Heading into your favourite bakeries to see if their hot cross buns are as good as last year’s is like a late summer sport. Then there are all the newcomers you need to trial. Do they use peel or not? Is it sweet or all about spice? Luckily, the Good Food team (and one hardcore hot cross bun fan from The Age) have done the legwork. Compare our favourites with your own, or consider this your reminder that your annual bun-eating window is fast closing.

Emma Breheny
Melbourne restaurants and eating out editor

My #1 bun: To Be Frank’s bun is so fluffy, you might forget to chew. But you’d hate to choke and miss out on the even scattering of sultanas and currants, the bursts of house-candied orange and, once you get to the top half, a crackly toffee-like glaze.

Runners-up: Bridging the great divide between fruit fiends and chocolate fans, Mork has created a bun of unity. It features currants, sour cherries, orange peel and surprise nuggets of dark chocolate made in North Melbourne. Iris Bakery’s HCB has a negroni-like edge to it, thanks to brushing the top with marmalade glaze and soaking the fruit in orange puree. There’s also loads of cardamom, and very fat raisins. It’s a bold bun.

Andrea McGinniss
Eating in editor

My #1 bun: What a dazzling debut from the good folk at Morning Market, who are baking their own buns for the first time this Easter. There’s lots to love about these glossy-topped beauts. Fluffy dough is infused with spice, swirled with pastis and generously studded with brandy-soaked dried fruit including prunes, apricots and cranberries alongside the usual suspects. Phwoar.

Runners-up: Babka’s famously generous portions extend to its Easter bakes. Their big, fluffy, slightly rustic buns are generous on fruit, heavenly scented and the perfect vehicle for a thick wodge of butter. Falco’s buns may be smaller, but the puck-sized pillows pack a citrusy punch.

Roslyn Grundy
Recipes editor

My #1 bun: You know To Be Frank is turning out good hot cross buns when you drop into the bakery at noon and find a space where the buns should be. But after a 15-minute wait at the bakery’s farmers’ market stall, I had my prize. No queue regrets. Fragrant with freshly ground spices, these tender buns are studded with plumped fruit. To avoid bun disappointment, pre-order by April 15 via the website.

Runner-up: I’ve selflessly put in the hard yards this year, sampling buns from Morning Market, Akimbo, All Are Welcome, Phillippa’s, Cobb Lane and Mork, among others. Each was excellent in its own way, but I’m awarding Northcote Bakeshop’s sourdough bun my silver medal. Less fruit-filled than some, it scored points for depth of flavour and satisfying chew. Pass the salted butter.

Dani Valent
Good Food writer and restaurant reviewer

My #1 bun: Every Melbourne indie baker obsesses about their HCB, no one more so than Zelda’s Maaryasha Werdiger, who sometimes visits her buns as they rise overnight. Her ‘Not Cross Buns’ are painted with a pretzel swirl rather than a cross because Jewish bakeries don’t really do Easter. They’re fluffy, moist and citrusy, best torn in half, air-fried for five minutes at 180C and topped with fat slabs of butter.

Runners-up: Phillippa’s candies citrus in-house and finishes its buns with an apple glaze: these fruity babes are my favourite to have untoasted. Loafer bakes their buns dark until the crust is firm and sticky. If I’m feeling fancy, I have them with blue cheese and walnuts.

Tomas Telegramma
Good Food writer

My #1 bun: Every Easter that Bread Club has been in the game, I’ve wondered: is there a better HCB than this? And every Easter I’ve reached the same conclusion: no. The classic bun is a bang-on balance of sweet and spiced, with a heady hit of cardamom. Its chocolate counterpart has chunks of Hunted & Gathered’s 70 per cent stuff, plus toffee!

Runners-up: The Amann Patisserie bun is so fluffy and flavoursome that I demolished mine on sight, untoasted and unbuttered. And Madeleine de Proust’s “hot cross madeleine” is a crisp-shelled delight with rum-soaked raisins and a splash of Grand Marnier.

Emily Holgate
Good Food App assistant producer

My #1 bun: It’s not in Melbourne, but That Place patisserie in the Geelong suburb of Belmont is worth the drive. Pastry chef Ashlea Allen combines sourdough and a yeasted dough to make for a fluffy and slightly chewy bun, studded with juicy sultanas and currants, and glazed with spiced golden syrup.

Runners-up: Given my sweet tooth, if a chocolate hot cross bun is available I’ll always try it. Choc-cherry? Even better. This year Baker Bleu and Ned’s Bake have both taken that path. The former makes a bun packed with dark Valrhona chocolate; the latter does a fluffy spiced brioche.

Cara Waters
The Age city editor (and hot cross bun addict)

My #1 bun: North Melbourne’s Bread Club has a cult following for its HCBs for a reason. This is a fruit-forward bun (there’s even peel in there), making it sweet but not cloying. It’s fluffy enough to enjoy untoasted and the sweet-sticky glaze will have you licking your fingers.

Runners-up: Baker Bleu is where you go for a well-balanced bun with a great mix of spices and fruit, and just a hint of orange. For a readily available commercial HCB that’s easy on the hip pocket and has a good bun-to-fruit ratio, it’s hard to go past Bakers Delight. Don’t be tempted by the chocolate or apple and cinnamon versions, though. Stick with tradition.