Auckland’s Best Hot Cross Buns For Easter 2023

Who makes Auckland's best hot cross buns? Or more importantly, who makes the buns that you’ll love the most? The Viva team have been on a mission to taste test some of the city's finest specimens, canvassing their fruit and spice levels, texture, aroma and taste.

We’ve been jamming the toaster daily, and sprinkling crumbs in our keyboards in pursuit of perfection. It turns out everyone has a preference when it comes to their favourite hot cross bun, whether they enjoy them toasted or fresh, with orange peel or without, packed with spices or just a touch.

Tradition tells us that chocolate or novelty-flavoured buns don't count as hot cross buns, but we enjoyed some interesting variations, from pecan cream-filled to a doughnut masquerading as a bun. We noticed an uptick in sourdough buns and delighted in some specialty housemade butters to slather them in.

Herewith, a compilation of some of Auckland's best hot cross buns to try.

Bread & Butter's organic (except for the yeast) hot cross buns are made with a long ferment time of 12 hours, which means a less yeasty dough, subtle flavour, moist texture (their words) and easier digestibility. Isabel Pasch and her team bake between 25,000 and 30,000 of these award-winning buns every year, which are designed to be lightly toasted and slathered in butter. We acquiesced and found Bread & Butter's buns to have a great texture, a light spice and truly plump raisins, a characteristic noted by most of the Viva team. Six freshly baked buns arrived drizzled in aromatic glaze, pooling in between each bun's curves, which felt festive and generous. We’re told the buns contain raisins, cranberries, currants and apricots but the raisins rose to prominence. Lightly spiced, Bread & Butter's buns are for those who prefer peel-free.

Tasting notes: "My first hot cross bun of the season. I’m not a big fruit-in-my-food fan, so the ratio of nice plump raisins was just right with these. The texture was light but not too light, and just the right amount of spice. I could probably eat two. Deliciously fresh, I didn't need to toast it. Just a flash of butter. Probably a bit sticky, but that's half the fun." — Amanda Linnell, editor

Price: $18.50 for six.

Where to get them: Find them at Bread & Butter store in Grey Lynn, at the Grey Lynn Farmers Markets and online. 34 Westmoreland St West, Grey Lynn.

Wild Wheat baker Andrew Fearnside, who started Wild Wheat more than 20 years ago and still bakes its bread, has been making these hot cross buns and refining the recipe for almost 25 years now, and it shows. He's recently moved to a pull-apart bun, which is cooked together on a tray rather than individually, which increases the moisture and longevity of the finished product. Wild Wheat's hot cross buns are generously packed with fruit, with just the right amount of spice. They’re possibly the fruitiest of the lot. The first impression comes from the most incredible aroma of vanilla and spice that emanates from these buns. They’re also notable for their dazzling glaze, some of which soaks into the bottom of the bun, leaving it extra moist and sweet. As well as raisins, sultanas and currants, the buns contained mixed peel, and are a beautiful dark golden brown, made with traditional sourdough starter.

Tasting notes: "These are the Rolls Royce of hot cross buns and the best I’ve had so far. Beautiful enjoyed fresh, with a generous amount of fruit and the stickiest, shiniest glaze. The sweet-spicy scent is all that a hot cross bun should be, and that's before you’ve even toasted them." — Johanna Thornton, deputy editor

Price: $2.50 each, or buy 11 and get 12.

Where to get them: Baked daily and available in-store at Wild Wheat's six Auckland locations.

Ripe Deli's flagship Richmond Rd store is known for its excellent cabinet food of salads, sandwiches and treats, and keeping locals’ freezers stocked with pies, lasagne and curries. They’re also partial to a hot cross bun, which they bake fresh every day during hot cross bun season. They’re deliciously fruity with currants and golden raisins, lightly spiced and drizzled in a golden butter and orange glaze. They’re baked a deep golden brown and topped with a confident cross. There is a subtle savoury undertone to these buns and the dough is on the firmer side. Ripe's housemade brown and orange butter is the ideal accompaniment. For those looking for something less traditional, try Ripe's saffron, currant and rosemary hot cross bun, without the cross.

