The best and worst hot cross buns for 2024 – from the ‘utterly joyless’ to the ‘absolute corkers’

For a delicacy that is so familiar – a spiced bun studded with dried vine fruits and nuggets of citrus peel beneath a piped flour-paste cross – it’s astonishing how much the high-street offerings differ.

From the driest of bland rolls to bountiful batches that can barely contain more sultanas, we devoured them all to find the best for your Easter breakfast.

And for those who fancy something a little more unorthodox, we also tried a selection of hot cross buns with a twist. Forget the raisins and sultanas and set aside the citrus peel – these specialities are for chocolate fiends, toffee fans and lovers of a quirky flavour combination. There’s no shame here: we all know these aren’t real hot cross buns, but when they taste as good as the indulgent chocolate-orange numbers below, we’re not judging.

The best classic hot cross buns

These smell and look just like a pack of bread rolls, dense and wholemealy, and there’s nothing in the scent to suggest they’ve come into contact with fruit, spice or citrus. The flavour, meanwhile, tastes artificial. Utterly joyless.

Pillowy buns with an overpowering smell of lemony sink cleaner, no doubt thanks to the plethora of citrus oils in the ingredients list. Decidedly unfruity; instead, these deliver an acrid burnt-spice aftertaste.

Squidgy little squares that look like someone has sat on them. Though generous with the fruit, they are disturbingly damp and claggy; toasting saves them only slightly from being sad and pappy.

Squishy all round, with a rather dull, stale spice flavour, pepped up only by pockets of soft fruit. Middle of the road.

Darkly baked, this is another set with a decidedly damp texture. The flavour is one-note and the fruit is small and bitty.

Slicing through the attractive domed tops reveals a rumble-tumble of sultanas and raisins but zero evidence of Easterish spices. Any citrus is subtle, too, and the merest hint of soapiness is a slight turn-off.

Attractively dark and burnished and the well-distributed fruit promises great things but falls flat in flavour. Another middle-ground muddler.

A very uniform pack of four that really looks the part, all dark golden brown with neat crosses and a great rise. The fruit delivers plenty of flavour.

These sticky buns have a lovely golden sheen and are pleasingly irregular in shape. Inside there’s a great variety of fruit and very visible citrus peel. The fruit, in fact, is glorious.

These are the supermodels of hot cross buns: rustic, plump, glazed and studded inside and out with big vine fruits. They smell citrussy and spicy too, a really celebratory batch. Absolute corkers.

The best hot cross buns with a twist

A very strange chemical smell hardly makes one want to race to the toaster. The texture of the crumb is surprisingly supple but we can’t get past the artificial fruit and spice combo.

Firm buns with a dense, tight crumb and a definite smell of apple and cinnamon. Threatening to be far too dry, the fruit delivers some welcome juiciness. One could easily pass these off as homemade.

A toffee-sauce aroma sings out of these dark, glossy buns but they’re claggy with chopped dates and caramel fudge. Redeemed by not being too sickly sweet.

Oozy pockets of molten caramel make for a pleasing texture but the saccharine flavour is overpowering.

Dark, milk and white chocolate chunks star in these and indeed there’s a strong cocoa taste and smell; the full-on flavour really lingers.

Gooey, fudgy and yet fresh smelling, these deliver a welcome saltiness in the fudge blobs. Honestly, a ridiculously unnecessary treatment for a hot cross but (whisper it) we really like it.

Fudge pieces peep out of the golden-domed tops while the innards are smeared with them and banana purée. A totally artificial banana flavour that we, despite ourselves, find surprisingly successful.

Each mouthful delivers something bright and tangy, being stuffed with nuggets of golden fruit (sultanas, dried apricots and golden raisins). The scent of marmalade is super; a citrussy success that is close enough to a classic hot cross bun to not be an abomination.

It’s as if hot cross buns were born to host melting chocolate chips rather than sultanas; the citrus is perfectly balanced to off-set the sweetness and is seriously grown-up in flavour. We can’t get enough of these.