The TV adverts for these seem to be everywhere at the moment and I found the idea of them intriguing. S came to visit and we decided that as Heston’s hot cross buns have ‘Earl Grey tea-soaked fruits’ in them it counted as research for the blog, rather than hot cross bun indulgence. We were a bit put off by the £1.59 price tag for only two hot cross buns but went ahead anyway.

The buns are higher and more solid than normal hot cross buns (by normal I mean bought hot cross buns, I’ve never made any) – the texture reminded me of brioche. They smelt good before we toasted them under the grill and smelt even better after we toasted them. The fruit was plump and the bun soft, I’m not sure I could taste the tea but they did taste of citrus. S and R both said they tasted like teacake rather than hot cross bun. I think the bun was sweeter than a teacake and that a plumped up hot cross bun would be a better description – plumped up bun and plumped up fruit.

All in all, a good hot cross bun. There’s time for lots more hot cross buns before we reach Easter but I can’t afford for them all to be the Heston version. Having said that, I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get one more before Easter, so will be buying them again at some point.

It’s also reminded me that I haven’t seen any hot cross buns in any cafes yet this year. Anyone spotted any yet?