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Lazy Cat Kitchen

A food blog with plant-based recipes from all over the world

Vegan rhubarb and ginger buns

April 11, 2020 by Ania - 30

baking, comfort food, easy, refined sugar-freego to recipe

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vegan rhubarb ginger buns close up

Hello strangers! You won’t believe how happy I am to be able to finally bring you a brand new recipe, after almost 2 weeks of battling the dreaded virus! And before you ask, I have not been tested as there are no tests available to the general public here in the UK, but I am 99% sure that was it. It is also just as contagious as you would expect from something capable of wiping the entire world out – Duncan got it too despite us taking all the necessary precautions. However, I am happy to report that we are both well again and taking full advantage of the this glorious spring sunshine by swinging in my favourite hammock, reading, patting our cat and eating a prolific amount of sweet baked goods πŸ˜› .

The trouble with the lockdown, apart from the obvious, is that it really isn’t that good for your waistline. I don’t know about you but I feel compelled to bake all the time and due to the nature of my job our house is constantly crammed with baked goods of all sorts. It made me realise how grateful I am to Duncan’s workmates who tended to help us eat through all the stuff my sugar obsessed brain comes up with. I really miss being able to give things away.

Today’s recipe is not a traditional hot cross bun or a cinnamon bun, but still very Easter-worthy, in my opinion. I made a bunch of swirly buns, jam-packed with deliciously tart pink rhubarb and sweet stem ginger. They are sweet, tart and lightly spiced at the same time, really fruity and fresh and crowned with a fluorescent pink rhubarb icing. I happen to think that it’s a perfect Spring bun and I hope you will too!

What inspired me to create these is the ludicrously pink forced rhubarb that appears to be sitting idle on my local shop’s shelves. While people are going crazy for pasta, rice and flour, no one seems to be bothered much about rhubarb so I had to pounce on it and make something with it before the season comes to an end.

What I love about these (apart from the taste, of course) is their gorgeous, almost too good to be true, colour. It is kind of funny as I have always been the kind of girl who hates pink, ever since I was little. It could be that because being male and tough definitely had more of a currency in my house and since I certainly wasn’t tough, I decided, early on, that pink is too girly and I hate it. I hated it for years despite all my girl friends going crazy for it. It used to annoy me when manufacturers would insist on making female versions of products (including things like running shoes and watches) exclusively pink. It still does, to be honest and I sometimes tend to buy the male version instead but I am slowly getting less combative about that colour in general. I would not go as far as wearing it, that’s for sure, but I do embrace it in nature, art, interior design. And I certainly embrace it in these buns as it makes them uniquely beautiful and an object of envy among all the sad brown cinnamon buns out there πŸ˜‰ .

PS: If you make my vegan rhubarb and ginger buns, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram as @lazycatkitchen and use the #lazycatkitchen hashtag. I love seeing your takes on my recipes!

vegan rhubarb ginger buns rhubarb

vegan rhubarb ginger buns ingredients

vegan rhubarb ginger buns unglazed

vegan rhubarb ginger buns glazed

vegan rhubarb ginger buns glazing

5.00 from 7 votes
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  • makes: 9-12
  • prep: 45 min
  • cooking: 30 min

Ingredients

BUNS

  • 500 g / 4 cups all purpose wheat flour (if you live in Europe, use 550 type flour)
  • 50 g / ΒΌ cup caster sugar or maple syrup
  • Β½ tsp salt
  • 7 g / 2ΒΌ oz instant / fast-action dried yeast*
  • approx. 285 ml / 1 cup + 3 tbsp warm plant milk (I used soy milk)
  • 25 g / 2 tbsp coconut oil (optional but highly recommended)
  • 2 tsp maple syrup / sugar + 2 tsp plant milk for glazing

BUN FILLING

  • 500 g / 17.5 oz fresh pink rhubarb, divided
  • 50 g / 4 tbsp sugar, stem ginger syrup or maple syrup
  • 4-5 pieces of stem ginger in syrup, chopped very finely

