Supermarket hot cross buns, ranked best to worst

It’s not Easter without hot cross buns, but with so much variety, how are you meant to pick the best?

Eeny meeny miney mo? Nah!

We blind taste-tested hot cross buns to pin down the best and worst of these traditional easter treats.

We’ve done the hard yards for you, sorting the ‘just right’ from the ‘under-spiced’, using an enthusiastic panel of Consumer NZ staff members as taste testers.

Staff tasted a range of traditional spiced hot cross buns, plus two ‘wild card’ buns. We bought buns from all the major supermarkets, then asked tasters to rank them on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being dreadful and 5 being delicious).

We couldn’t toast all the buns in the office kitchen but we did let our taste-testers spread on some margarine or butter.

It’s important to note that recipes can vary from store to store for in-house baked buns.

We purchased our buns at Pak’nSave, New World, Fresh Choice and Woolworths supermarkets around Wellington, plus one variety from Commonsense Organics.

Traditional hot cross buns, ranked

Best: New World Bakery Hot Cross Fruit Spice Buns, $8.99

For the second year in a row, the best traditional hot cross bun in Aotearoa is made by New World. At least, according to our tasters, it is. We got ours from New World Thorndon.

Our tasters gave this bun a high score of 3.9/5. Not only was it packed with fruit, but it was also well spiced with a lovely citrusy taste. Deserving of ‘the best’ title, we reckon.

Tasters' comments

“Good spice flavour and squishy dough – not dry! Best balance overall.”

“Finally, some peel! A bit of citrus. The texture is a bit lacking though. Overall, the sight and smell are better than the taste.”

“Heavily spiced – if you like that sort of thing, this may be for you. Light and fluffy. I’m a dense bun boy so not my favourite, but it’ll do.”

Second best: Coupland’s Hot Cross Buns Traditional, $5.50

The second-best traditional hot cross bun hails from a South Island bakery – Coupland’s - but we found these at a Fresh Choice supermarket. Our tasters gave this bun a high score of 3.7/5. It was soft and moist, though tasters couldn’t decide if the buns were over or under spiced. Clearly it didn’t matter in the end!

Tasters’ comments

“Soft and good flavour.”

“Near fruitless. A fruit desert. Good texture though.”

“Nice moisture level and fruit but maybe too much cinnamon – almost tasted dusty.”

3rd: Woolworths Traditional Hot Cross Buns, $6.80

A safe third place for Woolworths’ traditional hot cross bun offering, which we got from the Queensgate store. Our tasters scored it 3.4/5 and didn’t have anything extremely controversial to say. They liked the fruit, texture and appearance, though one taster did say it was rather chewy.

Tasters' comments

“Chewy like a book cover.”

“It has more raisins in it and I like it.”

“Not enough spice but good amount of fruit. Nice mix of sultanas and currants.”

4th: Flaveur Sourdough Organic Hot Cross Buns, $23.50

We accidentally stumbled across this bun at Commonsense Organics. Sourdough is nearly as trendy as brioche, so we thought it could be popular.

We were mistaken. None of the tasters even registered that it was sourdough, and it only scored 2.8/5. That may be because it wasn’t toasted. Tasters thought it had potential, but on its own, was very dry. For the most expensive bun in our taste test, it’s a bitter-sweet result.

One taster toasted a left-over bun, and claimed it was “exquisite”.

Tasters' comments

“Dry, dry, dry. Sahara Desert in my mouth. Yuck. But has more fruit than most on the plus side. Might be good toasted.”

“A good-looking bun. Nice glaze. Top-notch fruit content reminiscent of a Christmas cake but unfortunately the bread is awfully dry. Chuck her in the microwave, I reckon.”

“Looks delicious and lots of fruit. Beautiful glaze. Best looking bun.”

5th: Yarrows Spiced Fruit Hot Cross Buns, $9.59

This bun, which we bought at a Fresh Choice, barely escaped being bottom of the list. It scored 2.7/5 and looked seriously burnt straight out of its packaging. The most common feedback was that this hot cross bun was dry. Again, this could’ve been solved with a good toast in the oven, but alas.

Tasters’ comments

“It’s dry. Not very tasty. Zero spice. It may have a cross but it’s not a real hot cross bun.”

“Slightly yeasty and burnt tasting. Bland, with bugger all fruit.”

“No glaze and no spice – basically flavoured bread.”

Worst: Pak’nSave, Hot Cross Spiced Fruit Buns, $6.49

We’re not sure what the rogue taster in our test was thinking when they said this bun, which we bought from Hutt City Pak'nSave, was a “good, all-round bun”. No-one else agreed and with an overall score of 2.2/5, it landed it the bottom spot.

These buns had a strong gas scent and a weird aftertaste - we suspect they were cooked in a gas oven.

Tasters’ comments

“Tastes like my grandad’s shed. Genuinely repulsive.”

“Chemical. Not sweet. Don’t like.”

“Tastes like gas. Looks like chocolate. Not the flavour I was expecting.”

Wild card buns

You’ll find a range of new-fangled flavours of hot cross buns in supermarkets these days. From Biscoff to peanut butter to apple and cinnamon; the combinations stray further from tradition with each passing year.

We decided to try two: a Cadbury Caramilk variety from Woolworths and Yarrows’ white chocolate and raspberry brioche flavour.

Woolworths Indulgent Hot Cross Buns Cadbury Caramilk Chips, $7.50

This ‘hot cross bun’ (yes, you’re meant to read that in a sceptical voice,) was the highest scoring in the whole test with 4.1/5. It was soft, sweet and, somehow, custardy.

Obviously, it’s difficult to compare it with a traditional hot cross bun, which is why it’s in its own category, but boy did our tasters love these buns. This comment from a taster pretty much sums it up: “Hell yeah brother, this is the ticket!”

Tasters’ comments

“Delicious filling, good moisture levels. It’s not a hot cross bun, but why do we have to be so uptight all the time?”

“I would definitely buy this, but it is 100% not a hot cross bun. It’s a cake.”

“My sweet tooth coming through. I liked this. Is it brioche?”

Yarrows White Chocolate Raspberry Brioche, $6.79

Our final wild card was the predictable one. This bun, bought from New World, scored a measly 2.9/5 and was variously described as “not good” and “a disappointing jam situation.”

Last year, Yarrows’ jam donut flavour bun also wallowed at the ‘worst’ end of the list, hence why this year’s result was predictable. We were still disappointed, anyway.

Tasters’ comments

“Too cakey ... and the cake is not good.”

“Jam tasted a bit artificial and quite dry.”

“I would buy it, but not to scratch the hot cross bun itch. Would probably make a good selection for kids.”