Fiji-Style Cream Buns Recipe: Soft Bakery Buns with Sweet Cream
, by Domalco, 4 min reading time
The Fiji bakery favourite at home: soft, sweet madrai (bread) buns split and filled with sweet whipped cream, finished with a dusting of niu (coconut). Perfect with a cup of ti (tea).
Walk into almost any bakery in Fiji and you'll see trays of cream buns: soft, golden sweet buns split open and piled with sweet cream, dusted with icing sugar and topped with a bright red cherry. They're a school canteen treat, a morning tea favourite at work, and the first thing to go at church and school fundraisers. Here's how to make them at home.
Fijian and Fiji Hindi words in this recipe
- madrai (bread, in Fijian)
- suka (sugar, in Fijian)
- niu (coconut, in Fijian)
- ti (tea, in Fijian)
- maida (plain flour, in Fiji Hindi)
- doodh (milk, in Fiji Hindi)
- malai (cream, in Fiji Hindi)
- parat (wide mixing tray, in Fiji Hindi)
Ingredients
Makes 12 buns · Prep 30 min + 1½ hours rising · Bake 15–18 min
Buns:
- 4 cups maida (plain or bread flour)
- 2 tsp instant dry yeast
- ⅓ cup suka (sugar)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1¼ cups warm doodh (milk)
- 1 egg
- 60 g butter, softened
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk, for glazing
Cream filling (choose one):
- Fresh cream: 600 ml thickened cream, 3 tbsp icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla, whipped to stiff peaks
- Mock cream (bakery style, holds up in the heat): 250 g soft butter, 1½ cups icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and 3 tbsp boiling water
- A drop of pink food colouring (optional)
To finish:
- Icing sugar for dusting
- Red glacé cherries, halved (the classic Fiji bakery touch)
- Desiccated niu (coconut) or strawberry jam (optional)
Method
- Make the dough. In a large bowl or parat, mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the warm milk and egg and mix to a shaggy dough, then work in the soft butter.
- Knead for 10 minutes until smooth, soft and stretchy. The dough should be slightly tacky, not sticky.
- First rise. Cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled.
- Shape. Punch down, divide into 12 even pieces and roll each into a smooth ball. For the pull-apart bakery look, place them close together (about 1 cm apart) in a greased baking tray so they bake into each other.
- Second rise. Cover and leave for 30–40 minutes until puffy and touching. Heat the oven to 190°C.
- Bake. Brush gently with the egg wash and bake for 15–18 minutes until deep golden. Cool completely on a wire rack. The cream will melt if the buns are even slightly warm.
- Make the cream. For fresh cream, whip the cream, icing sugar and vanilla to stiff peaks. For mock cream, beat the butter and icing sugar until pale, then beat in the vanilla and boiling water one spoonful at a time until light and fluffy.
- Fill. Cut a slit across the top of each bun, without cutting all the way through. Add a little jam (if using), then pipe or spoon in a generous line of cream.
- Finish. Dust the buns with icing sugar and press half a red cherry into the cream on each one. Chill until serving.
Tips
- Mock cream for hot days. Fresh whipped cream softens quickly in Fiji's heat. Mock cream is what many bakeries use because it holds its shape.
- Soft buns: cover the baked buns with a clean tea towel while they cool to keep the crust soft.
- Short on time? Use plain bread rolls from the bakery and just make the cream.
Frequently asked questions
What cream is used in Fiji cream buns?
Many Fiji bakeries use "mock cream", a whipped mixture of butter and icing sugar, because it keeps well in the heat. At home you can use fresh whipped cream if you serve the buns straight away.
How long do cream buns keep?
Fill them on the day you serve them. Unfilled buns keep for 2 days in an airtight container; filled buns should be kept in the fridge and eaten within a day.
Bake it with Domalco
Find baking trays and bakeware, parats, mixing bowls and kitchen tools at our Ba and Lautoka stores, or shop online with free delivery on orders over $100.