These Brown Butter Cardamom Scrolls with Salted Maple Glaze are everything you want in a bakery-style bun. They're soft, fluffy and loaded with flavour. The dough is enriched with milk, butter and egg, then filled with nutty brown butter, fragrant cardamom, cinnamon and orange sugar before being baked until golden and drizzled with a salted maple glaze.
While they take inspiration from a classic cinnamon scroll, the combination of brown butter, cardamom and orange gives them a slightly more grown-up flavour that feels right at home alongside a coffee on a slow weekend morning.
Looking for other delicious sweets? You'll love my Spiced Pistachio Upside Down Cake or my Miso Tahini Caramel Slice.
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Why you'll love these Brown Butter Cardamom Scrolls
- Uses active sourdough starter with no commercial yeast.
- Brown butter adds a deep nutty flavour.
- Cardamom and orange bring a bakery-style twist to classic cinnamon scrolls.
- Finished with a salted maple glaze for the perfect balance of sweet and savoury.
- Can be made in a single day.
Ingredients
- Sourdough Starter: An active, bubbly starter provides the lift in this recipe while adding the subtle tang and flavour that makes sourdough baking so rewarding.
- Bread Flour: A strong flour gives the dough enough structure to support the rich filling and create soft, fluffy scrolls. I used Caputo Blue 00 flour, but any strong bread flour will work well.
- Milk: Milk enriches the dough, creating a softer crumb and helping the scrolls stay fresh for longer.
- Egg: Egg adds richness, colour and tenderness while helping create a light, airy texture.
- Caster Sugar: A small amount of sugar sweetens the dough and helps create a beautifully golden crust during baking.
- Butter: Softened butter enriches the dough, making it softer, more tender and easier to roll.
- Sea Salt: Salt balances the sweetness, strengthens the dough and enhances the flavour of the sourdough.
- Brown Butter: Browning the butter develops deep caramel and toasted nut flavours that take these scrolls far beyond a standard cinnamon bun.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar creates a rich, caramel-like filling and helps keep the scrolls moist and gooey.
- Cardamom: Cardamom adds warmth and complexity without overpowering the other flavours. It pairs beautifully with both the brown butter and orange.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon provides the familiar comforting flavour of a classic scroll and works beautifully alongside the cardamom.
- Orange Zest: Rubbing the zest into the brown sugar releases the citrus oils and gives the filling a bright, fragrant lift.
- Cream: Pouring cream over the scrolls before baking helps keep them incredibly soft and creates a caramel-like sauce around the edges.
- Maple Syrup: Maple syrup brings a subtle caramel flavour to the glaze that complements the brown butter perfectly.
- Icing Sugar: Icing sugar forms the base of the glaze, creating a smooth finish that melts into the warm scrolls.
- Milk (for the glaze): A small amount of milk helps loosen the glaze to the perfect drizzling consistency.
- Flaky Sea Salt: A pinch of flaky salt balances the sweetness and enhances the caramel notes from the brown butter and maple syrup.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Step 1: Mix flour, starter, milk, egg and caster sugar together in a stand mixer, cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
Step 2: Mix through softened butter and salt and knead for 2 minutes (or 5 minutes with hands) until you have a smooth dough
Step 3: Cover and leave somewhere warm to ferment for 2 - 4 hours. It's ready when dough is soft, puffy and increased in volume by at least 50%
Step 4: Brown butter and mix with spices. Rub orange into brown sugar and combine with brown butter.
Step 5: Roll out the dough and spread over the brown butter mixture
Step 6: Cut into 8 scrolls and place in a buttered round dish. Cover and leave to proof again for another 1 - 3 hours until noticeably puffy and touching/close to touching
Step 7: Pour over cream and brown sugar mixture and bake for 35 - 45 minutes
Step 8: Mix together the salted maple glaze and pour over warm cardamom scrolls.
Hint: Use a Strong, Active Starter
For the fluffiest scrolls, your starter should be at or near peak activity when mixed into the dough. A sluggish starter will dramatically increase proofing times.
Substitutions
No Cardamom?
Replace it with an additional 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
No Orange?
Leave it out for a more traditional cinnamon scroll flavour.
No Maple Syrup?
Use honey or simply make a classic icing sugar glaze with milk.
What's the best flour to use for this recipe?
This recipe was developed using Caputo Blue 00 flour, which creates a soft, tender crumb while still providing enough strength for enriched sourdough dough. If you can't find it, substitute with an equal amount of strong bread flour. I get it from Coles!
I actually wouldn't recommend plain flour here. It'll work, but the scrolls won't be quite as fluffy or hold their shape as well during proofing and baking.
Storage
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Warm briefly in the microwave before serving for the best texture.
Top Tip: Don't Rush the Final Proof
The scrolls should look noticeably puffy and feel soft and marshmallow-like before baking. If they still feel firm or spring back quickly when gently poked, give them more time.
FAQ
Can I make these overnight?
Yes. Once shaped, cover the scrolls and refrigerate overnight. The next day, allow them to come to room temperature and become puffy before baking.
Can I use plain flour?
Bread flour is recommended for the best texture. Plain flour can be used, but the scrolls may be slightly less fluffy and structured.
How do I know when they're baked?
The tops should be deeply golden and the centres should feel set rather than doughy. For accuracy, the centre of the scrolls should reach around 92–95°C.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Brown Butter Cardamom Scrolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g bread flour I used and recommend Caputo Blue 00 flour
- 150 g active sourdough starter
- 250 ml full cream milk
- 1 egg
- 60 g caster sugar
- 60 g unsalted butter softened
- 8 g fine sea salt
Filling
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 120 g brown sugar
- Zest of 1 large orange
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Cream Pour
- 100 ml pure cream
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Salted Maple Glaze
- 80 g icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 - 2 tbsp milk
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Combine the flour, starter, milk, egg and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until a shaggy dough forms, then rest for 20 minutes.
- Add the softened butter and salt and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth, elastic and silky.
- Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, cover and leave to ferment somewhere warm until soft, puffy and increased by around 60–75%. This should take approximately 2½–4 hours depending on the strength of your starter and room temperature.
- Meanwhile, make the filling. Place the brown sugar and orange zest in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until fragrant.
- Brown the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until nutty and golden. Remove from the heat and immediately stir through the cardamom and half the cinnamon. Leave to infuse for 5 minutes.
- Pour the brown butter mixture into the orange sugar and add the remaining cinnamon and salt. Stir until combined into a spreadable paste.
- Lightly butter a 24–26cm round baking dish.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle approximately 35 x 45cm. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, taking it right to the edges.
- Roll tightly from the long side into a log, then slice into 8–10 scrolls.
- Arrange the scrolls in the prepared baking dish. Cover and proof somewhere warm until noticeably puffy and touching, around 1½–3 hours depending on temperature.
- Just before baking, stir together the cream and brown sugar and drizzle between the scrolls.
- Bake at 180°C fan for 35–45 minutes, or until deeply golden and cooked through in the centre. If the tops begin browning too quickly, loosely cover with foil for the final part of baking.
- Allow the scrolls to cool for 10–15 minutes.
- To make the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar, maple syrup, milk and flaky salt until smooth. Drizzle generously over the warm scrolls and serve.
Notes
- The dough should feel soft, airy and marshmallow-like before baking.
- Rubbing the orange zest into the sugar helps release the citrus oils and gives the scrolls a more intense orange flavour.
- These are best eaten slightly warm on the day they are baked, but leftovers can be reheated gently before serving.
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