Giant Jam Bun
Updated March 12, 2025

- Total Time
- 2 ½ hours
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour, plus 1 hour 15 minutes’ chilling and resting
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ¾cup/170 grams cold unsalted butter, cubed, more for pan if needed
- 2¼cups/285 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- ⅓cup/65 grams granulated sugar
- 1tablespoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½cup/120 milliliters heavy cream, plus more as needed
- ¼teaspoon almond extract
- ½cup/165 grams thick raspberry or other jam (don’t use jelly)
- 1teaspoon finely grated orange or lemon zest, more for garnish
- ⅔cup/80 grams powdered sugar
- 2 to 4teaspoons fresh orange or lemon juice
For the Dough
For the Filling
For the Glaze
Preparation
- Step 1
Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a greased sheet of parchment paper.
- Step 2
Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt. Add the cubed butter, then pinch and press the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles flour-covered cornflakes.
- Step 3
Make a well in the center of the mixture, and add the heavy cream and almond extract. Toss and fold until it forms a loose dough.
- Step 4
Dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough onto it. Gently knead the dough two or three times to bring it together. Use your hands to press the dough into a 5-by-14-inch rectangle with a long side facing you.
- Step 5
Prepare the filling: In a small bowl, combine the jam and zest. Using a spoon or offset spatula, evenly spread the mixture over the top of the dough, fully covering it.
- Step 6
Cut the dough lengthwise into four equal strips. Pick up a strip and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet, filling-side up. Grab one short end and roll it up tightly, then lay it down – on a flat side so that the jam coil is showing – in the center of the sheet. Pick up another strip, and, starting where the first coil left off, wrap that strip, filling-side in, around the coil. Repeat with the two remaining strips until you have one giant spiral. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
- Step 7
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 350 degrees.
- Step 8
Bake the bun, rotating the pan halfway through, until firm and very lightly golden on top, and browned at the edges, 25 to 35 minutes.
- Step 9
Transfer the sheet to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.
- Step 10
Make the glaze: In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together powdered sugar and enough orange juice to give you a thick but still pourable glaze (thicker than heavy cream). Drizzle over the bun. Let the glaze set for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more orange zest if you like. Slice into wedges for serving.
Private Notes
Comments
Anyone else thinking whole cranberry sauce and orange on the morning after Thanksgiving?
Looks good, but this seems a good time for a video! Not sure I understand the wrapping terminology with the jam showing, jam inside?.....
I haven't made this yet but it's only a matter of time before I do. For those of you asking for a video, here it is. found it by clicking on This Giant Jam Bun Makes a Party Out of Teatime at the bottom of Melissa's intro. https://youtu.be/uHB_bgS208U?si=aiTwk_1w0jGB8kUs
Used buttermilk in lieu of heavy cream, because that is what we had. Forgot the almond extract in the dough, so used it in the glaze. - Don't do this! It was awful and I had to make a new glaze with lemon and vanilla, which was quite good. Used a lemon rather than orange, because that is what we had (again). And used 1/4 c strawberry with 1/4 c blueberry jams because, say it with me, "that is what we had" :) This turned out great, was very fun and messy to make and disappeared quickly.
I replaced the flour with Bob's Red Mill GF pancake mix and it turned out pretty well! I reduced the salt and baking powder to 1/2 tsp each (but I had halved the recipe).
Outstanding recipe! Made my first as written as a Thanksgiving day test for my mom, she loved it! Then experimented with vegan / gluten-free ingredients to great success! Used Miyoko's unsalted vegan butter, heavy coconut cream, and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF Flour - it was a little more delicate to handle but still held up too be shaped into a big spiral as written in the recipe. Results were AMAZING - now I make it the afternoon / evening before a holiday or big night out for a treat the next morning.
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