GLAZE + (optional) ICING

  • 1-2 tbsp maple syrup
  • approx 70 g / Β½ cup icing sugar

Method

BUNS

  1. Mix flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast in a large mixing bowl. If using maple syrup do not add it yet.
  2. Stir in warmed up plant milk. If using maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener), use 60 ml / ΒΌ cup less plant milk and add maple syrup to the milk before adding to the dry ingredients.
  3. Stir everything together with a large wooden spoon. You may need to add a tablespoon or so more milk if the mixture is too dry to stick together roughly at this point but do so very gradually. When the mixture has mostly stuck together turn the mixture out on to a work surface or breadΒ board.
  4. Knead the mixture by holding one end of the dough in one hand and stretching it out with the other hand. You then reform the dough, turn it 90 degrees and start again. Halfway through the kneading incorporate coconut oil (solid not melted) into the dough. It will make the dough slippery at first, you might think it has been ruined – but it has not, it will make for a richer dough. Keep on kneading and the dough will become elastic and smooth soon. In total the kneading should take about 15 minutes for this amount of dough.
  5. When the dough is smooth, form it into a ball and coat in a thin layer of oil. Place in a large mixing bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave it in a warm place (but not too warm!) until it has doubled in size – about 1 hr. It’s a good idea to take a photo of the dough at the beginning so that you are sure when it has doubled in volume. While the dough is proofing, make the filling (see FILLING section below).
  6. Once the dough has doubled in size, empty it out on to a work surface and push the air out with your fingertips.
  7. Roll the dough into a large rectangle that is about 36 cm / 14″ wide. The height depends how swirly you want the buns, the thinner the dough the more swirls and therefore filling your buns will end up with – 40 cm / 15ΒΎ” height is what mine was.
  8. Spread a thin layer (you don’t want the buns to end up soggy) of blended rhubarb all over the rolled out dough. Sprinkle evenly (!) with finely chopped candied ginger and raw rhubarb slices making sure they land on their sides for the most part.
  9. Starting from the bottom, roll the dough tightly so that you end up with a 36 cm / 14″ long “dough snake”.
  10. Now, depending on your baking dish, divide the dough into 9 or 12 even (4-3 cm / 1.5 – 1.1″) segments. I find that a square or round dish, like mine, needs 9 and a rectangular one needs 12 pieces. Use a long piece of sewing thread to do the cutting as it does not squash the filling as much as a knife does. Place the thread under the snake and overlap the thread on the top of the snake where you want the cut to be, pull tight to cut.
  11. Place the segments, swirls face up, on a lightly oiled baking dish, leaving 1-2 cm between each bun. If you can fill the baking tray, this is ideal.
  12. Leave the buns (covered with a kitchen towel) to prove again for another hour. Toward the end of this time, preheat the oven to 175Β° C / 350Β° F.
  13. Brush the buns with the maple syrup + plant milk glaze and bake them for about 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Cover the top with a piece of kitchen foil if you find that they are browning too quickly.
  14. While the buns are baking, create the icing by combining a tablespoon or so of the rhubarb puree with icing sugar and mixing really well. Adding more rhubarb puree will make the icing pinker but it will set a little looser.
  15. Take the buns out of the oven when they are lovely and golden, and brush them with maple syrup (or sugar syrup) while they are still hot.
  16. Once they are cool, drizzle the rhubarb icing on top.

BUN FILLING

  1. Heat up the oven to 200ΒΊ C / 390ΒΊ F.
  2. Divide all your rhubarb into thirds. Cut one third of the rhubarb into very thin slices – they will be folded into the dough so they need to be thin to cook through as the buns bake. Cut the rest into 1″ / 2 cm long segments.
  3. Toss the rhubarb segments in sugar (maple syrup or ginger stem syrup!) and bake until soft, it will take about 10 minutes (depending on the thickness).
  4. Transfer to a blender and blend until super smooth. Set aside.

