Where to find Australia’s best hot cross buns
Hot cross buns are always a favourite – but where can you find the very best? SEE THE LIST
One-a-penny they’re not, alas, but bakeries across Australia are releasing their take on Easter’s hot cross buns and it’s time to get strategic about where you will get yours.
Good things come to those who wait. Or, to those who have bypassed the supermarkets’ too-early January releases in a bid to savour the best doughy, sticky, spicy and sweet buns when their proper time has come. That time is now.
This Easter, we are on the hunt for traditional buns – a small twist at a stretch – with yeasted dough and fragrant with spice, flecked with fruit without being inundated.
The best hot cross buns have a balance of chew and bounce. The cross should not be too thick and tough, and the glaze should be glossy but not overly sweet.
Here is a roundup of the best hot cross buns across the country this Easter.
Wild Life Bakery, Melbourne
Already selling out by 9am each day, Wild Life’s iteration of the HCB this year involves the essential vine fruits and spices, and rye grain specially grown and stone-milled by Woodstock Flour, but also a splash of straight rye whisky from Gospel Distillery.
The wildly popular chocolate and sour cherry is back this year as well, made with Hunted + Gathered 70 per cent chocolate chip.
The buns are dense but soft, with candied orange, sultanas and currants.
The bakery is working to keep up with demand, but pre-ordering in store seems like the safest bet for these must-try buns.
90 Albert St, Brunswick East; shop.wildlifebakery.com.
Loafer Bread, Melbourne
Another Melbourne favourite that often sells out before midday, these vegan and sourdough buns are dense and complex, and the Australian fruit featured within is organic, ticking so many boxes at once.
The lemon and orange peel are candied and made in-house, and they’re aromatic with spice and dark barley malt, which adds so much depth to the glaze.
These buns are not too sweet, a good thing, and they’re slightly acidic too, allowing the fruit to show its full flavour.
Pre-order to get yours before Easter. $24 for 6 sourdough buns.
146 Scotchmer St, Fitzroy North; loaferbread.com.
Banneton, Brisbane
This bakery, with stores in Ashgrove, Woolloonagbba, Camp Hill and Milton markets (Sunday only), is famed for its sourdough as well as its macarons, and their hot cross buns are not disappointing. Packed with fruit and spice, they’re dense and sweet but soft, and the bun itself reveals the craft behind this popular bakery. Banneton prides itself on using natural ingredients, and no artificial improvers or additives. It’s a tradition for many in Brisbane to make their way to a Banneton for hot cross buns each year, so they sell out quickly as we approach the holiday.
25 Balaclava St, Woolloonagbba; Shop 3/ 584 Waterworks Road, Ashgrove; Kiosk 2, White Hill Shopping Village, 25 Samuel St, Camp Hill; Milton Markets, Cribb Street, Milton; banneton.com.au.
Tivoli Road, Melbourne
A hot cross bun is only as good as the ingredients that go into it, and nowhere is this more evident than at Tivoli Road Bakery.
Their glossy buns are made with certified organic fruit and flour, freshly ground spices and free-range eggs. Get there early or pre-order – all the buns are cut, weighed and rolled by hand, so supply is limited.
3 Tivoli Rd, South Yarra; tivoliroad.com.au.
Baker D. Chirico, Melbourne
You may think turning your back on tradition is sinful, but you’d be wrong. Baker D. Chirico has turned to the dark (chocolate) side with his choc hazelnut buns made with dark chocolate choffies and chopped hazelnuts and we are thrilled.
They are a perfectly festive balance of spice, nuttiness and decadent gooey chocolate. Of course, traditionalists can still tuck into the signature spiced hot cross buns.
178 Faraday St, Carlton; 183 Domain Road, South Yarra; bakerdchirico.com.au.
Dough, Adelaide
Don’t walk, run; the buns at this much-loved bakery at The Central Market leave the shelves faster than you can drink your flat white. Dough’s bakers are expecting to make 20,000 hot cross buns this Easter, and yet it won’t be enough to sate the bun lovers. It’s advised to pre-order – in person or over the phone – your glossy sourdough buns, with their not-too-thick cross and generous amounts of fruit, or risk missing out until next year. $20 for 6 buns.
