as much flour into the dough as what is called for. At the most, I can get four cups into the pre-dough and then only 3.5 into the dough. Can you confirm amounts? I do use dry instead of fresh yeast as I’m not able to get it here. Would that make that much of a difference?

    Reply

    • Kristi says

      Weigh the dry ingredients! You will see an amazing difference! So much easier! I used to have to use a mixer (which really strained when I measured by cupfulls, but now I make this by hand kneading entirely! I have a little folding scale that I bought a Whole Foods that weighs in grams and other units. It is about 2” x 5” x 1/2” when closed up and barely noticeable in my drawer.

      Reply

  33. Kristi says

    I’ve made this recipe many times, always to rave reviews. I have three observations/experiments to share:

    1) I noticed a significant improvement in the tenderness of the recipe when I switched to measuring the dry ingredients by weight rather than scooping into the measuring cup.

    2) I also tried half all purpose flour and half whole wheat pastry flour with another improvement in the tenderness and texture of the bun.

    3) For a now vegan friend, I converted the recipe to vegan with no significant change in texture or flavor. I used Silk coconut-almond milk to dissolve the yeast. This was not too successful because the yeast turned into a slimy mass, but I was able to blend it into the appropriate consistency. A different vegan milk might be a better choice….or even possibly water. To replace the butter in the bread I used 1/2 c of applesauce and 1/2 c of coconut oil. To replace the egg I used a “flegg:” 1 Tbls ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tbls hot water left to sit for about 30 minutes. To replace the butter in the filling, I again used coconut oil. We were anxiously awaiting the finished product and all thrilled with the end result. Very happy this worked out so I can make it for my vegan friends too!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  34. Grace says

    I came across a recipe for cardamom buns a while ago and, as is my habit, before I decided to try making a new recipe, especially one with which I am unfamiliar, I looked around the internet for other recipes for the same item and read them and the reviews. I finally had a chance today to make them and used this recipe. WOW, these are amazingly delicious!! My husband and kids were quite pleased with them and are already looking for excuses and upcoming holidays for when they want me to make more. lol Oddly enough they didn’t like my homemade Kulfi (which was good for me since I did!! :-D). I adore cardamom.

    Thank you for having shared this recipe.

    Reply

  35. Jill says

    I am a bit confused on the process of twisting the strips of dough into the knot….Could you possibly explain it again?? It seems to me if one would cut all the way through every other strip and just leave 1 cm every other strip, etc….it just doesn’t make sense??? of course, I am very much a novice with baking this type of roll. Any more details would be helpful. Thank you! They look absolutely delicious!!

    Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Hi Jill! Good news for you, I have a little step-by-step tutorial at the end of the recipe card. Have you noticed it? You should be able to see how to cut the strips + fold the buns. Another way to fold them is explained in this little video I made a couple of years ago: https://youtu.be/i1sb75wh_OQ I hope it helps. Best of luck with the recipe, and you’ll see the result is worth the effort 🙂 Del

      Reply

  37. Mike says

    My daughter and I made this last night after comparing with another recipe (at womanscribbles.net). I was surprised by how different these two recipes are. But we liked the idea of your all-cardamom (no cinnamon) dough and filling, so we used yours.

    As others have mentioned, your conversion from grams to cups of flour and sugar are way off. 690 grams of flour was ~4.5 cups for me, not 5-3/4. Is there a European cup that’s smaller? Using the weights of flour is essential (as it usually is for baking).

    I was confused at bit by the kneading instruction “15-20 minutes by hand or 12-15 minutes in a stand mixer”. Kitchen Aid says kneading with its dough hook at speed 2 (it’s only recommended speed for kneading) for 2 minutes is equivalent to 10-12 minutes of hand kneading. With this large volume of dough, I found that the dough-hook just dug a hole and didn’t work on the entire mass … so after 5 minutes of that, I resorted to hand kneading.

    One thing I did like about the other recipe was spreading the filling over the entire rolled-out rectangle and letter-folding it by thirds, rather than half-half. This would seem to give more lamination, but next time I think I’ll double the filling amount, as our schmear ended up being very thin.

    We had no trouble with the dough cutting or bun assembly, but your three small “tutorial” photos that show some important details are quite hidden and unlabeled. I never would have noticed them if I hadn’t read your reply to a comment and then searched diligently through all the text, ads and other photos. It would be much better if you could make them larger and place them earlier and more prominently in the main text of the recipe. BTW, we ended up getting 44 buns about 3 inches in diameter. We cooked a third of them and froze the others for future baking.

