These shiny vegan lemon curd rolls are unbelievably easy to make. Perfect for beginners, topped off with pecans, lemon peel and a shiny apricot glaze. The ideal dessert or sweet breakfast.
Why Are These Rolls So Good
- They’re easy enough for beginners to make
- Include a homemade lemon curd recipe
- Super easy to customise
- Cheap, staple ingredients
- No special equipment needed
- Delicately sweet and refreshingly zesty
The Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make our vegan lemon curd rolls.
Plant milk: feel free to use any unsweetened and unflavoured plant milk such as soy, almond, oat or hemp milk.
Oil: I used sunflower oil this time, but feel free to substitute for any neutral-tasting, light oil (such as olive or rapeseed oil).
Pecans: No need to run to the store to pick up pecans. Simply use what you have - walnuts are similar in flavour and would work well. You could also use hazelnuts or almonds.
Flour: I recommend using strong white flour (also called bread flour). You could use a combination of white and wholemeal flour, but the rolls will end up less bouncy/fluffy.
Not pictured: a pinch of turmeric used to bring out the yellow colour in lemon curd. Optional, but highly recommended.
It might look like a lot, but a huge majority of these are kitchen cupboard staples. And in case you don’t have them, they are all easily available at supermarkets at an affordable price.
In terms of equipment, you won’t need anything fancy. A rolling pin is welcome and if you want to avoid kneading, you can use a breadmaker (entirely optional).
Step-by-step Photos
The process of making these is super easy and straightforward. You practically can’t go wrong.
For full recipe including measurements, check out the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
1. Combine the ingredients into a dough and knead.
2. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 1 hour.
3. In the meantime, make your easy vegan lemon curd.
4. Your dough after the 1-hour rise (doubled in size).
5. Once doubled in size, knock back your dough and start rolling it out.
6. Your dough is rolled out and ready to be filled.
7. Spread equally with lemon curd filling
8. Start rolling it up carefully.
9. Your dough is ready to be cut into shapes.
10. Cut into 8-9 rolls.
11. Line and grease a round baking tin. Place the buns onto your baking tin and let rise again for 45 minutes. Then glaze with almond milk and sprinkle with pecans.
12. Pop into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. When ready to serve, glaze with apricot jam glaze and serve with extra lemon peel.
Expert Tips
These are so easy, but make sure to follow all my expert tips below.
1. Use bread flour
Bread flour has a higher protein content and better gluten development resulting in a soft, bouncy roll.
2. Don’t rush your rise
To get a soft and airy crumb structure you’ll need to rise your dough for long enough. I'm always tempted to rush, but if you do rush the crumb structure will be tight.
This means the flavour will be lovely but the bun itself will be a lot denser, tighter than it should. Take those extra minutes, you won't regret it.
3. Coat with flour
Make sure to coat your work surface liberally with flour. Nothing is worse than spreading your filling onto the dough and realising it’s stuck to your work surface.
Check the dough is not stuck before you start adding your filling so it will be easy to roll.
4. Don’t roll too tight
The filling for these rolls is quite slack but this will keep them moist. To keep as much of the filling in the roll try not to roll them too tightly.
If your filling has spilled out, don't worry. Simply spoon the filling onto the buns when you rise them to get that good lemony flavour.
If you're having trouble with dough, I always recommend reading this helpful article.
F.A.Q.
If baked correctly, these rolls shouldn’t come out dry at all. However, baking them for too long can result in a drier dough.
If you’ve experienced this issue, I recommend popping them in the microwave for max. 30 seconds which will soften them up a bit and release some moisture. Then, make sure to glaze them with your apricot glaze for added moisture.
Alternatively, serve with jam to get that extra moisture.
Again, your dough for these shouldn’t be dry at all. If you’ve followed the recipe do the dot and still experience dry dough, there’s still a way to fix this issue.
Slowly add 1 teaspoon of water at a time to your dough. Keep adding until your dough is able to stick together to form a perfect dough ball.
To check if it’s ready, do a so-called spoon test.
Cover a spoon with curd, then simply run your finger across the back of the spoon. If it holds a trail, it means your curd is ready!
Remember that your curd will thicken considerably when it cools. Don’t be tempted to evaporate too much water as this will make your curd too thick.
In case the dough keeps sticking to the sides of your bowl, simply add 1 teaspoon of flour at a time.
Your dough will rip if you haven’t kneaded it for long enough. It will results in a floppy, loose dough that tears very easily. Make sure to knead for longer to bring out the elasticity form your dough.
Yes, you can definitely store your buns for later. Simply store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can store for longer, but remember that these taste by far the best when they’re fresh. If you can, try to eat on the first day of baking.
If you want to store the rolls for later don’t glaze them yet. The glaze will add moisture to your rolls which can make them go bad.
To keep them as fresh as possible leave off your glaze until you serve the buns.
If you've enjoyed my vegan lemon curd rolls, you might want to see more of my dessert recipes. My orange cardamom knot buns use the same dough recipe. You might also enjoy my blueberry oat muffins, apple sauce cake, almond milk crepes and peanut butter brownies (all vegan).