Notes

*If you don’t have instant yeast, make sure to activate it first according to the instructions on the packet, using a portion of the ingredients (sugar, plant milk) allocated in the recipe.

If you want more info on some of the ingredients that we use in our recipes, check out our glossary.
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This recipe has been written by Ania. She is the cook, stylist and photographer behind Lazy Cat Kitchen. You can read about her journey into food blogging here. You can also check her out on Pinterest and Instagram.

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    Comments

    Leave a comment

  1. Haley says

    April 11, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    This recipe looks amazing, and I’m very excited to try it. I was wondering if I could use freshly grated
    or chopped ginger instead of ginger stem in syrup for this?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 11, 2020 at 7:19 pm

      Hi Haley,

      Stem ginger is less potent than fresh ginger so I would say that your best bet is to add grated ginger to the rhubarb puree and adjust it to your taste. If you sprinkle it directly on the dough, the chances are that it will be way too strong in flavour. Hope this helps and that you’ll enjoy these. Ania

      Reply
  2. Deselby says

    April 11, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    It looks a bit too complicated for me, but my oh my, is that a beautiful dish!!!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 12, 2020 at 8:18 pm

      Thanks for your kind words, Deselby. If you find it too complicated, perhaps skip making the filling and sprinkle the dough with sugar and (twice as much) thinnly sliced raw rhubarb and make a simple lemon icing? It will also be very nice. Ania

      Reply
  3. Susan says

    April 12, 2020 at 2:41 am

    This sounds like a delightful combination, I love rhubarb and feel it is often an overlooked friend.
    I am really glad you are both feeling better, that must have been terrible. <3

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 12, 2020 at 8:16 pm

      Thanks so much, Susan. Yes, it wasn’t pleasant but we are glad to be through it. Stay safe. Ania

      Reply
  4. Sally says

    April 12, 2020 at 6:06 am

    Well done you two.. back from the other side! How’s the sitting room going? Have you had to put the sofa and rug on hold?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 12, 2020 at 8:15 pm

      Thanks, Sally. It was not pleasant while it lasted but we are glad to have it behind us especially seeing how the situation is far from contained here in the UK. Unfortunately, our sofa delivery got cancelled just 2 days prior to the delivery date due to the lockdown so we will have to wait a little bit longer. Oh well, good job be are quite adaptable and used to our deckchair + laptop arrangement πŸ™‚ Hope you are staying safe and keeping your spirits up. x Ania

      Reply
  5. Ghulam Mohyudin says

    April 12, 2020 at 8:41 am

    Good to know that works too! I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 12, 2020 at 8:22 pm

      I will, thank you! Ania

      Reply
  6. Catriona says

    April 12, 2020 at 10:19 am

    Ania,
    I have followed your lovely blog for a long time, and wondered if you were OK after an unprecedented gap. So glad you are both better.
    We have rhubarb in our garden…and will be making these today…look completely irresistable.
    Keep well everyone.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 12, 2020 at 8:24 pm

      Thanks so much Catriona. Yes, we both got sick with it (first me, then my husband) and it took me 2 weeks to feel like myself again so decided to take my time before I throw myself into work again. Thank you for sticking around and I hope you’ll enjoy my buns πŸ™‚ Ania

      Reply
  7. Catriona says

    April 12, 2020 at 10:20 am

    Oops…forgot to leave stars…

    Reply
  8. Cathy says

    April 14, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    This looks lovely, can’t wait to try. So sorry you were sick, thankful you are better now!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 15, 2020 at 2:08 pm

      Thank you, Cathy! I hope you’ll enjoy these. Ania

      Reply
  9. Darya says

    April 14, 2020 at 11:00 pm

    Hello! Thank you for the recipe! But can i do it without yeast? Or maybe substitute?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 15, 2020 at 2:11 pm

      Hi Darya,

      You may get away with a combination of baking powder + baking soda, but I have not tried that so I am just guessing at this point. If I were you I would try on a small batch (1 cup of flour) first so as not to waste ingredients if things don’t go to plan. Hope that helps! x Ania

