We taste-tested novelty hot cross buns so you don’t have to (and Pizza Shapes weren’t even the worst)
Supermarkets have unleased their latest range of hybrid hot cross buns, with mixed results. So which ones win and which should go straight to the bargain bin?
Hot cross buns started appearing on supermarket shelves on December 26 with the launch of Woolworths’ limited edition fairy bread flavour. It was a colourful, nostalgic (and early) start to the fourth season of Easter experimentation – a trend that began in major supermarkets and bakeries during the madness of the mid-pandemic period.
Bakers have long dabbled with adding candied fruits and chocolate chips to the centuries-old recipe for hot cross buns, but the introduction of Coles’ Vegemite and cheese hot cross buns in 2021 threw out the rule book. Gone were the traditional spices and raisins, replaced by the savoury Australian spread, an innovation that had purists up in arms.
It unleashed a torrent of “not cross buns”. Among the hybrids dreamt up by supermarket marketing teams have been burger sauce, sour cherry, and jalapeno and cheese, to name a few. This year’s entrants have included Iced VoVo and Pizza Shapes, tapping into Australia’s voracious appetite for nostalgia.
While shoppers may initially baulk at the thought of hot cross buns with pizza seasoning, unusual flavours are proving popular. New additions have “flown off the shelves”, says a Woolworths representative, noting their buns riffing on fairy bread and Biscoff have nearly sold out. At Coles, Iced VoVo has sold out in Queensland and South Australia, while the success of the much-maligned Vegemite and cheese variation warranted its return for a third year.
Good Food put this Easter’s most unusual hot cross bun hybrids to the taste test.
Unconventional hot cross buns, ranked from worst to best
8. Arnott’s Iced VoVo hot cross bun
Coles, $4.50 (on special from $5) for four, or $1.13 each
Imagine this: you’ve bought the brightest, sugariest raspberry jam you could find on the supermarket shelf, taken it home, and (to the shock and horror of your loved ones) just poured half of it down your throat. It’s almost painfully sweet, uncomfortably sticky, and the unrelenting flavour clings to your mouth for hours. That’s how this pink-hued hot cross bun with wet globs of “jelly” makes me feel, but with the added texture of soft white chocolate chunks and grainy desiccated coconut. Only hardcore Iced VoVo fans need apply.
7. Arnott’s Pizza Shapes hot cross bun
Coles $4.50 (on special from $5) for four, or $1.13 each
This Frankenstein of Easter tradition and schoolyard nostalgia glows like a bright orange hazard light, warning us that supermarkets may have taken things one bunny hop too far. But one bite and I realise it’s just a stodgy almost-burger bun with a gratuitous cross, dusted with a layer of pungent cheese, paprika and tomato seasoning. The heavy, lingering aftertaste does recall some long-forgotten memories – not of primary school packed lunches, but of dusty mornings in my early 20s, huddled over the kitchen bench, eating cold pizza.
6. Indulgent Cadbury chocolate brioche hot cross bun
Woolworths, $4.50 for six, or 75 cents each
I discover the straw-yellow brioche buns in a picked-over pop-up stand by the self-checkout registers. They’re still hard and partially frozen, the bag wet with condensation. Any naive and romantic notions I held of buns baked fresh in-store, filling my local Woolies with the seasonal smell of cinnamon and chocolate, immediately dissipate. But once thawed, these buns are perfectly fine – not as buttery and rich as I might expect from brioche, but with a gentle sweetness, generously studded with milk chocolate chips. A good value choice.
5. Vegemite and cheese hot cross bun
Coles, $4.50 (on special from $5) for four, or $1.13 each
The packaging boldly declares these buns “taste like Australia”. I expect an onslaught of umami, like a tourist slathering the blackened spread thickly across their toast at a hotel buffet breakfast. Fortunately, not so. The flavour is surprisingly mild – an inoffensive, savoury addition to our lineup of unconventional buns. Expect a dense, bready bun covered with a thin, oily sheen of melted cheese, golden outside but with an unappetising, slightly grey interior. It could prove a solid, seasonal substitution for bread in your cheese toastie.
4. Sticky date pudding hot cross bun
Bakers Delight, $1.90 each
This is a fancy hot cross bun that will appeal to die-hard fans of the traditional. The golden toasted crust, warming blend of spices and dried fruit all feel familiar, but they’re amped up by squishy sweet dates and the substantial chew of thick, caramel fudge. My only gripe is the intensity of the sugar glaze, so sticky the bun hardens and dries around the edges, making it feel prematurely stale. Yes, “sticky” is in the name, but given that buns are typically eaten with your hands, it feels excessive.
3. Indulgent hot cross bun with Lotus Biscoff
Woolworths, $5.50 for four, or $1.38 each
Expect a stodgy, sweet bun containing a generous gloop of the popular Belgian biscuit spread Biscoff. For those unfamiliar, it’s delicious: caramelised, crunchy and buttery (despite a notable lack of butter – it’s technically vegan). Those flavours carry this bun through to the top 3, despite a raw, doughy texture that sticks to the roof of your mouth. It is much improved by an encounter with a sandwich press, which warms the filling and makes it ooze from the sides, softening the bun and caramelising its edges. Pan-frying would also work, but a toaster could prove messy.
2. Fairy bread hot cross bun
Woolworths, $5 for four, or $1.25 each
You’ll need some fairy magic to find these buns in stores - they’re so wildly popular in NSW they’ve almost sold out. But are they really that good? Or are we just collectively obsessed with the childhood delicacy that is fairy bread? Maybe it’s a bit of both. The buns accurately replicate the experience of eating fairy bread, from the speckles of colourful sprinkles throughout (and the added packet of hundreds and thousands), to the faint smell of sweet white bread thickly slathered with butter.
Winner: Cadbury Caramilk hot cross buns
Woolworths, $5 for four, or $1.25 each
Australia’s love affair with Cadbury’s caramel-flavoured white chocolate Caramilk continues, long after The Great Caramilk Shortage of 2019. And while the hot cross buns are nothing new (introduced December 2021), they remain incredibly popular and difficult to come by. Compared to the Biscoff bun this is fluffier, with lightly caramelised edges, a rich taste of caramel and large chunks of Caramilk throughout. Brighten the (pre-frozen) flavours by slicing and toasting the bun (or maybe pressing it into a waffle iron?), serving it with vanilla ice-cream for an indulgent Easter brekkie.
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Bianca Hrovat – Bianca is Good Food's Sydney-based reporter.