🍴Recipe
Vegan Lemon Curd Rolls
EQUIPMENT
- Rolling Pin
- Round baking tin (approx. size 20 cm / 8 inch)
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE DOUGH
- 60 ml (2.54 floz) water equals ¼ cup of water
- 50 ml (1.69 floz) plant milk equals just under ¼ cup. use almond, soy or other plant milk
- ½ teaspoon white sugar caster sugar
- ½ sachet dry yeast half a sachet equals 3,5g
- 30 ml (1.01 floz) oil any light oil
- 200 g (7.05 oz) bread flour also called strong white bread flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon salt
FOR LEMON CURD
- 120 ml (4.06 floz) plant milk equals ½ cup
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 60 ml (2.03 floz) lemon juice equals ¼ cup
- 55 g (1.94 oz) sugar equals ¼ cup
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 pinch tumeric
- 1 teaspoon dairy-free butter
TOPPINGS
- 1 tablespoon pecans chopped
- 1 teaspoon plant milk for glazing before baking
- 30 g (1.06 oz) apricot jam to be mixed with 20ml of water or orange juice
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest to sprinkle on top when serving
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR THE DOUGH
- Add warm milk and water to a large mixing bowl. Stir.
- Add the remaining dough ingredients in this order: sugar, yeast, oil, flour, cinnamon, lemon zest, salt. Make sure the salt isn't touching the yeast.
- Combine the ingredients into a dough and knead for appoximately 10 minutes (by hand or in a breadmaker) to create an elastic, loose ball of dough.
- Cover with a damp cloth and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour until doubled in size.
- In the meantime, prepare your easy vegan lemon curd (see below).
- Sprinkle plenty of flour onto a flat surface. Remove your dough from the bowl/pan and knock it back (knock it with your fist or knead for anbout 30 seconds). This will help get rid of excess air that was formed during the rising period.
- Once you've knocked it back, use a rolling pin to roll out your dough until it measures approx. 0,5 cm in thickness (this is the equivalent of 0,2 inches).
- Use a knife or spoon to spread with lemon curd filling.
- Start rolling it up carefully into a thick roll (see step-by-step photos above for reference)
- When rolled, cut into 8-9 rolls.
- Line and grease a round baking tin. Place your rolls into the round baking tin, cover and let rise again for 45 minutes. Then glaze with plant milk and sprinkle with pecans before baking.
- After you've glazed them, pop into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes at 356°F / 180°C (fan oven).
- When baked, glaze with apricot jam glaze and serve with extra lemon peel.
FOR THE LEMON CURD
- Pour plant milk and corn starch into a pan and stir.
- Heat up your pan on low to medium heat, then add lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest and turmeric. Whisk.
- Bring the mixture to boil and wait for it to thicken. Make sure to keep whisking as it thickens.
- Thicken for about 5 minutes.
- Check the lemon curd has thickened enough when it coats the back of a spoon and leaves a clear trail if you run a finger through the back of a spoon.
- Finally add the teaspoon of dairy-free butter and keep on the heat until the butter has fully melted, whilst whisking to get a smooth, velvety texture.
FOR THE GLAZE AND TOPPINGS
- To create your apricot jam glaze, simply combine apricot jam with water or orange juice. Transfer to a pan and heat up until desired consistency.
- Serve your buns with fresh apricot jam glaze and top off with extra lemon zest.
Notes
- Use the step-by-step photos above as your visual guide.
- This recipe has been tested using weight measurements (not cups). I always strongly recommend using weight measurements (both EU and US weights are stated in the recipe card). Cups vary in size and are thus considerably less exact.
- For best results, make sure to use strong white bread flour.
- Make sure your salt isn't touching the yeast before you start kneading. To do so, create a small well in your flour. Then add salt to the well.
- Don't alter the rise time: make sure you wait for a full hour for the first and full 45 minutes for the second rise.
- When rolling out your dough, make sure to coat your work surface liberally with flour.
- Don't roll too tight.
- Do not overbake: this will result in a dry bun.
- You can store these for later in an airtight container for 2-3 days at room temperature.
- If you want to store the rolls for later don’t glaze them yet. Only glaze when serving.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: The nutritional information above is calculated automatically. The author of this post cannot guarantee 100% accuracy of this data.
Sam says
very light and refreshing!
Tajda Ferko says
So happy to hear this, glad you enjoyed the recipe Sam! xx
Cookie says
Curd is DELICIOUS!
I didn’t make the glaze so that may have changed things — but the dough itself was a little too “bread” tasting rather than “dessert”.
It’s a great dough and a great curd, they just didn’t taste like the perfect match.
Tajda Ferko says
Hi Cookie! Glad you liked the curd. Sorry to hear that the buns weren't your thing. I've got lots more dessert recipes that aren't bread-based if you're looking for some more festive baking ideas 😉 Thanks for stoppipng by!