      Reply
  10. Verena says

    April 16, 2020 at 10:08 am

    I’m sorry to hear you and Duncan came down with the virus, and relieved to read that you both recovered (I don’t know you, I don’t want to sound like a stalker, I just happen to love your blog haha!) πŸ™‚
    These buns looks gorgeous, I’d love to try them once I can share them with friends and family again, but I’ve only ever found green rhubarb (even when it’s pink on the outside), I never understood how it could have such a pretty pink color in all the recipes I find on the Internet!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 16, 2020 at 5:17 pm

      Thanks Verena – that’s really sweet of you, thank you! We are not over it yet unfortunately, but we are getting there, I hope. The pink rhubarb is a specific type of rhubarb that is grown in the dark in order to ‘force’ its beautiful colour. It is in fact called ‘forced rhubarb’ and it is grown exclusively in Yorkshire in the UK. Hope that helps! x Ania

      Reply
  11. Dominika says

    April 22, 2020 at 9:36 pm

    These look incredible!! However, I’m entirely gluten free so I was wondering if you have any recommendations on how to make them gluten free (I try to stay away from the gluten free flour blends as well as they make me feel off)? Thanks in advance, love your blog!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 23, 2020 at 12:23 am

      Hi Dominika,

      It is not difficult to make gluten-free cakes but gluten-free pastries are very tricky as they rely on good gluten activation for their texture. I think this would not be easy to replicate without gluten, I’m afraid. Sorry I cannot be of help and thank you for your kind words about my blog – so nice to hear! x Ania

      Reply
  12. Kirsten says

    June 6, 2020 at 4:00 pm

    Quick question, do you think it would be possible to do the dough the day before and leave it in the fridge overnight before baking? I would like to make it for my family tomorrow, but with the proofing, it would mean I’d have to get up way too early!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      June 6, 2020 at 4:42 pm

      Hi Kirsten,

      I have not tried doing that in this case, but that’s how I tend to make my pizza dough and it’s really fluffy and delicious so I am guessing that it should work fine. Good luck! Ania

      Reply
  13. Kirsten says

    June 7, 2020 at 2:43 pm

    I can report back and say that it worked really well! I put them in the fridge before the second rising and covered them in cling film. They rose nicely in the fridge overnight. Definitely a trick I’ll use again.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      June 7, 2020 at 8:13 pm

      Yay! I’m delighted to hear that – I think I saw them on Instagram and they looked on point. Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed them, Kirsten! Ania

      Reply
  14. Giada Giuntoli says

    October 18, 2020 at 5:09 am

    Hi Ania, these buns look amazing!
    Can I ask you what the difference between this dough and the one that you used for your (amaaaazing) sugar-free cinnamon rolls is?
    Thanks, Giada

    Reply
    • Ania says

      October 20, 2020 at 12:03 am

      Hi Giada,

      The main difference is that this one is a bit sweeter (to contrast with rhubarb) and softer as I used all purpose flour, plus enriched it with a bit of coconut oil (you could use vegan butter) for extra indulgence. I’m so happy to hear that you enjoy my date cinnamon rolls, thank you. Ania

      Reply
  15. Giada Giuntoli says

    November 20, 2020 at 11:58 pm

    They’re my go-to recipe πŸ˜› I also made a babka with cocoa and dates filling. Give it a go πŸ™‚

    Reply
    • Ania says

      November 21, 2020 at 3:17 pm

      Thank you, Giada! I’m delighted to hear that and funnily enough, chocolate babka is already on my to-do list πŸ™‚ Ania

      Reply
  16. Sara says

    January 9, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    Has anyone tried making these with frozen rhubarb?

    Reply

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Ania Marcinowska
Hi, I'm Ania. I love good food but I love animals more! Adopting a plant-based diet has been the best decision I've made and that's how this blog was born. It's a space where I want to show you that creating delicious plant-based food isn't actually hard at all.
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