Spiced Viennese Whirls with Pumpkin Buttercream (GBBO Week 2)

Week 2 of the GBBO (Great Bloggers Bake Off) has arrived and this week is biscuit week. I would say that biscuits are not what I usually bake, and having never made a Viennese Whirl before, I had to give them a try! The technical bakes in Bake Off are usually quite difficult, however I found this one rather easy!

As I'm a little obsessed with Autumn, and since it's just round the corner, I was determined to make these whirls as Autumn-y as poss!

I found the whirl recipe on BBC Food, which is Mary Berry's biscuit recipe, however I added the additional spices to make it my own. The pumpkin buttercream recipe was adapted and trialled using also Mary's buttercream recipe.

These whirls are flatter than the normal whirls. This is down to the star nozzle that I used for the piping - I used a D7 Star Nozzle.

They are however melt-in-the-mouth and lovely and spicy. The pumpkin buttercream is sweet, but also not too over-powering with the pumpkin. The spices and sugar help balance out the slight bitterness I sometimes find with pumpkin.

I hope you enjoy my Autumn recipe!

Makes 12

Ingredients

Biscuits

250g very soft unsalted butter

50g icing sugar

225g plain flour

25g cornflour

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Pumpkin spiced buttercream

100g unsalted butter, softened

100g pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

280g icing sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees fan/190 degrees C. Line two baking trays with either baking paper or a rubber mat (this is what I used). You can draw a guide on the paper - circles about 5cm wide, however I just did mine free-hand. It's useful to remember the same pattern you are piping (how many times you go round) and it's easy to get them the same size this way. Just keep repeating the same motion with your hand.

2. Make sure the butter is VERY soft. I melted mine slightly in the microwave. It needs to be almost on the verge of melting. Place in a bowl and sift in the icing sugar and beat until pale and fluffy.

3. Sift in the flour, cornflour and spices and beat well.

4. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (I used a D7 star nozzle). Pipe 24 swirled rounds onto the paper or mat. I managed to make some extra, which I of course ate!

5. Bake in the centre of the oven for 13 minutes or until golden brown. Watch carefully, as my oven is very hot usually and bit funny, they were brown and baked in 10 minutes.

6. Cool on the tray for 5 minutes and then carefully remove with a spatula onto a wire rack, to cool further.

7. Now for the buttercream. Weigh the buttercream into a bowl and pour in the pumpkin puree. Beat until all combined.

8. Add the vanilla and spices and mix again to combine.

9. Sift in the icing sugar gradually, and mix well until at the right consistency. If your buttercream looks like it has split (mine did this!), fear not - just beat with the mixer on a the highest speed, and it'll combine well and will be split no more! You can add some more icing sugar if you prefer, as this will also help.

10. Spoon into a piping bag, and lay the biscuits with the pairs, onto a mat. Pipe swirls of cream on one biscuit (right to the edge) and sandwich with the other half. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar.