Bakers Delight is a bakery franchise that started in Melbourne and now has over 700 bakeries in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. I was recently invited to sample and review Baker’s Delight Traditional Hot Cross buns and their Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns.

I took this as an oppurtunity to make my very first bread and butter pudding. Of course, The Koala and I also ate some buns warmed with a smear of butter…for research purposes.

First impressions: The hot cross buns are large. The largest buns I’ve seen in a while. Supermarket buns tend to be smooshed and a bit sad looking. Due to their size, Baker’s Delight buns are robust enough to keep their shape, even with a bit of handling. They are matt (unglazed) and smooth and can be easily recognised as the “traditional” sports a white cross and the “chocolate chip” a dark brown cross.

Baker’s Delight Traditional hot cross buns: Plump sultanas and lightly spiced, these will appeal to those that eat hot cross buns out of tradition.

Baker’s Delight Chocolate Chip hot cross buns: Chocolate chips instead of sultanas will appeal to chocolate lovers.

The Verdict: We preferred the Chocolate Chip hot cross buns. The Koala is a chocolate fiend and I am not so fond of sultanas.

 

Bread & Butter Pudding

Hot Cross Buns with Custard and Cognac

(adapted from jamieoliver.com)

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups cream
• 1 vanilla pod or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 6 hot cross buns, cut in half and smeared with butter
• butter for buns
• 1 handful of sultanas soaked in 2 tablespoons Cognac overnight
• 1 tablespoon Cognac
• Icing sugar for dusting
• 1-2 cups cream for serving

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C / 325°F.
2. In a large pot, bring the milk and cream to just before simmering point. Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds into the pan.
3. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with sugar until pale, then pour egg and sugar mix into the pot. Add 1 tablespoon of Cognac and mix.
4. Rub the bottom of a casserole dish with butter, then lay the bottom halves of the hot cross buns in the dish, scattering the sultanas on top. Arrange top halves of the hot cross buns on top and the remainder of the sultanas. Pour the custard mix into the casserole dish and leave to soak for at least 15 minutes.
   Cooks treat: save half a cup of the custard mixture, add a teaspoon of Cognac and enjoy.
5. Place the dish in a deep roasting tin, half-fill the tin with boiled water and bake for 45 minutes, checking towards the end to make sure it doesn’t burn. The pudding will have a slight crust and be slightly wobbly inside. Dust with icing sugar. Icing sugar can hide a multitude of sins. Serve with thickened cream. The best way I know how to make thickened cream is to pour 1-2 cups of cream into a bowl, then whiz a stick blender through it for about 10 seconds.

 

This post is part of Our Growing Edge, a monthly blogging event to encourage us to try new food related things. Dana from I’ve Got Cake is the host for this month’s event. If you have a blog and you are eating or cooking something new this month, click below to join.

I’m also submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand this month. Sweet New Zealand was created by NZ blogger and food personality, Alessandra Zecchini. This month’s host is Marnelli from Sweets & Brains (Marnelli is also a regular at Our Growing Edge).