Seven to Try: Sydney’s Best Hot Cross Buns

Once upon a time you used to have to wait until autumn hit to get a hot cross bun fix. These days, they line supermarket shelves in sad plastic bags from Boxing Day – but we still reckon they’re a treat best savoured on chilly autumn mornings in the lead up to Easter, with a pat of butter slowly melting on a toasted (or microwaved) bun. From a frankincense-glazed beauty by a cult bakery to a gluten-free bun that’ll impress those with gluten intolerances and the gluten-loving alike and myriad varieties (including choc-chip, apple-cinnamon crumble and classic fruit), there’s loads to love in the HCB realm this year.

Black Star Pastry, Newtown , Rosebery , The Galeries and Entertainment Quarter
The sticky frankincense syrup coating Black Star Pastry’s pillowy, orange peel- and spice-packed hot cross buns lends a sweetness to the classic. Plus, they’re vegan so (almost) everyone can enjoy them – the group plans to make around 15,000 buns this season, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get your mitts on one (or a dozen). $4.50 each or $25 for six.

blackstarpastry.com

Stix , Marrickville
This delightful inner-west cafe is generating a reputation for pastries and loaves that are equal to its outstanding breakfast and lunch menus. It’s fitting, then, that its HCBs would be just as upper-crust. It’s selling three varieties: classic fruit (a special spice blend, Earl Grey-macerated fruit and house-made candied orange); chocolate; and apple-cinnamon crumble (two types of apple mixed with vanilla and cinnamon, and muscovado crumble). Fancy. $4 each, or $20 for six.

stix.com.au

Nonie’s , Botany, Carriageworks Farmers Market and Northside Produce Market
Bready goods might seem off-limits to people with coeliac disease – but not if Nonie’s Food founder Nonie Dwyer has anything to do with it. She’s perfected a gluten-free HCB that’ll make the gluten-intolerant community’s Easters great again. There are two options: classic, with organic sultanas, candied peel and loaded with spice, and dark 70 per cent chocolate with a cocoa cross. They’re available at Carriageworks Farmers Market on March 27, Nonie’s Botany warehouse on April 2 and Northside Produce Market on April 3. $15 for four classic; $16 for four chocolate.

noniesfood.com

Flour Drum, Newtown
Sticklers for tradition, turn away – Newtown’s Flour Drum has created a cinnamon scroll-hot cross bun mashup that it’s fittingly deemed the “hot cross cinnamon bun”. It’s got a cinnamon scroll-esque swirl on top, but is trad HCB inside. Taste and texture-wise, it’s like a traditional hot cross bun and packed with cinnamon and sultanas. They’re available from today until April 5. $5 each.

flourdrum.com.au

Grumpy Baker , nine locations
Grumpy Baker founder Michael Cthurmer’s Israeli heritage comes into play in the bakery’s HCB offering, with dough typically used to make challah – a spongey braided bread eaten on Shabbat – put to work in its buns. They’re loaded up with raisins, chocolate chips, butter and spice for a bun that’s moist, fluffy and a little bit sticky.

thegrumpybaker.com.au

Tuga Pastries , Clovelly
This eastern-suburbs bakery might be best known for its pasteis de nata – but it also makes a mean hot cross bun come Easter. Owner Diogo Ferreira makes them according to his father’s recipe, with sultanas, lemon peel and lots of spice. There’s also a chocolate version, and if you really love a hot cross bun, he’s selling them by the wheel as well. $4 each.

tugapastries.com.au

Brickfields , Chippendale and Marrickville
Stippled with plump fruit and coated in a glaze so thick it’s almost crunchy, the hot cross buns from Brickfields are pretty close to perfect. Cardamom and Sri Lankan cinnamon give these buns a good thwack of spice, while cranberries, raisins and candied orange peel add depth and variety of flavour. Add salted butter – such as the Pepe Saya pats Brickfields sells at its Chippendale and Marrickville shopfronts – and you’re in for a salty-sweet delight. $20 for six.

brickfields.com.au