What is Fastelavn?
Fastelavn is the Nordic version of “Carnival,” and it is celebrated in February each year. Since it’s nearing the end of January now (somehow we’re already a month into 2024?!), we thought it was time to start gearing up for Fastelavn. The holiday itself is closely tied to the Christian religious observance of Lent, where people give something up from mid-February until Easter in April. The lead-up to the start of this fast is a time for indulgence, and that’s why Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day (in the UK) immediately precedes Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent. To read more about the traditions associated with Fastelavn, we posted a very thorough blog post last year, which you can find here.
Today’s Recipe
A favorite part of Fastelavn and the indulgence that it celebrates is fastelavnsboller. Now, these have become quite a consumerist phenomenon in Denmark and the Nordics over the past few years, which social media has undoubtedly contributed to. We’ve not had the pleasure (sadly) of trying all the interesting flavor combinations and pastry types that the Danish bakeries have to offer at this time of year, but they look phenomenal and are definitely very expensive. That being said, we’ve absolutely jumped on the bandwagon, and decided that this is the year to give you some fun fastelavnsbolle recipes beyond the original old-fashioned one (which you can find our recipe for here).
All the Chocolate!
When we were coming up with ideas for how to tweak the basic version of a fastelavnsbolle, which is basically a soft cardamom bun with a vanilla cream filling, we immediately thought: why not just throw as much chocolate as we can into the mix? And this recipe was born! Of course, you do have to be a chocolate lover to make these, but they are seriously rich and delicious. A fluffy, chocolatey bun (with a bit of espresso in it to make the chocolate flavor pop even more!) filled with a smooth chocolate pastry cream and topped with a bit of simple decoration in the form of icing and sprinkles. This is still a “gammeldags” or old fashioned construction of this type of bun, just with a lot more chocolate! Can it get any better? Plus, Valentine’s Day is coming up too, so these make the perfect Fastelavn/V-Day combination dessert or pastry.
Ingredients
What you’ll need for the dough is the following: milk, espresso, yeast, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, flour, cocoa powder, and softened butter. The espresso is optional, as you can omit it entirely if you don’t have it or use any coffee. We just find that it really adds some depth to the chocolate flavor of the dough! For the pastry cream filling, you’ll need milk, butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, cornstarch (cornflour), cocoa powder, and about 100g of chocolate. If you don’t want to make your own filling, store-bought custard should work just fine. You could also add a bit of jam in the center (even along with the pastry cream!) and that would be delicious too.
Instructions
To make these buns, we would suggest making the pastry cream in advance so that it has time to fully cool before you need to use it. Next, when following the recipe steps below, keep in mind that the rising time of the dough is entirely dependent on your circumstances. If it’s cold, it’ll need longer to rise. You can try putting it somewhere warm (the laundry room, near the oven, in the turned-off oven with the light on, the boiler room) and that should help it rise a bit faster.
Once you’ve filled these buns, it’s essential that they rise for long enough and you can use the poke test to check if they’re ready to bake. If you poke the dough and it leaves an indentation and doesn’t spring back quickly, it should be ready! Otherwise, the dough will split and tear as it bakes and the filling will leak out. Don’t worry if this happens though – it has happened to us – they are still tasty, just not as pretty. We hope you try out this recipe and stay tuned for more fastelavnsbolle recipes on the blog 🙂
Chokolade Fastelavnsboller (Chocolate Danish Carnival Buns)
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 120 ml milk
- 30 ml espresso
- 2 tsp instant yeast (2.25 tsp active dry yeast, 17.5 fresh yeast)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 50 grams sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 325 grams all-purpose flour
- 50 grams cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 57 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg for egg wash
FILLING AND DECORATION
- 1/2 portion chokolade kagecreme (chocolate pastry cream) (for these fastelavnsboller, you will likely only need half of the kagecreme recipe – we usually just make a whole portion anyway and then eat the leftover pastry cream or use it for something else!)
