Raspberry, jasmine and cardamom buns

Soft cardamom-flecked milk bread wrapped around a delicately perfumed jasmine-infused crème pâtissière with fruity bites of raspberry and a gentle infusion of sweetness from nibs of white chocolate. Brushed with melted butter once baked until glistening, and dusted with powdered sugar and raspberry powder. The comfort of a bun wrapped around light flavours of summer.

White chocolate–I have spoken before about how I approach this ingredient with caution due to its sweetness, but here it is perfectly balanced by the brightness of the raspberries, both blending into a delicious, jammy, custardy filling for these pillow-soft buns. The fragrant jasmine tea picks up on the floral notes in the raspberries and cardamom, blending softly with the creaminess of the creme patissiere and white chocolate, too. The buns are brushed with melted butter when golden and hot from the oven, sinking down into the dough to make them even softer, before being kissed with a mixture of powdered sugar and dried raspberry powder, giving a bright burst of raspberry flavour and a look of fairy dust, which I love.

I gratefully received a package from Avantcha tea a while ago–delivered to my parents’ in Scotland, which they then brought over to me in Sweden when they visited back in May. The jasmine tea I used for these buns was just one of the beautiful teas included, amongst so many other lovely things that I can’t wait to use in other baking projects. Its taste here is subtle; gently floral and perfumed and quite enchanting. I do however understand that the flavour may be somewhat divisive, akin to that of rose, so if you would prefer to make these buns without the addition of the tea in the crème pâtissière I would understand–they would still be delicious. Note that I opt to use frozen raspberries here because I find them to be easier to distribute versus fresh raspberries, since you can crumble them into small pieces, and I find their flavour to be slightly more intense than fresh.