• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Cloudy Kitchen
  • recipes
  • about
  • contact
  • subscribe
go to homepage
Homepage link
  • recipes
  • about
  • contact
  • subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Other Breads » Boston Bun (Raisin Brioche Bun with Coconut Icing)

    Boston Bun (Raisin Brioche Bun with Coconut Icing)

    Published: Jan 31, 2019 · Modified: Jan 31, 2019 by · This post may contain affiliate links · 2 Comments

    13shares

     


    Boston Bun is a raisin brioche bun, covered with vanilla icing, and finished with shredded coconut. It is super easy to make, requires no fancy equipment or dough twisting, and makes the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or to entertain guests. #bostonbun #sallylunn #raisinbrioche


    Boston Bun is a raisin brioche bun, covered with vanilla icing, and finished with shredded coconut. It is super easy to make, requires no fancy equipment or dough twisting, and makes the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or to entertain guests. #bostonbun #sallylunn #raisinbrioche


    Boston Bun is a raisin brioche bun, covered with vanilla icing, and finished with shredded coconut. It is super easy to make, requires no fancy equipment or dough twisting, and makes the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or to entertain guests. #bostonbun #sallylunn #raisinbrioche


    Boston Bun is a raisin brioche bun, covered with vanilla icing, and finished with shredded coconut. It is super easy to make, requires no fancy equipment or dough twisting, and makes the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or to entertain guests. #bostonbun #sallylunn #raisinbrioche


    Boston Bun is a raisin brioche bun, covered with vanilla icing, and finished with shredded coconut. It is super easy to make, requires no fancy equipment or dough twisting, and makes the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or to entertain guests. #bostonbun #sallylunn #raisinbrioche


    Boston Bun is a raisin brioche bun, covered with vanilla icing, and finished with shredded coconut. It is super easy to make, requires no fancy equipment or dough twisting, and makes the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or to entertain guests. #bostonbun #sallylunn #raisinbrioche


    Boston Bun is a raisin brioche bun, covered with vanilla icing, and finished with shredded coconut. It is super easy to make, requires no fancy equipment or dough twisting, and makes the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or to entertain guests. #bostonbun #sallylunn #raisinbrioche

    I know there’ s a lot of fancy, swirly bread round here. Knots, and rolls, and babkas. Swirly bread is one of my absolute favourite things to make, but today I’m sharing something a little more simple, but still super delicious - a Boston Bun. I did a little crowd sourced research on Instagram, and discovered that, although it is called a Boston bun, nobody from Boston has ever heard of it - I have no idea where the name came from, but I do know it’s super yum, so lets just go from there.

    The Boston bun is essentially one big brioche bun, filled with raisins, and topped with icing and covered in coconut. They are a bakery staple back home - we always used to get them as a special treat from the supermarket for being good and not standing up in the trolley while Mum and Dad shopped. Turns out it’s called two different things in New Zealand which is super weird - from what I can gather, anyone from the South Island or Wellington calls it a Boston Bun, while anyone further North calls it a Sally Lunn. This is one of the few things I can think of where things have different names throughout New Zealand. It’s strange.

    Anyway, this is super simple to make, and doesn’t require any fancy folding or knotting or even rolling out of the dough. It starts with a basic enriched dough, which has some raisins kneaded through it. After the first rise, it gets patted into a disc and popped into a ring from a springform pan or a cake tin, which removes the need for any fancy shaping, and makes the bun rise nicely within the confines of the pan. Once it has baked to a fluffy, golden brown bun, it gets loaded up with a vanilla icing, and covered in shredded coconut. It’s essentially just fruity bread with icing, but it’s crazy easy and perfect for morning or afternoon tea treat with a cup of tea or coffee.

    A few wee tips:

    • The first rise for this can be done overnight if you like - you may just have to increase the second rising time by 30-45 minutes to account for cold dough, but this is a great option if you want to serve it for morning tea or breakfast!

