There are some interesting fugues being played on the idea of the hot cross bun this year. Heston is working his familiar magic for Waitrose with Earl Grey tea and mandarin flavours, Marks & Spencer are offering no fewer than seven variations on the theme and Betty's of Harrogate are eschewing the single-serving bun in favour of a fruit bread loaf to share.
As we've discovered in previous taste tests, however, messing with the programme rarely goes down well when it comes to this sort of seasonal treat, so has innovation triumphed or been trounced by tradition? We selected half a dozen different buns for our tasters to compare and rate.
First place: Marks & Spencer luxury hot cross buns
Average mark: 3.5 out of 5
£1.19 for 4
This year's winning bun was called "very conventional" and praised for its "excellent consistency and balance of fruit" despite one taster feeling the "luxury" label was overstating its merits. Across the board consistency and not offending anyone were the secrets of success here, and at under 30p a go our tasters felt you couldn't go far wrong with a couple of packs of these winning buns.
Second place: Betty's of Harrogate hot cross bun
Average mark: 3.15 out of 5
£5.50 for one big 520g bun (6-9 servings)
A loaf of spiced fruit bread in the form of a giant hot cross bun from the famous Harrogate bakers, this could almost have been designed to annoy the traditionalists, but the opposite turned out to be true with comments like "something very appealing about the cakey appearance". While one taster loved the "super-duper amounts of fruit" and "delicious" flavours, the loaf's relative dryness compared with a bun meant it lost a few marks with others, and how you'd manage to cut it so it toasted properly also worried one member of the panel. Altogether a very respectable second place.
Third place: Gail's artisan bakery hot cross buns
Average mark: 3.1 out of 5
£1.25 each or £6.50 for 6
Now available nationwide via Ocado, Gail's have been knocking out buns and bread in London since 2005. While the "soft texture" of the "moist, delicious" crumb with its "custardy" flavour and "lovely and sticky" top crust was lauded, the addition of cranberries was too much for more than one "once a year" hot cross bun buyer and other felt there was "too much cinnamon". While an impressive 4 members of our panel of 10 rated it as their favourite, their average score means Gail's buns are just squeezed into third place.
Sainsbury's taste the difference
Average mark: 3.05 out of 5
£1.29 for 4 (or £2.20 for 8 buns on offer until 17 April)
"A good old-fashioned taste" was how one member of the panel described these buns, but for others they were "very standard" and "just OK". What some felt was a "good amount of fruit" was elsewhere criticised as "too many currants". Tough crowd, our tasters.
Duchy Originals from Waitrose Hot Cross Buns
Average mark: 2.9 out of 5
£1.49 for a pack of four
While one taster described these as "brutish" and "like being clubbed by a bun, others were less critical and two marked it, for being "everything you want in a hot cross bun" and "soft and substantial without being doughy," as their favourite bun. Low marks from the less keen dragged down the average score, though, with one complaining that they "taste too virtuous" and another that there's "no sticky shine on top."
Heston from Waitrose Earl Grey Tea and Mandarin Hot Cross Buns
Average mark: 2.4 out of 5
£1.59 for 2
The brain behind bacon and egg ice cream came a bit of a cropper here. Although popular in some quarters, other testers clearly didn't appreciate having their expectations challenged by Heston's buns. Comments ranged from "the Earl Grey tea gives it a whole new slant" and "authentically sticky on top", to "not awful" and "a bit odd, as you might expect." The matter of fruit was also fraught: one taster said the buns were "mean with the fruit" and another was disconcerted to find "a raisin the size of a PRUNE" in hers.