Although I experimented with various topping to start, I eventually reverted to plain butter to make sure I gave everyone a fair fight!
I have been so busy baking my own goodies this week, that I fell a bit behind on posting about my quest to find the perfect hot cross bun!
I did not stop sampling or documenting my findings so lets have a look at them all before I announce my favourite hot cross bun for 2025!
We began here, two weeks ago with The Quest for the Perfect Hot Cross Bun - Part 1 - Pick 'n Pay
Where Pick n Pay Scored the Following; priced at ZAR21.99 for a pack of 6. I tried the chocolate chip and then traditional raisin ones a few days later, which were stale even though I tried giving them a second chance closer to Easter, but was not impressed to say the least:
7/10 for fruit/ chocolate chip to bun ratio
5/10 for spice (not spicy enough)
5/10 for sugar (they added too much sugar)
and a combined 4/10 for freshness. The chocolate ones were very fresh, but the raisin ones were at the end of their shelf life
Pick n' Pay Scores 5/10*
I'm afraid part 2 at Pick n Pay, this time at Table Bay Mall was worse, if you can imagine. With the promise of freshness but excessively stingy on fruit, sugar or flavour.
Pick 'n Pay get's and overall rating of 5/5.
Next up was The Quest for the Perfect Hot Cross Bun - Part 2 - Checkers! Did I Find a Winner ALREADY? The Bar Is Set!
These offerings from Checkers Sandown were practically impossible to beat with excellent flavour, stickiness and fruit to bun ratio. They scored the following:
This is how I rated these hot cross buns:
Fruit: very generous 9/10
Spice: absolutely perfect 9/10
Sugar Syrup/ stickiness 9/10
Freshness 9/10
Yumyumyumumyum!
Next, I tried Hot Cross Bus from Woolworths.
Now Woolworths in South Africa is not like Woolworths in the UK or the US. Woolies is more like Marks & Spenser. Think, luxury, fancy nd stupidly expensive. Knowing I needed to tick them off my list and knowing I'd pay through something rude to get them, I bit the bullet... which probably would have actually literally tasted better than these sad SAD hot cross buns. They were mass produced to start and clearly not made in store or my any set of hands. They came wrapped in cellophane and were disturbingly rubbery to pull apart. It was like the worlds worst Easter egg hunt trying to locate a raisin (all 7 of which seemed to be sprinkled on the top by Scrooge Mc Duck) also, there was hardly any stickiness or spice. They cost me a Whopping R45.99, which was more than double the price of any other retailer. absolutely shocking.
This is how I rated these hot cross buns:
Fruit: very generous 1/10
Spice: absolutely perfect 1/10
Sugar Syrup/ stickiness 1/10
Freshness 1/10
Sad... Sad... Sad
The Spar around the corner from my house is where I visited last and that was on Good Friday. I honestly didn't expect to find anything that late on a Friday, but I was exhausted from baking relentlessly the entire week and needed a pick me up. These were an absolutely delightful surprise. Also made in store, which is SUPER important, they were full of fruit, spiced, syrup and were freshly made.
I rated them:
This is how I rated these hot cross buns:
Fruit: generous 8/10
Spice: 8/10
Sugar Syrup/ stickiness 8/10
Freshness 9/10
Leaving Checkers as this years #1 Hot Cross Bun Retailer!