Can you beat a traditional spiced yeast bun at Easter? There’s only one way to find out. Bring on the rhubarb and custard version, the red velvet, the chocolate and fudge, the tiramisu …
H
ot cross buns, the Easter treat traditionally eaten on Good Friday, now appear in our shops as early as January. And it’s not just the spiced ones packed with dried fruit that you’ll find on supermarket shelves: it seems that any enriched-dough creation can be described as a hot cross bun, so long as a flour cross has been slapped on top.
Step into a Marks & Spencer food hall and you will be greeted with displays full of garish pink “red velvet” hot cross buns, while Tesco has more than 10 varieties available this year, as well as a tear-and-share brioche. Purists may turn up their noses, but Becca Stock, who reviews food on TikTok and Instagram as @beccaeatseverything, says that, to enjoy a non-traditional bun, you have to view it as a separate product. “For me, they sit in different categories,” she says.
Although I come from a family of hot cross bun lovers, enjoying them hot, cold and as a vehicle for cheddar cheese, I have never ventured into the world of novelty flavours. Have I been missing out? To answer that question, dear reader, I tried 25 non-traditional buns (toasted and buttered, of course). My control, a traditional hot cross bun on the side, was M&S’s luxury fruited hot cross bun, named “best splurge” by the Filter last year.
