Method (buns)

1. Pour the warm dairy-free milk into a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast and a tablespoon of the sugar, stir. Cover with a tea towel then put into a warm place for around 8-10 minutes until frothy. TIP: To heat the milk, add it into a small saucepan and simmer until it’s warm. If the milk is too hot it can kill the yeast, so make sure it’s just warm.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour and sugar. Mix to combine.
3. Once the yeast mixture is frothy, pour into the dry ingredients along with the oil and vanilla.
4. Mix with a hand whisk or attach a dough hook to your stand mixer and begin to knead on medium until nice and smooth. The dough should be soft, smooth and slightly sticky.
5. Once kneaded, place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and place into a warm area and allow to prove for around 2-3 hours or until double in size.
6. Line the Panasonic tray with grease-proof paper.
7. Once doubled, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, form into a large dough ball and divide the dough into equal balls. Weigh the balls out to 100g each. Take each ball of dough and roll it with your hands to form a smooth, round shape (watch my video tutorial here). Place the dough balls on a lined baking tray lined with grease-paper and let proof a second time in a warm place for 1 hour. The buns will puff up on their second prove and will also rise in the oven, so make sure to space them out on the tray / trays.
8. Once ready to make, preheat the oven to the combi setting (with steam) to 180°C fan. Brush the top and sides of each bun with some dairy-free milk, place into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the tops of the buns are golden in colour, and soft to touch.
9. Allow the buns to cool fully before cutting open and filling with cream.

Method (cream filling and decoration)

1. Whisk the dairy-free cream using an electric hand whisk or in a stand mixer fitted with a balloon whisk attachment until it has thickened and soft peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a round tip nozzle (you can even use a star tip nozzle for a different effect).

Method (assemble the buns)

1. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut open the buns open on a diagonal, but do not cut all the way through!
2. Spread some apricot jam (or your favourite flavour jam) on one half of the bun, then place in a large marshmallow then pipe in some of the cream, continue piping in the cream until the bun is filled, then use a clean knife to scrape the cream flush to the bun.
3. Cut a large marshmallow in half then place into the middle of the cream to replicate the polar bear nose. Cut another marshmallow in half and stick to the top of the bun for the ears (see photos for reference). The stickiness of the marshmallow will stick automatically. 
4. Roll 3 balls of black fondant and place two balls into the cream for the eyes and stick the remaining ball onto the marshmallow to finish the nose.
5. Lightly dust the tops of the buns with icing sugar, then serve.