    In the oven at 450F (my oven is usually a little cooler than the dial temp), mine started to burn after 6 minutes. So I lowered the temperature to 400 and put on the convection fan (which lowers the temp still further, but evens out the heat). I took them out after two more minutes, as I didn’t want them to burn up. They had good color, but were not cooked through. Are they supposed to be a bit raw in the middle?

    I see that your December 2017 recipe for Orange Cardamom buns — which I’ll likely try since I have orange trees and the fruit is ripe now; and I’ll add zest to the syrup, too — called for only 7-8 minutes baking at 425F. The womanscribbles recipe mentioned above has her buns baking for 22-25 minutes at 350F. It looks like we’ll be experimenting some more with our next batch, using our frozen uncooked buns. 🙂

    Your directions for the sirup don’t say to heat the water/sugar mixture … but we did (on simmer) to enable the sugar to dissolve completely. Also, you say to dissolve the vanilla pod. Perhaps this is a mistranslation, as the pod will not dissolve or even disintegrate in this procedure. Possibly you meant “steep” instead? That’s the process ( (as in steeping tea) by which a liquid extracts flavor from an immersed solid, which is left behind or discarded when the liquid is used.

    Finally, how did they taste? Frankly, we were underwhelmed. The flavor was quite bland, which surprised us, since both the dough and filling contained lots of cardamom. I had only the spice powder, not fresh … so I used about 1.5 TB in each in an attempt to compensate. It was clearly not enough. Next time, we’ll use more.

    I’m also intrigued by Kristi’s comment about using half whole-wheat pastry flour. I might try that in the future. American all-purpose flour has a higher protein content (10-13%) than European flours, I’m told by European friends who’ve been frustrated when their home recipes don’t taste well when made with American flour. Never having been to Sweden, however, I don’t actually know what these should taste like. 🙂 Lower-protein flour makes much better biscuits (especially Southern biscuits, which use White Lily flour: 9% protein).Maybe the same will be the case for Swedish Cardamom Buns.

    BTW, here’s a photo of one of our buns: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49793657413_8177a70abe_n.jpg

    Reply

    • Mike says

      Yesterday we thawed, proofed and baked a set of the buns we’d frozen. They cooked for 25 minutes at 350F … and were wonderful. They were done into the middle and the cardamom flavor was more evident. Yay!!

      Reply

    • Delphine Fortin says

      Hi Mike!

      And thank you so much for taking the time to write such a long review, we can feel all the passion you put in your baking projects and I love that. Just a couple of remarks reading through it all: 1/ first of all, the photo you shared is amazing, well done! 2/ the flour measurements can differ slightly indeed, depending on which flour you use (as you said, US flour has more protein content for instance, and this recipe was originally developed when I lived in Sweden, so with European measurements ; 3/ the cardamom filling is a very important step and please please please, promise me that next time you try, you will grind cardamom seeds at the last minute instead of using cardamom powder, you’ll be blown away by the result ; 4/ when it comes to the folding part, did you know they were many possible methods? This one is just one of them, but I’m glad you found it easy!

      For an easier and much quicker version, I also recommend you try this recipe (with a different folding – explained with a little video tutorial): https://www.delscookingtwist.com/swedish-orange-cardamom-buns/

      Last but not least, have you seen my latest recipe on the blog? We’re staying in the topic of Swedish cardamom buns once again, but this time filled with rhubarb 🙂 https://www.delscookingtwist.com/swedish-rhubarb-cardamom-buns/

      All the best,
      Del

      Reply

Trackbacks

  5. […] things that once were part of my daily routine in Sweden, and I can’t wait to eat my favorite cardamom bun from the Swedish bakery Fabrique. I always said that I didn’t miss Sweden, maybe I do a […]

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  7. […] Swedish cardamom buns “kardemummabullar” (I know, not an easy one to pronounce) are by far my go-to baking treat. Whether you are used to cook/bake with cardamom or not, there is a fundamental rule to follow: always grind the cardamom seeds yourself right before using them. You can buy the entire green pod and extract all the seeds to grind, or you can buy the extracted seeds (easier and quicker). Then, just use a mortar or a spice mill, to grind the seeds. The reason to grind the seeds at the last minute is because ground cardamom loses its flavor very quickly. In my cardamom buns recipe, I use crushed cardamom seeds (use a mortar) for the dough and ground cardamom for the filling. This way, you make sure that cardamom releases its flavors beautifully. […]

    Reply

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