The best hot cross buns in Sydney in 2025

If you’re only gonna get one hot cross bun this April, make it the sour cherry and choc number from Baker Bleu. Taking home gold at the Time Out office thanks to its soft, fluffy texture, pops of slightly tart cherry and bittersweet chocolate, it's a perfectly balanced and delicious treat. It’s also a great option for those who don’t love traditional buns but still want to get in on the fun. Available in-store or online.

Holy cow. Time Out Sydney favourite Humble Bakery has a seriously good hot cross bun offer available this year: a hot cross bun featuring a huge scoop of salted butter ice cream made from CopperTree Farms naturally cultured butter. Sweet, creamy, spiced and salty? We’re there. This limited editition treat will set you back $12 – so hop on over. Have sensitive teeth? Humble also has their classic hot cross buns available too for $5 each – order online or in person.

How good does a chai-spiced hot cross bun sound? You can get your paws on these at Fabbrica Bread Shop in Rozelle and Coogee. Expect notes of ginger and cardamom in a lovely, soft bun. Just add a thick layer of butter, and you’re good to go.

Clovelly Road's Tuga Pastries have brought their A-game for Easter this year, with a line-up packed with sweet, OTT delights. Take their B.I.G Bun, for example. Think: a giant hot cross bun filled with whipped honey butter, topped with a spiced glaze, and finished with a white chocolate nest of speckled eggs. It’s designed to share with 6–8 people, so you’re sure to score massive brownie points rocking up to the family lunch with this. And of course, you can (and should) order a couple of their famous Portuguese custard tarts.

This Easter, beloved Sydney bakery Sonoma is ditching the cross and putting an S on its buns instead. And these aren’t just ordinary buns – they’re expertly crafted by Sonoma’s bakers, featuring spiced raisins, currants, cranberries, apricots and candied orange, all finished with a delicate spiced glaze. Sonoma’s Not Cross Buns are available at all Sonoma bakeries: Alexandria, Bondi, Rose Bay, Glebe, Leichhardt, Braddon, Bowral, Terrigal and Menai. They cost $4 each or $20 for a box of six. So good.

Crosses were so last year. French bakery Loulou has created the hot heart bun for Easter – a buttery brioche base with spices, raisins, citrus zest and candied peel, topped with a cute love heart. You can order them ahead in lots of six for $22 – buy one for your lover (or yourself).

Calling all 18+ bunny rabbits: Ace Hotel Sydney’s pastry wizard Andy Bowdy has created limited-edition whisky hot cross buns for Easter. Studded with Starward Two-Fold whisky-soaked fruit, the boozy treats will be available for four days only – from April 16 to 19 – at Good Chemistry, the laneway café at the city-cool Surry Hills hotel. Plus, if you buy two or more buns, you’ll score a free Old Fashioned cocktail. We’ll cheers to that.

Sweet treat masters Black Star Pastry have gone fruity this year with the launch of their blueberry hot cross bun. The buns are studded with dried blueberries, offering bursts of tart sweetness, and are finished with a biscuit crumb and a blueberry-flavoured cross. If you want to stick to the classics, they also have their frankincense-glazed hot cross buns and chocolate hot cross buns on offer.

Dads and whisky-lovers, this one's for you. Koi Dessert Bar has teamed up with booze lords Benriach Distillery to create a luxe, whisky-fuelled Easter treat: the Scotch Cross Bun. More of a very ’grammable dessert than a bun, it features a chocolate outer layer, a rich vanilla mousse flavoured with spices and currants soaked in Benriach’s single malt whisky. Plus, every ccotch cross bun comes with a complimentary 50ml bottle of Benriach whisky. You can get it in-store in Sydney.