This hot cross bun pudding is perfect for Easter entertaining. It is very similar to a bread and butter pudding, with hot cross buns lathered in Nutella, soaked in custard then baked. The base of the pudding is creamy and fluffy, while the topping is golden and crispy. This recipe serves 10 people and is a great way to use up leftover hot cross buns.

The Le Creuset Baking Dish

Today’s post is sponsored by Kitchenware Australia! They have given us this beautiful Le Creuset Stoneware Heritage square dish.

We absolutely loved using this dish to both bake and serve our pudding. Here’s why:

• It conducted the heat really well. Whenever we bake a custard-based dessert there’s always a fear of curdling, undercooking, or worse curdling in some bits and undercooking in others – especially if you are not using a water bath, and just relying on your oven and baking dish. We had no problems at all with this dish, once we worked out the correct oven temperature and cooking time we got excellent custard results each time.
• It’s a decent size. We did a few test runs of this recipe in other 23cm square baking tins, and were pleasantly surprised when this dish arrived to see it was actually a lot deeper than what we already had at home. You’ll have no problems cooking for a larger dinner party with this dish.
• It’s easy to transport. The dish has grooves on both the top and underside of the handles. It was easy to transport in and out of the oven and onto the dining table, both using bare hands and oven mitts.
• It was easy to clean. This pudding is quite sticky around the edges, and the recipe doesn’t call for greasing or lining with baking paper. I was fully expecting it would take a lot of scrubbing to get the dish 100% clean, but this wasn’t the case at all. After a brief soak in hot water, and a wipe with a sponge and detergent it was as good as new.

What Goes In A Hot Cross Bun Pudding

• Hot cross buns – any standard-sized hot cross bun will be fine. We used the traditional and brioche ones from Woolworths. It’s best if they’re a bit stale (day-old at least) as they will hold their shape better once the custard is added.
• Nutella or other spread – we made this using both Nutella and marmalade and both were delicious. You can also try jam, a berry compote, or just omit.
• Custard – milk, cream, eggs, caster sugar and vanilla extract. The eggs don’t need to be at room temperature, straight from the fridge is fine.

How To Make Hot Cross Bun Pudding

Make the Custard

Whisk the eggs in a medium-sized mixing bowl, then add the sugar, cream, milk and vanilla extract.

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Prepare the Hot Cross Buns

Cut the tops off all ten of the hot cross buns, then set aside. The tops don’t soak up the custard as well as the bases, but are important for presentation, so we are going to treat them separately.

Take nine of the hot cross bun bases, and cut horizontally into three. Leave the tenth hot cross bun base whole. We are going to use it to fill in any gaps when we go to assemble the pudding (next step).

Assemble the Pudding

Hot Cross Bun Bases and Custard

Place a layer of hot cross bun bases in the baking dish, spreading Nutella on each one as you go. If you have gaps then fill them in by cutting off bits of the tenth hot cross bun, which should have been left whole.

Pour/ladle over over a third of the custard, as evenly as you can.

Repeat with the remaining hot cross bun bases and custard. You should get three layers if you are following this recipe exactly and using the same size baking dish. If you end up with more/less layers that’s fine.

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Adding More Custard (If Required)

The top layer should look reasonably wet from the custard. If it does look a bit dry then mix up a bit of extra custard with:

• 1 egg
• 100 ml milk
• 100 ml cream

There’s no need for extra sugar or vanilla extract, the pudding will already have enough.

Hot Cross Bun Tops

Finish off with a layer of the hot cross bun tops. Place them somewhat haphazardly – organised chaos looks better than having the crosses lined up too neatly. It’s fine to overlap the hot cross bun tops slightly, as they will shrink a bit when baking.

Let the Pudding Sit

Let the custard soak into the hot cross buns for 15 minutes.

Cover

Loosely cover the pudding with aluminium foil. This is necessary to prevent the tops of the hot cross buns from burning – hot cross buns are usually covered with a sugary glaze which will burn quickly if left uncovered.

Bake

Bake, covered, in a fan-forced oven at 160 C / 320 F for 40 minutes. Then, remove the foil and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes. This is to crisp up the tops.

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Decorate the Hot Cross Bun Pudding (Optional)

After baking, let the pudding cool for 15 minutes or so. Fill in the gaps between the hot cross bun tops with fresh berries and a generous dusting of icing sugar.

How to Serve Hot Cross Bun Pudding

Hot cross bun pudding is best served as soon as possible after baking. It tastes great on its own, but you can also serve with:

• Easter eggs
• Ice cream
• Whipped cream
• Fresh berries
• Icing sugar
• Custard
• Sauce – chocolate, butterscotch, etc

Storing and Reheating Hot Cross Bun Pudding

Leftover pudding can be stored in the fridge for up to three days, and either eaten cold or reheated in the microwave. We haven’t tried freezing but wouldn’t recommend it.

To reheat in the microwave, place one serve in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover, leaving an air vent, and microwave on high for 1 minute.

You’ll Also Love…

• White Chocolate and Raspberry Croissant Pudding
• Chocolate Ripple Cake (No Bake!)
• Banh Flan (Vietnamese Creme Caramel)
• All Seasons Mango Pudding
• Crispy Almond Biscuits

If you guys do make this recipe, please tag us at #scruffandsteph on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. We would love to see your creations!

We hope you enjoyed the post and thank you for all your support.

Scruff & Steph