Adelaide Central Market, 45/44-60 Gouger St, Adelaide; facebook.com/DoughBakery45.
Black Star Pastry, Sydney & Melbourne
Instagrammable watermelon cake is not the only thing Black Star does, shock.
This year, in another genius collab with top-notch chocolatier Koko Black, Black Star is bringing out sweet, sticky buns that are vegan (true story), and dotted with Koko Black chocolate chips.
Executive chef Arnaud Vodounou is also catering to hardened traditionalists with Black Star’s usual (and yet remarkable) frankincense glazed buns.
Also available in Blackstar’s soon-to-open Drive Lane store in Melbourne CBD, as well as Sydney’s Newtown, CBD, Rosebery and Moore Park. $25 for 6 buns, $45 for 12.
Kiosk 0105, Lower Level, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone; 2C Acland Street, St Kilda; blackstarpastry.com.
Lune Croissanterie, Melbourne
Let us take a moment to bow our heads and give thanks for the Easter miracle that is Lune’s hot cross cruffins.
While not technically a hot cross bun, these golden flaky pastries deserve a special mention. The hybrid treat combines the dough of a croissant with the flavours of a hot cross bun – think sultanas, candied citrus peel, cinnamon, nutmeg and star anise spiced custard – in the shape of a muffin.
119 Rose St, Fitzroy; Shop 2, 825 High Street, Armadale; Shop 9, 161 Collins Street, Melbourne; lunecroissanterie.com.
Mary Street Bakery, Perth
Dreaming of pillowy hot cross buns? Look no further than Mary Street Bakery. The tall, fluffy buns are lightly spiced but still have that quintessential Easter flavour profile of cinnamon and nutmeg. If you have any leftovers (unlikely, we know) the buns make a killer hot cross bun bread and butter pudding. Traditional and choc orange available.
507 Beaufort Street, Highgate; Allendale Square, 77 St Georges Tce, Perth; Shop 1 &2 Empire Village, 31-33 Gayton Road, City Beach; QV1, 250 St Georges Tce, Perth; marystreetbakery.com.au.
Flour & Stone, Sydney
Don’t be cross but there’s no cross. These Florentine-style Easter buns will delight, with or without the added piping.
Inspired by Florentine pan di Ramerino, these beauties are baked from a brioche dough studded with currants and rosemary with a sweet splash of sherry. 53 Riley Street,
Woolloomooloo; flourandstone.com.au.
Saga, Sydney
Andy Bowdy – the baker behind the outrageous layered cakes and Christmas’s best trifles – doesn’t disappoint with his top-notch buns, now available for pre-order. Based on previous years it’s a good idea to get in early.
The dried fruit – including citrus peel – within is soaked in a brandy, whisky and amaro mixture, then folded into a spiced brioche base. The dense, citrusy buns are steamed before they are baked, so they’re super soft and buttery. $30 for 6 buns.
178 Enmore Rd, Enmore; sagaenmore.com.au.
Sonoma, Sydney
Sonoma’s Not Cross Buns may not look very traditional, but the flavours are pure Easter joy. The sweet, soft buns are made from a cinnamon- nutmeg- and clove-spiced dough, which is finished with the Sonoma S on top. Glazing is a housemade syrup made from festive spices and Sonoma’s own coffee beans while the dried fruit is raisins, cranberries and candied orange.
Locations in Alexandria, Bondi, Bowral, Braddon (ACT), Glebe, Leichhardt, Manly, Menai, Rose Bay and Terrigal; sonomabakery.com.
AP Bakery, Sydney
You can try and beat the crowds to an AP hot cross bun in AP Town in the backstreets of Newtown, at Carriageworks Markets on a Saturday or AP’s crown on the rooftop at Paramount House. But it’s better to pre-order these toasty, spiced buns by head baker Dougal Muffet. He toasts and mills cardamom, cinnamon, clove, allspice and nutmeg in-house, adds classic vine fruits and a classic bun brushed with a cardamom-brown-sugar glaze.
AP Bakery has become synonymous with the top lists for hot cross buns, so get in early. $25 for 6 buns.
80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills; 1A Bucknell Street, Newtown; Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh; apbakery.com.au.
This story was originally published by delicious.com.au.
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