Blueberry Viennese Whirls

Bake Off is back! But the Bake Along is not... I tried on the first week to do angel cake with the genoise sponge but I didn’t really have much time that weekend, I tried to cram it into a spare couple hours on Sunday and it just wasn’t working. So I gave up, because some things are just not worth stressing over.

Bake Along last year felt like a lot of unnecessary pressure and stress, and this year I’m just not about that. Flash forward to when all I wanted to do was make these little Viennese whirls on a Sunday and they went perfectly from start to finish.

So this year, I won’t be doing a Bake Along with the exact tasks they do. If one takes my fancy, then I may dip in and try it out. But otherwise I will instead be committing to a Bake Off Snack Along.

Because if there’s one thing you soon find out when watching Bake Off, it’s that you quickly only want to eat what they are making.

Last week was Bread week and we had a loaded, cheesy garlic bread, followed by another Viennese whirl. No FOMO in our house.  

We are handling it, as any person in their late twenties should with any stressful situation really... with snacks and garlic bread.

These Viennese whirls were thought up rather quickly and they are oh so easy to pull together. The biscuit just melts in your mouth, but also comes with a sweetness as they’re dipped in white chocolate, because that’s my favourite type of Viennese biscuit. Then in the middle is a ring of smooth vanilla buttercream, surrounding the blueberry compote center.

I could eat that compote by the spoon. I kind wished I had put even more inside to be honest. But they were pretty packed already.

You can make them as big or as small as you want, you can also make sticks and fill them. Remember if you make them bigger, they may take a few minutes longer to bake.

They are obviously best eaten that day. But you can keep them in the fridge, but remember to bring to room temperature before eating... because that’s when they taste their best and most melty-in-the-mouth.

Have you tried making Viennese whirls?

Viennese Whirls

Makes up to 24 biscuits (12 complete whirls)

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter, room temperature

50g icing sugar

250g plain flour

60g cornflour

2 tsp vanilla extract

200g chocolate of your choice (to dip)

80g unsalted butter, room temperature

200g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 -2 tsp milk, if too thick

125g blueberries

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp cornflour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190C/375F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. 
2. Mix together the butter, icing sugar, flour, cornflour and vanilla extract together until combined and smooth. Mixture may be on the thick side but this is fine. 
3. Use a large star nozzle in the piping bag, and then put the biscuit mixture into the piping bag. 
4. Pipe equal amounts of roses onto the tray, leaving a good inch between each rose to allow for spreading. 
5. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden, then leave to cool on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. 
6. Melt the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave in 20 second blasts, stirring well between each. Then allow to cool. 
7. Beat the butter for a few minutes until soft and pale, then add the icing sugar gradually, along with the vanilla extract. Keep beating the buttercream until fluffy. The more you beat it, the paler it will become. If you find your buttercream is too thick, then add milk, 1 tsp at a time. Then place into a piping bag with a star nozzle and set aside. 
8. To make your compote, put your blueberries, water and caster sugar into a pan over a medium heat. Bring to a simmer and stir to combine, keep stirring to thicken the mixture. Once the mixture has reduced, then add the cornflour for extra help to thicken. Then remove the compote from the heat and sieve out the lumps of blueberries. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, spoon into a piping bag and set aside.
9. Dip your cooled biscuits into the cooled chocolate, before replacing baking onto the parchment paper. Once dipped, place them in the fridge to set. 
10. To assemble your whirls, take two rose halves and pipe a circle of buttercream on one side, before piping some compote into the centre. Then place the plain biscuit half on top and serve.