Tasting notes: "What pronoun are hot-crossed buns? The Ripe Deli offering has an alpha male quality, substantial in its physique with a bold, spicy scent, ideal sustenance for the Easter bunny who takes a vigorous bounce round the block. It leaves the dried fruits — currants, sultanas, orange peel — to do the sweet-talking. You may want to forsake a chocolate egg or two to make room for this, especially if you slather it with Ripe's deliciously salty whipped butter." — Rebecca Barry Hill, writer

Price: $6.60 each.

Where to get them: 172/74 Richmond Rd, Grey Lynn and 119 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn.

Described as a "micro-bakery", Mor is the passion project of Kelsie Culpan and Laura Metcalf who produce picture-perfect baking from The Kitchen Collective space in Glendene. The duo doesn't have a storefront so operate via pre-orders through their website for delivery or collection Wednesday-Saturday. They opened in August 2022 and this is their first time baking hot cross buns. The team describe their hot cross buns as being packed with spices, orange zest and fruit that has been soaked in orange juice and black tea overnight, made using a lightly enriched dough. "We haven't strayed too far from the classic taste everyone knows and loves. Our buns have the perfect balance of cinnamon and mixed spice with a hint of ground clove — we also add fresh orange zest (we are team no candied peel!)." After baking, the hot buns are brushed with a sugar syrup laced with vanilla, clove, star anise, orange and cinnamon quills. We found these definitely needed toasting, and a good slab of butter.

Tasting notes: "Nice aroma of the bun, very gingerbready, but without overwhelming spice (I don't like too much of it, personally). Good crunchy cross on top, and generous glazing. I made the mistake of eating this without butter or the kiss of a toaster. A grievous error on my part." — Emma Gleason, commercial editor and writer

Price: $10 for a box of two or $30 for six.

Where to get them: Available for pre-order here.

Considering Miann Chocolate Factory is known for its chocolate, we thought it was wise to sample their chocolate hot cross buns, and we made a good decision. Miann specialises in desserts, gelato, macarons and craft chocolate, and if you dine in at one of its three locations you can experience the hot chocolate bun toasted with a scoop of gelato added to the middle. The dark chocolate chunks in these buns are huge, and there's nary a raisin in sight. They’re made with Madagascar 72 per cent dark chocolate, a generous amount of candied citrus and apricot and a smattering of spices — cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg and mixed spiced. These definitely benefit from being kissed by the toaster and slathered in butter, as there's not a lot of fruit or glaze keeping these moist.

Tasting notes: "This is definitely one of the more decadent hot cross bun options available right now, so if you prefer to bypass traditional dried fruit, this Easter treat is a welcome alternative. When toasted, the chocolate melts, giving it a gorgeously gooey texture that isn't overly intense." — Dan Ahwa, fashion and creative director

Price: $27 for a half dozen.

Where to get them: Available in-store and online. 14 McDonald St, Morningside. 35 Roukai Ln, Britomart. Ponsonby Central, Ponsonby.

La Petite Fourchette (which means little fork in French) is a French boulangerie/patisserie offering authentic, freshly baked croissants, baguettes, gateaux, macarons, eclairs and many more French treats, available to order online or instore at either Britomart, Wynyard Quarter or La Petite Fourchette's sister bakery Copain in Ponsonby's Mckelvie St, where all the baking is done in-store daily and served fresh, including hot cross buns. For Easter, La Petite Fourchette and Copain are offering traditional and chocolate hot cross buns. Viva sampled the traditional buns, which the Copain team describe as "vin chaud (mulled wine) in a bun", made with sourdough, raisins, red wine, citrus confit and the lightest amount of spice. They’re very light and buttery, reminiscent of croissant pastry. We deemed them a unique, savoury-style bun that says the faintest "oui" to hot cross buns.

Tasting notes: "One of our welterweight competitors, these were light and buttery — almost croissant-like, which is fitting for this French bakery — and not overly rich. A nice option for morning tea if you don't want to have a post-bun nap in the bathroom". — Emma Gleason, commercial editor and writer

Price: $19.50 for six or buy them individually for $3.90.

Where to get them: Available in-store and online. G02/85 Daldy St, Wynyard Quarter, and 9 Britomart Place, Britomart. 55 Mackelvie St, Grey Lynn.