    • If you don’t have a stand mixer this can be done by hand - bring the dough together in a bowl, then turn onto a surface and knead for 10-15 minutes until smooth, then incorporate the raisins.

    • If you don’t have a ring to bake this in, you can do it in an 8” cake tin too. Just make sure you lightly butter it, and place a parchment paper circle in the bottom.

     


     

    Boston Bun (Raisin Brioche Bun with Coconut Icing)

    - Makes One 8 inch bun (serves 6-8) -

    Bread Dough
    180g (¾ cup) whole milk, lukewarm
    50g (¼ cup) sugar, divided
    2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
    400g all-purpose flour
    ½ tsp salt
    1 egg, at room temperature
    100g Butter, melted and cooled
    1 tsp vanilla bean paste
    175g Raisins or sultanas

    Egg wash - 1 egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water

    Vanilla Bean Frosting with Coconut
    180g Unsalted butter, at room temperature
    1 tsp vanilla bean paste
    ¼ tsp salt
    375g powdered sugar, sifted
    2-4 Tbsp Whole milk
    Desiccated Coconut to finish (I used threaded for the photos but finer tastes better to me)

     

    - PROCESS -

    BREAD DOUGH

    Place the lukewarm milk, 1 Tbsp of the sugar, and the yeast in a medium sized bowl, and stir to combine. Leave for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy.

    In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, place the flour, salt, and remaining sugar, and mix briefly to combine. 

    Add the milk mixture, egg, butter and vanilla to the dry ingredients, and mix on low for 2-3 minutes. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium, and mix for a further 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and smooth. Add the raisins and mix for a minute or so to combine. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, and finish kneading the raisins in by hand. Shape the dough into a ball, and then place into a lightly buttered bowl (I use my stand mixer bowl to save dishes), cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm spot until doubled in size, approximately an hour.

    Turn out the dough onto a very lightly floured work surface, and knock back the dough. Grease an 8 inch ring, such as the ring from a spring form cake pan, and place onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

    Pat the dough into a disc, and place inside the ring on the baking sheet. Gently pat the dough to the edges of the ring, making a flat disc. Cover with plastic wrap and rise in a warm spot for 45 minutes to an hour, until puffy. In the last 20 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c.

    Brush the surface of the bun with egg wash. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the surface of the bun is golden brown, and an internal temperature measures 200°f / 95°c. The bun should sound hollow when you tap the bottom.

    Remove from the oven, let cool 10 minutes, then remove from the ring and place on a wire rack. Allow to cool Completely.

     

    ICING AND ASSEMBLY

    In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter, vanilla bean paste and salt until pale and creamy. Sift in the powdered sugar, and mix on medium speed until well combined. If needed, add milk a tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is light and fluffy, and a spreadable consistency.

    Spread the icing on the cooled bun, then cover generously with desiccated coconut.

    Slice and serve with butter if desired. Best eaten on the day it is made, but leftovers can keep in an airtight container at room temperature.

    Print this Recipe


    Boston Bun is a raisin brioche bun, covered with vanilla icing, and finished with shredded coconut. It is super easy to make, requires no fancy equipment or dough twisting, and makes the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or to entertain guests. #bostonbun #sallylunn #raisinbrioche
    Previous Post: « Olive Oil, Lemon, and Yoghurt Bundt Cake
    Next Post: Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Macarons »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Tracy I.

      September 26, 2020 at 2:20 pm

      Hi Erin, this looks delicious! I’d never heard of this until recently. I am curious about something. A lot of online references refer to this as a “spiced” bread, but the recipes I’m finding don’t seem to use much spice. It sounds like in NZ your experience was that they were more like this, a sweet bread. I wonder what kinds of spices they used to use.

      Reply
      • Erin

        September 26, 2020 at 2:22 pm

        Hi! I'm not too sure! The ones we had never had spices, they were made as I've written the recipe here. I would assume it would be like a brown sugar cinnamon situation!