- Powdered sugar
- Cocoa powder (optional)
- Water
- Colorful sprinkles
Instructions
- We would recommend making your chocolate kagecreme ahead of time so that it has sufficient time to cool in the fridge.
- Heat up the milk, either in the microwave or in a saucepan, until it is "fingervarm" (finger warm), meaning it should feel warm to the touch but not hot. You don't want to kill the yeast! If using active dry or fresh yeast, add the yeast along with one teaspoon of the sugar in this recipe, and stir to dissolve. Let it rest 5-10 minutes until it begins to froth and bubble a little bit. (If your yeast doesn't do anything, it may be expired. Check the expiration date on the package and start over with new yeast!) If using instant yeast, you don't need to activate it, and you can add the milk and yeast directly to the egg mixture in the next step.
- Combine the egg, egg yolk, remaining sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix together until you have a homogenous mixture.
- Add the milk and yeast mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Add in one shot of espresso as well, and mix to combine.
- Add in the flour (reserving a small amount to start) and cocoa powder to the wet ingredients, stirring with a wooden spoon, or using the dough hook on your stand mixer for just about 30 seconds. Note: you may not need to add all of the flour, which is why we recommend reserving a small amount and gauging how dry the dough appears. You can always add more flour as you knead, but it's very difficult to get moisture back into the dough once it is too dry.
- Once you have a scraggly dough, Add the softened butter and knead until smooth and elastic, probably around 10 minutes. Add a bit of flour if the dough sticks to your hands or the surface. If you prefer not to get your hands messy and covered in butter, you can knead the dough with a dough hook attachment in a stand mixer.
- The texture of your dough before its first rise should be soft and smooth, not sticky and not too dry.
- Cover and let your dough rise for at least 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Once the dough has risen, dump it out on a flat surface. Divide into 12 equal pieces.
- Now we're going to shape the dough balls into buns. Take a piece, pinch together into a ball shape, then cup it in your hand with the top of the roll touching your palm. Place your hand on an unfloured surface with the seam touching the table. Move your cupped hand in quick, tight circles – this will cause the seam to come together and create tension on the surface of the dough.
- Let the buns rest for about 30 minutes on the table, covered with plastic wrap or a damp dishtowel. I also like to spray or brush the tops of the dough with a bit of vegetable oil, just to make sure they don't form any skin or dry spots.
- While the buns are resting, take your pastry cream out of the fridge. If it's very stiff, mix it together well with a spoon and it should have a nice texture!
- Next, you are going to fill the buns with kagecreme or pastry cream, and any additional fillings you may like. To do this, take a bun, place it on your table or surface dome side down (seam side up) and flatten it, just by hitting it with the heel or palm of your hand. You may need to pick up the circle of dough and use your hands to enlarge the circle a bit, that's totally fine.
- Either pipe or spoon a dollop of filling (a dollop on the smaller side; we can usually get a few teaspoons of filling in each – just be careful not to overfill, or else your buns will explode) into the center of the dough circle.
- Pull up the sides and pinch them together. You do not need to do anything else to shape the buns at this point! This will only create weak spots where the filling can run out during baking. Place your filled bun on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Let the filled buns rise for another 30-45 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C).
- You can use the "poke" test to check whether your dough is done rising; if you poke the dough and it leaves an indentation and doesn't spring back immediately, it should be ready!
- Before baking, egg wash the buns (an egg wash is just an egg beaten together with a little bit of water, then brushed onto the dough).
- Bake the buns in a preheated oven for 12-14 minutes.
- Let the buns cool on a wire rack. Once cool, prepare your decoration. Mix together about a cup of powdered sugar and a tiny bit of water. You can also add cocoa powder if you want it to be chocolate icing! Keep adding water, or sugar until the icing reaches the consistency and taste that you like.
- Spoon the icing onto the top each bun. Add colorful sprinkles on top, let the icing harden a bit. You can also add leftover pastry cream to the top with sprinkles, or make a chocolate ganache. There are lots of customizations you can make, but we hope you enjoy!
