woman&home Easter Food Awards 2025: Best hot cross buns and Easter bakes

Hosting a special Easter lunch for the family can be a time-consuming affair - from shopping, preparing and cooking the big feast, to the selecting of the best seasonal bakes, puds and chocolate eggs… You don’t want to waste time wading through aisle after aisle of Easter products to decide what is worth spending your money on.

That's where the woman&home Food Awards 2025 comes in. We blind test hundreds of products each year with a panel of experts from the Food Team to select the very best products from the high street and online.

For some sweet edible gifting inspiration, make sure you read our guide on the best Easter Eggs for 2025.

The best hot cross buns and Easter baked goods for 2025, as chosen by woman&home food editors

Enriched with butter and egg, this golden bun was generous-sized with a nicely piped cross. With a light and airy dough, it had a good balanced flavour profile with a subtle spice and a citrussy zing.

Jen Bedloe, Food Director said ‘Packed with plenty of juicy sultanas, currants and mixed peel, these buns are generously spiced and have a wonderfully light and fluffy texture.’

These traditional-style buns are made with currants, with a pleasing plump shape, and a glossy top, judges thought these could’ve been homemade!

Rose Fooks, Deputy Food Editor said, ‘A freshly baked delight. We enjoyed that these were a traditional style made with currants. Plump looking with a pleasing shape and gentle sheen, they look great too.’

Juicy strawberries, cranberries and creamy Belgian white chocolate and clotted cream combine in this deliciously glossy bun, a welcome change from traditional spiced flavours.

These zingy buns are packed with sultanas and jazzed up with the addition of candied orange peel, marmalade and citrus zest.

Jen Bedloe, Food Director said ‘Reminiscent of marmalade on toast with the added indulgence of plump dried fruits and a subtle spice, if you enjoy a traditional bun, you’ll like these too.’

A moreish delight, this pillowy bun is laced with Cheddar, Parmesan and chives. Serve slathered with butter for a break from sweet treats.

Jess Meyer, Food Director said ‘The best savoury bun we’ve tried. This really does tast like a rarebit but without the faff of making one. Simply slice the loaf, pop into the toaster and slather in plenty of butter.’

An excellent texture for a free-from bun. Generously packed with plump, juicy fruits.

A gently spiced Italian cake made with sultanas and a sweet apple filling. Inside you’ll find a sachet of cinnamon icing sugar to dust liberally over the top, use the cross-shaped stencil included to get the perfect hot cross bun effect.

Catrina Gell, Food Assistant said ‘I really enjoyed flavour twist on this. It would make a great addition to brunch or afternoon tea, the stencil and cinnamon sugar were a nice touch too.’

Generously packed with plump fruits, this lovely loaf is laced with warming spices and topped with marzipan. Wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bow it makes the perfect ready made gift.

Best online bakeries

Don’t miss out on celebrations with this four-tiered gluten-free chocolate creation. Layers of chocolate sponged sandwiched together with white chocolate buttercream, topped with everyone’s favourite mini eggs. There’s also a vegan version of this cake too priced at £24.99.

The perfect letterbox gift that makes a great alternative to an egg. Milk, dark and white chocolate combine to create a deliciously indulgent treat. Topped with adorable Easter decorations- they’re almost too pretty to eat!

How did we test the best Easter bakery buys?

Each item we taste is entered by the supplier and is sampled in the Test Kitchen by a panel of experts from the Food Team. Using their experience as professional recipe developers, food stylists and writers, the team taste each sample blind. We don’t know where each entry is from or how much it costs, but we do know when it’s good!

The panel is led by Group food director Jen Bedloe, assisted by Food editor Jess Meyer, Deputy food editor Rose Fooks, Food writer Georgia Sparks and Food assistant Catrina Gell. As well as overall taste, each item was assessed on its texture, size, and look and ultimately is it worth your money.

Why you can trust us

Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test here.