It wouldn't be a hot cross bun roundup without the inclusion of Ima, which has become synonymous with hot cross bun season for its handmade buns topped with a generous custard cross. Yael Shochat's Ima Cuisine is a Middle Eastern restaurant and catering business the rest of the year, but come Easter, it's a bun-making machine, baking them fresh each morning and heroing an ingredients list of hand-ground spices, currants and mixed peel, and dough sweetened with honey. The vanilla bean custard cross is its specialty, and keeps loyalists coming back year after year. We pre-ordered a six-pack online for pickup in the morning, something you’re encouraged to do if you don't want to miss out. The team at Ima is making buns day and night in the last of couple of days before Good Friday, with limited buns available in store. The last day for hot cross buns at Ima is Saturday, April 8. This year Ima has created a vegan hot cross bun, which is only available by preorder on Thursdays (9am-6pm) and Saturdays (2pm-6pm). As usual, Ima's hot cross buns hit the spot, and we found they were at their absolute best when heated briefly, rendering the dough light, fragrant and extra comforting. If you want to try your hand at making them yourself, find the recipe here.

Tasting notes: "Ima's hot cross buns are a must-try with their delicious mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and the vanilla custard crosses are next level. They are also huge which is always a plus!" — Amanda Linnell, editor

Price: $6 per bun.

Where to get them: 53 Fort St, Auckland. Contact [email protected] or phone +64 9 377 5252

Sonia Haumonte and her husband Laurent opened Vaniye Patisserie in 2012 with a passion for French artisanal culinary heritage and the desire to introduce Aucklanders to beautiful French patisseries. Sophie trained and worked in France for several years in the fine patisserie sector and brings that knowledge to her French-style cakes, artisan chocolates, desserts, croissants and baguettes, which locals in Parnell line up for. "At Vaniyé it's not just about the products, but also the preservation of exceptional artisan techniques and skills, the attention to the ingredients and their origins, the understanding of the impact on the environment, and the interest in personal development of our people," says Sonia. This applies to the hot cross buns too, which are cut, weighed and rolled by hand one by one. Vaniye sells hot cross buns in packs of four and six, and the mix is "old fashioned-style", made with rye flour that is dense, heavy and full of goodness. We enjoyed these toasted with lots of butter and noted the raisins were deliciously plump, and the presence of peel and currants. Vaniye Patisserie is currently making around 80 a day.

Tasting notes: "Yummm, I toasted and smothered mine in butter because it's neurotic not to in my opinion. The bun was light and fluffy, not too dense, which I enjoyed. Flavour was okay, quite subtle but the fruit-to-bun ratio was very good." — Annabel Dickson, fashion assistant

Price: Sold in packs of four and six for $19 and $29.

Where to get them: 1/7 Windsor St, Parnell. Phone +64 (0)204 179 1296

Hot on the heels of their BIANZ 2022 award for best hot cross buns comes the 2023 crown for Daily Bread's buns. Daily Bread's Jess Wilson says, "The Baking Industry Association of New Zealand (BIANZ) have yet again deemed our buns to be the best in the business. We honestly couldn't be happier — and we have our excellent bakers, distribution and front of house to thank for their endless hard work." Daily Bread's hot cross buns are made with sourdough, which has some traditionalists squirming, but the bakery insists it makes their buns moist and springy. The flavour is lightly spiced and the fruit is rum-soaked fruit, with candied citrus peel and an orange and cardamon glaze made from fresh Gisborne oranges. While these buns are worth the accolades, we need to give special mention to the chocolate hot cross buns, which have giant chunks of 60 per cent dark Belgian Callebaut chocolate folded through chocolate-flavoured sourdough and are glazed with orange and cardamon syrup.

Tasting notes: "I really rate Daily Bread's chocolate hot cross buns. These are for the fruit-averse with a chocolate-flavoured sourdough. The orange and cardamon glaze turns a toffee-like consistency upon contact with the hot toaster and the size of the choc chunks is verrrrry generous. 10/10." — Johanna Thornton, deputy editor

Price: $22 for a box of six.

