Sarah Harrison’s Saffron ‘Cakes’

Name: Sarah Harrison’s Saffron ‘Cakes’
Yield: Makes 8-12 buns
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 150 ml / ¼ pint / ⅔ cup double cream; 100 g / 4 oz / 1 stick unsalted butter, melted; 100 ml / 3 ½ fl oz / half a cup of hot water; 2 pinches / 40-60 saffron strands, crushed; 75 g / 3 oz / ⅜ cup caster sugar; 1 tsp salt; 500 g / 1 lb 2 oz / 4 cups plain flour; 2 x 7 g sachets fast action dried yeast; 2-3 tsp coriander seeds, coarsely crushed; 2 eggs

Preparation info

Makes
8-12
buns

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fool's Gold

By Sam Bilton

Published 2022

About

Nowadays we’re used to saffron cakes containing fruit but a surprising number of old recipes contained seeds like this one from the eighteenth century.

Ingredients

2 pinches / 40-60 saffron strands, crushed
100 ml / 3 ½ fl oz

Europe
United Kingdom
Cake
Vegetarian

Method

Infuse the saffron in the water. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Place the butter and cream in a saucepan. Heat until the butter has melted. Allow to cool to room temperature
Place the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and coriander seeds into the bowl of a food mixer with a dough hook attached. Mix until combined. If you don’t have a food