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Erin

    I am originally from New Zealand but moved to Brooklyn, New York, six years ago. I live in a little wee apartment with my husband Rich, far too many house plants, and often a foster kitten or five... more

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Follow me on IG:

    There’s a new recipe on my site today and a give There’s a new recipe on my site today and a giveaway here on Instagram - vanilla bean cream puffs with a triple dose of @heilalavanilla vanilla bean paste - in the choux, the craquelin and the vanilla bean diplomat cream filling. Their vanilla bean paste has been a staple in my kitchen for many many years now and I know I’ve spread the love of the “danger pour” to so many of you too. You can get the recipe and read more about how amazing @heilalavanilla is over on my site, and you can enter to win a big jar of your own! We are giving away a jar each to 5 winners, all you have to do is follow @cloudykitchen and @heilalavanilla and tag three friends. I’ll pick a winner next weekend. Open to US residents only. #sponsored #creampuffs #vanillabeanpaste
    Here’s a fun fact for you: in New Zealand, TV a Here’s a fun fact for you: in New Zealand, TV a stations and radio stations don’t run ads on some public holidays. So TV on Easter was prime time to record all your fave movies on video because you didn’t have to fast forward through the ads when you were re watching them back. The sound of music and the parent trap both had “Good Friday, great movie” on them and were so good to watch because no frantic fast forwarding needed. Anyway that’s just a random thought for you. We also never really had an Easter dinner or anything growing up but it seems like it’s more popular here! I’d like to let you know that if you need a super squishy garlic butter dinner roll, there’s one on my website. Ok that’s all happy Saturday 💕

.
.
.
.
.
#cloudykitchen #foodblogger #thebakefeed @thebakefeed #feedfeed @thefeedfeed @food52 #f52grams #f52community #buzzfeedfood #tastingtable  #buzzfeast #kingarthurbaking #thekitchn #wsbakeclub  #mypinterest #dinnerroll #garlicbutter #bread
    There’s some small batch malted mini egg chocola There’s some small batch malted mini egg chocolate chip cookies up on the blog for you RN! The base is super versatile and you can really add whatever you want. Adding malt powder to baking is a super quick way to add an incredible depth of flavour. Alllll the notes are on the blog, link is in my profile! Choc ones coming this weekend :)
.
.
.
.
.
#cloudykitchen #foodblogger #thebakefeed @thebakefeed #feedfeed @thefeedfeed @food52 #f52grams #f52community #buzzfeedfood #tastingtable  #buzzfeast #kingarthurbaking #thekitchn #wsbakeclub  #mypinterest #minieggs #cookies #smallbatch
    Slowly slowly reformatting my website (PLEASE if y Slowly slowly reformatting my website (PLEASE if you’re ever starting a food blog just do it on Wordpress because moving it all over when you realise you should have done it years ago and now have massive regrets and will be reformatting forever SUCKS), and came across these super cute creme egg macarons! If you need an unnecessarily involved Easter project this weekend, may I suggest these? Or just make hot cross buns. Link for these is in my profile 💕

.
.
.
.
.
#cloudykitchen #foodblogger #thebakefeed @thebakefeed #feedfeed @thefeedfeed @food52 #f52grams #f52community #buzzfeedfood #tastingtable  #buzzfeast #kingarthurbaking #thekitchn #wsbakeclub  #mypinterest #macarons #cremeeggs
    Easter is sneaking up on us.... I gave my classic Easter is sneaking up on us.... I gave my classic hot cross bun recipe a wee bit of a refresh just in case you need a few options. This one is the one to go for if you’re making your dough by hand (the soft ones I posted recently need the mixer for sure), or you need an egg free dough (notes in the recipe for an egg free cross too). I love both but the pastry cream cross on these ones is particularly good. You can swipe to see how that gets there, or check out the recipe in my profile 💕 pop any questions you have on the blog post for me - there’s alllll sorts of notes there for you too to help you. As always I love when you leave me feedback / ratings so much. Appreciate you all 😘

