The Best Hot Cross Buns in Melbourne
Come January, hot cross buns are already flying off the shelves. And while the supermarket HCB is a fine (and affordable) choice, there are plenty of bakeries and cafes around town putting their own spin on the ubiquitous Easter classic.
Now as we close in on the holiday, it’s time to hunt down the city’s best. From traditional styles packed with fruit and spice to something more inventive, like an ube rendition and a crème brûlée take, make sure you cross one of these buns off your list.
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Baker Bleu Cremorne
Choose between a traditional take with cinnamon, ginger, orange and raisins or a decadent sour cherry and dark chocolate number finished with a cocoa-spiked cross. Purchase in-store or order online. Also in Hawksburn, Caulfield North and South Yarra.
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Bread Club
Its 24-hour fermented Hot XXX Buns come in a traditional fresh fruit and spice flavour (jam-packed with citrus, cranberries, ginger and cardamom). Or go for the super choc-loaded variety made from a buttery brioche-style dough, house toffee and cocoa by local chocolatiers Hunted & Gathered. Purchase in-store or order online. Also in Albert Park.
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Dench Bakers
A favourite among Fitzroy locals, these traditional sourdough beauties are baked fresh seven days a week. Hero ingredients include certified organic Aussie flour, raisins, whole pureed orange, fresh ginger and Dench’s secret spice mix. Or try the chocolate orange flavour. Purchase in-store or order online.
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Falco Bakery
An all-rounder in its field, Falco’s hot cross bun is soft, chewy, fruity, spicy and gloriously sticky all at once. Purchase in-store or order online.
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Cobb Lane Richmond Traders
For a former fine-dining chef, Cobb Lane’s Matt Forbes keeps things surprisingly simple with his stellar bun. His note-perfect rendition on the classic comes with a slight kick, courtesy of cinnamon and nutmeg. For a twist, try the sour cherry and chocolate number. Purchase in-store.
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Rustica South Yarra
Find hot cross buns in traditional and doughnut form. The latter is filled with vanilla, cardamom and brandy crème and finished with sugar and a drizzle of white chocolate. Take your pick and purchase in-store or order online.
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To Be Frank Collingwood
This spot serves hot cross buns we’d change religions for. The original is layered with sultanas, currants, orange, cinnamon and nutmeg. Plus, there’ll be special flavour drops in the lead-up to Easter. Purchase in-store. Also in East Brunswick.
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Q le Baker
This Prahran Market shop has amped up its hot cross game this year with a hot cross bun bar popping up every weekend until Easter. There’ll be cultured butter, miso honey butter and more spreads for traditional, chocolate, sticky date and crème brûlée buns. Purchase in-store or order online.
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Woodfrog Bakery
A master in the bun business for years, Woodfrog has plentiful stock at each of its Melbourne locations, which means you’re unlikely to miss out on these soft, sweet and citrusy delights. Purchase in-store or order online.
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Wild Life Bakery
Wild Life’s traditional bun uses a blend of wheat and rye flour. The crowd-favourite chocolate bun returns, this time with a splash of Irish stout from Inner North Brewing. Purchase in-store.
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Frank & Harri
For its classic buns, this bright patisserie soaks fruit in cider for a good six months before hand-rolling it into a flavourful, yeasted dough. Its giant pull-apart HCB scroll and triple-choc buns are fun alternatives. Purchase in-store or order online.
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Penny for Pound Richmond
In addition to selling traditional HCBs, Penny for Pound has teamed up with Axil to make Mocha Cross Buns, available via pre-order only for pick-up at Axil locations in Kew, Hawthorn, Chadstone and the CBD on select days. Pre-orders close on Tuesday March 31 at 1pm.
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The Hamptons Bakery
Made from 48-hour sourdough, the traditional fruit bun here hits all the right notes with mixed spice and house-made orange puree. Purchase in-store.
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Antara
Antara, The Halim Group’s Exhibition Street restaurant, is home to a fantastic bakery. This year, the team is making traditional buns filled with golden raisins, currants and orange peel. Plus, Valrhona chocolate hot cross buns with sour cherries and cranberries. Purchase in-store from Tuesday March 17, or order online for pick-up on selected days.
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Loafer Bread
This beloved bakery turns out slow-fermented hot cross buns that are laced with all the good stuff: Minahasan vanilla bean from Sulawesi, house-made candied orange and lemon peel, and organic cardamom and cinnamon. Plus, they’re served with cultured butter from Lard Ass. Purchase in-store or order online.
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Dua
Dua’s making three unique hot cross buns this year. A Milo dinosaur with a malted milk dough and a milk chocolate and Milo Crunch; a kataifi-filled matcha number; and an ube, cheddar and honey cornflake riff. Also available at founder Raymond Tan’s CBD bakery Raya.
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Gordon Street Bakery
Responsible for some of the best croissants in the west, Gordon Street Bakery is hot-crossing another classic off its list. On offer is a traditional fruit HCB packed with sultanas, currants and raisins. Purchase in-store or pre-order via email.
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Candied Bakery
This west-side favourite is well-loved for its American classics, but it also rolls out the original HCBs each year, which are soft, fruity and made with just the right amount of spice.
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Pecks Road
Usually known for its triple-ube doughnuts and other Filipino desserts, Pecks Road is adding an ube twist to HCBs. Find creamy ube halaya (purple yam jam) inside each. Purchase in-store. Also available in the CBD.