Where to get them: Available in-store and online (for nationwide delivery) and also at selected retailers including Farro, New World and Foursquare in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Amano's bakery is laden with freshly baked bread, pastries, slices and sandwiches and does a roaring trade in takeaway baked goods and coffee for the Britomart and downtown Auckland crowd. Housed inside the Amano restaurant space, its bakers favour a seasonal, locally sourced ethos, using high-quality ingredients like New Zealand butter, flour and fruit. For their hot cross buns, the Amano bakers have chosen a soft milk bun for their base dough. The end result is dark and sultry, with a strong aroma, spiced with cinnamon and mixed spice and filled with soaked fruit and mixed peel. They’re finished off with a citrus and cinnamon glaze. The dough has the perfect density, light and fluffy with enough body to enjoy it fresh. Amano is currently baking approximately 300 per day and will increase levels for the Easter weekend to 500 per day, so hop to it!

Tasting notes: "The Amano bun pulls apart smoothly and has a super-light feel. By the colour of the dough, I assumed it would have quite a dark and intense flavour, but the spice levels are really pleasant. There's no way I’d toast this one — it's fresh and fluffy and needs nothing extra." — Madeleine Crutchly, multimedia journalist

Price: $4.50 each or $25 for six.

Where to get them: 66-68, Tyler St, Britomart Place.

At Park Hyatt's The Pantry, the hot cross buns are not hot cross buns at all, but rather a citrus-glazed, perfectly fried brioche doughnut filled with vanilla custard, dotted with Early-grey soaked sultanas and currants and dusted with a powdered sugar cross. Executive pastry chef Callum Liddicoat felt like switching it up this year, after many years of making traditional buns, and is so pleased with his creation, he's not sure he’ll ever go back to fruit and spice. "I don't know if I can have a regular bun ever again!" says Callum. Taste testers on the Viva team were all for this switch up in tradition, finding these hot cross doughnuts very naughty, light and delicious.

Tasting notes: "This is a doughnut masquerading as a hot cross bun, but it would simply be egregious not to include it here. This hybrid baked good is dusted in icing sugar, and boasts a deep-fried crispiness to the outermost dough but a delectably soft interior. The raisins and spices are subtle but present, which all comes together in favour of a surprise centre: a silky custard filling that taste's lush and homemade, and unspools like molten vanilla when you bite through. Decadent and dangerous." — Julia Gessler, digital editor

Price: $24 for a box of four.

Where to get them: Available in-store or online. 99 Halsey St, Auckland CBD.

Maya Handley's exclusively sourdough bakery Florets is known for its organic, nutrient-filled loaves made with wholegrain flour. Fans of Floret's dense and intensely sourdough bread will enjoy its hot cross buns, which are a fruit-studded version with a pleasing chewy texture, dark colouring and gingerbready aroma. "We think our buns are special as they are made with beautiful organic wheat flour grown and stone milled in Canterbury," says Maya. They’re slowly leavened with sourdough culture and hydrated with blended whole oranges, which "gives them a satisfying rich texture and the acidity from the sourdough culture balances all the sweet fruit and spices nicely, while also pre-digesting sugars and breaking gluten to amino acids, making the buns easier to digest."

Tasting notes: "I’m partial to anything Florets does, and these were my favourite buns. Dark and dense, these sourdough buns have that distinctive tang while being light-handed with the spices (just the way I like it). They’re made with organic stone-milled wheat flour — a signature ingredient that makes this bakery's very fine bread rather special, I think — and the fruit is pre-soaked in early grey tea, so it's not too fruity (again, my preference). Good fresh, and even better toasted with a slather of salted butter." — Emma Gleason, commercial editor

Price: $6 each.

Where to get them: 596 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn.

Scratch Bakery creates delicious baked goods for cafes and corporates around the city and its flagship city bakery is ground zero for its famous pies, cookies and coffee. Befitting a bakery of this scale, its hot cross buns are nine months in the making, with its dried fruits and citrus peel soaked in brandy and vanilla and turned and mixed every week until Easter. Once thoroughly infused and fragrant, the fruit mix is combined with Scratch's hot cross bun dough and rested overnight for the flavours to develop further. Scratch's traditional hot cross bun is a premium example of a classic bun, fairly flat, with a deep golden exterior, good amount of spice and well-distributed fruit. For those who are a little extra, they have a hot cross bun filled with spiced pecan custard and whole toasted pecans.

Tasting notes: "I gave the pecan-filled hot cross bun a go but preferred the traditional bun — toasted and buttered it was just right." — Johanna Thornton, deputy editor

Price: $4 plain or $4.50 filled.

Where to get them: 5 Graham St, Auckland CBD.

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