Semlor

Put 60ml lukewarm water, the yeast and ½ tsp sugar in a bowl and mix. Leave somewhere warm for 15-20 minutes until it bubbles on the surface. Beat the whole egg in a jug, then mix in the milk, another 60ml lukewarm water and the melted butter. Add the yeast mixture.

Put the cardamom, flour, 70g sugar and the salt into a large bowl and add the yeast mixture. Mix this together by hand or do it in a food mixer with a dough hook. Mix for 5-10 minutes in the machine, or at least 10 minutes kneading by hand, until elastic and springy. It will be a bit sticky

Transfer to a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover and leave to prove somewhere warm until doubled in size. It can take 90 minutes. Rule of thumb: if it springs back quickly to the touch, it’s not quite ready. If it springs back slowly, it’s ready. If it doesn’t spring back, it’s overproofed.

Knock back the dough and let it rest for 5 minutes. Cut the dough into 16 pieces and shape into tight balls. Place on a couple of baking parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced well apart. Pour a kettle of boiling water into a roasting tin and place on the bottom of a cold oven.

Place the baking sheets in the cold oven and leave them there with the steam for about 30 minutes, or until the buns have doubled in size. When they’re the right size, remove from the oven and heat it to 190ºC, gas mark 5. Leave the water in the tin.

Mix the egg yolk and the 1 tbsp cream together to make a glaze and brush this generously on the buns. (Save the egg white for the almond paste.) Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. If the undersides don’t look toasty, flip the buns over and bake for another 5 minutes until they do.

Meanwhile, make the almond paste. Whisk the egg white until soft peaks form, then fold in the ground almonds and icing sugar with the almond extract. Remove the cooked buns from the tray and place on a wire rack until completely cold.

To assemble the buns, whip the cream, adding icing sugar to taste. Cut a lid from each bun with a serrated knife and set aside, then with a small sharp knife, remove 1-2 tsp of the crumb to make room for the almond paste and the cream. You have to do this in batches as you need to keep track of which lid goes with which bun. The almond paste is nothing like marzipan so be aware of that – it is quite runny

Divide the paste between the buns and top with whipped cream. The cream should fill the rest of the hole and come up above the top of the buns by about 1.5cm. If you are good with a piping bag, put the cream into this and, using a star nozzle, pipe it. Replace the lids and dust with icing sugar.