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Austro Bakery
This Austrian-inspired bakery is making traditional sourdough hot cross buns with a generous amount of sultanas and currants. Available for purchase in-store on Friday and Saturday mornings.
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Mörk Chocolate Brew House
Mork’s three-day sourdough buns use a wheat and wholemeal spelt, spiced with green aniseed and Tasmanian leatherwood honey. Inside, find Earl Grey-soaked orange peel, currants and raisins, plus chunks of 68 per cent dark chocolate, made in-house from heirloom Nicaraguan cacao beans. A cacao-husk glaze adds the finishing touch. Pick up in-store. Also in North Melbourne, CBD and Chadstone.
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Monforte Viennoiserie
Owner Giorgia McAllister Forte is a self-described “bun purist”. So the viennoiserie is going traditional with Earl Grey and cinnamon hot cross buns. They’re made with shokupan dough, infused with a house-spice blend that includes cardamom seeds, whole nutmeg and black pepper, and filled with sultanas and currants soaked in fresh orange juice and zest. Purchase in-store or online.
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Akimbo Bread
This Northcote favourite makes traditional buns using a combination of sourdough starter and yeast, to create fluffy buns with some chew. The spice mix goes heavy on the nutmeg, with a sprinkle of clove and cardamom. Purchase in-store now or pre-order online from Tuesday March 17.
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Urbanstead
This Abbotsford bakery has traditional hot cross buns made from dough enriched with Gippsland jersey milk and Lard Ass cultured butter, before orange puree, freshly milled spices, peel, currants, raisins and sultanas are mixed in. They’re then covered in a spiced brown sugar glaze. Purchase in-store or order online.
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Baker of Things
Baker of Things is making traditional sourdough buns filled with golden raisins, currants and the bakery’s house spice mix. The chocolate buns, arriving Friday March 20, have both chocolate chips and chocolate in the dough. Pick up in-store or order online.
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Bobby’s Bakery
This former Lune pastry chef’s North Melbourne bakery has traditional hot cross buns, plus a dark chocolate and sour cherry version. Both are yeasted and made with tangzhong and leftover croissant dough, resulting in super soft buns. Pick up in-store or order online for Easter weekend collection.
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Butter Days
This Malvern bakery from a Dessert Masters winner is making buns with a mix of fruit, orange zest, Earl Grey tea and a cinnamon swirl running through the dough. They’re heavily spiced with aniseed, multiple peppers and ginger, and come served with a slice of gruyere for extra umami. Purchase in-store.
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Drom Bakery
Filipino bakery Drom is making three buns this year: traditional with spiced sultanas, chocolate chip, and ube coconut with an ube custard filling. Purchase in-store or order online for pick-up from Drom Bayswater. Buns are also available at Drom’s Kariton Chinatown pop-up.
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Amann Patisserie
The French patisserie is offering traditional raisin and milk-and-dark-chocolate-chip hot cross buns. Both are made with a soft brioche-style dough. Available to purchase in-store now and online from Wednesday April 1.
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Pecks Road
Usually known for its triple-ube doughnuts and other Filipino desserts, Pecks Road is adding an ube twist to HCBs. Find creamy ube halaya (purple yam jam) inside each. Purchase in-store. Also available in the CBD.
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Baker D. Chirico
This beloved Carlton baker has sourdough hot cross buns in two forms: traditional buns and chocolate hazelnut hot cross buns. The former are made with orange puree,
butter, currants and sultanas. The latter incorporates milk powder and cacao powder into the dough, with dark chocolate and chopped hazelnuts mixed in. Purchase in-store.
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Lumos Bakery
In addition to traditional buns, this former Dinner by Heston chef’s bakery will have a weekly hot cross bun special until Easter. Flavours such as tiramisu and sticky date pudding will be announced via the Lumos Instagram account. Purchase in-store or order online.
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Ocab Bakery
Ocab Bakery has traditional fruit buns. But its chocolate take leans into a classic flavour combo with the addition of orange. Both kinds are made using slow-fermented dough and butter. Purchase in-store or online. Also in Yarraville.
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Backhaus Food Store
Made from slow-fermented sourdough, the traditional buns here are 30 per cent fruit and sweetened with honey. Backhaus sells its buns wholesale, but in the two weeks leading up to Easter, you’ll find sourdough buns – with apricots, sultanas and Earl Grey – exclusive to Backhaus stores in Essendon and Airport West.
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Zelda Bakery
These sourdough buns are available every Wednesday and Friday. They’re made with fresh oranges, fresh ginger, sultanas, currants, cranberries and candied orange peel, then finished with a piped pretzel in place of a cross. Purchase in-store until Friday March 27.
More Options
Oji House
Quentin Berthonneau’s 100 per cent sourdough bakery Oji House is making three buns this year: traditional hot cross buns; malted chocolate buns; and yuzu, saffron and orange hot cross buns. Purchase in-store on Fridays or pre-order online.
Calle
You can get classic buns from Calle, but smart money’s on the Bueno hot cross bun, available from Monday March 30 to Monday April 6. It’s the bakery’s take on a chocolate HBC, amped up with a creamy hazelnut filling. Purchase in-store or order online for pick-up in Carlton or Northcote.