.
.
.
.
.
#cloudykitchen #foodblogger #thebakefeed @thebakefeed #feedfeed @thefeedfeed @food52 #f52grams #f52community #buzzfeedfood #tastingtable  #buzzfeast #kingarthurbaking #thekitchn #wsbakeclub  #mypinterest #easter #hotcrossbuns
    Hi! These super soft hot cross bun babies are up o Hi! These super soft hot cross bun babies are up on the blog! There’s another HCB recipe lurking there too that I’ve just updated, it has a pastry cream cross which is 🙌🏻. Both are so good but these ones are my current fave - I adapted my recipe to use the Tangzhong method which gives an impossibly soft dough which stays nice and soft for so long! This recipe is small batch ish and makes 9 buns but there’s alllll the tips and tricks there for you in the blog post! Enjoy! 💕
.
.
.
.
.
#cloudykitchen #foodblogger #thebakefeed @thebakefeed #feedfeed @thefeedfeed @food52 #f52grams #f52community #buzzfeedfood #tastingtable  #buzzfeast #kingarthurbaking #thekitchn #wsbakeclub  #mypinterest #tangzhong #hotcrossbuns
    If you know, you know. My chocolate crackle recipe If you know, you know. My chocolate crackle recipe is on my site! These are a Nz / Australian kid’s bday party staple and they are just SO GOOD. Marshmallows in Nz are different so we don’t really have Rice Krispie treats (but we have rice bubble slice which is EPIC and I gotta make ASAP) so this was and still is the best thing ever. There’s a recipe for both the super nostalgic tasting version and also a slightly fancied up version using melted chocolate instead on the site! Link is in my profile!

.
.
.
.
.
#cloudykitchen #foodblogger #thebakefeed @thebakefeed #feedfeed @thefeedfeed @food52 #f52grams #f52community #buzzfeedfood #tastingtable  #buzzfeast #kingarthurbaking #thekitchn #wsbakeclub  #mypinterest #newzealand #chocolatecrackles
    Hi hi 💕 there’s a carrot cake loaf on the blo Hi hi 💕 there’s a carrot cake loaf on the blog today. It’s lightly spiced, and has a maple cream cheese frosting that is so, so good. The cake part happens to be dairy free so there’s a few options to keep the whole thing dairy free in the blog post if you need. I used my fave @filippoberio_us delicato EVOO in there which is so perfect for when I want a wee bit of olive oil flavour but not have it as the main character. I hope you give this one a go because I really, really love it. Link is in my profile 🥰 #sponsored #filippoberio 

.
.
.
.
.
#cloudykitchen #foodblogger #thebakefeed @thebakefeed #feedfeed @thefeedfeed @food52 #f52grams #f52community #buzzfeedfood #tastingtable  #buzzfeast #kingarthurbaking #thekitchn #wsbakeclub  #mypinterest #dairyfree #carrotcake
    Happy Monday! Friendly PSA that the sourdough cinn Happy Monday! Friendly PSA that the sourdough cinnamon rolls from @rushyama’s book are a 12/10 on the delicious scale and the recipe is on my website, link is in my profile. Ok that’s all byeeeeeee

.
.
.
.
.
#cloudykitchen #foodblogger #thebakefeed @thebakefeed #feedfeed @thefeedfeed @food52 #f52grams #f52community #buzzfeedfood #tastingtable  #buzzfeast #kingarthurbaking #thekitchn #wsbakeclub  #mypinterest #sourdough #cinnamonrolls
    Follow me

    My Current Fav:

    Spiced Sugar Crullers

    Spiced Sugar Crullers

    Footer

    back to top

    Links

    • About
    • Contact
    • Work with me

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Resources

    • FAQ
    • Policies
    • All recipes at once

    Copyright © 2020 Cloudy Kitchen

    • Pinterest
    • Facebook
    • Twitter