Hot cross bun bread and butter pudding

Use up Easter leftovers: bread and butter pudding with hot cross buns

The comforting English dessert known as bread pudding (or bread and butter pudding), which was created as a way to use up stale bread, has been around in different forms since the 11th century. The beauty of it is that it’s easily customisable – you can use different types of bread and add spices or other ingredients according to your taste. 

This Easter, why not use hot cross buns instead of bread? They are already lightly spiced and have raisins and sultanas baked into them, infusing your pudding with extra flavour without needing to add anything extra (unless you want to). Hot cross buns are so widely available in supermarkets during Easter (and, let’s be honest, from the start of the new year!), it makes them a super-convenient choice. Stale or fresh, the buns make a crowd-pleasing pudding, so this recipe is great to have up your sleeve if you have any leftover buns. Read on for tips on how to make hot cross bun bread and butter pudding.

Pudding perfection: Hot cross bun flavour combos to try

Making bread and butter pudding using hot cross buns is so easy. If you choose, you can make this recipe with other types of bun variations, like chocolate chip, apple and cinnamon or gluten-free hot cross buns. Or maybe you’d like to make everything from scratch and have a go at homemade buns. If so, try your hand at chocolate and cherry, apple and walnut, or choc-mint versions. 

While the pudding is baking, if the top is browning too quickly, you can cover it loosely with aluminium foil. Don’t stress if the pudding deflates a little once you take it out of the oven – this won’t affect the final flavour.

Filling variations to elevate hot cross bun bread and butter pudding with custard

After soaking the buns in the custard mixture, you can also add broken-up leftover Easter eggs, chocolate chips, marzipan, lemon curd, or even sultanas that have been soaked in brandy, rum or whisky overnight. 

If you want to infuse your custard with citrus, add citrus peel after it’s cooked and has been taken off the heat. Stir it quickly for a couple of minutes, then remove and discard the peel.  

Mix it up with individual puddings and make it ahead  

You can certainly serve up this easy bread and butter pudding with hot cross buns pudding in the baking dish. Another option is to bake the pudding in individual ramekins. Top the warm pudding with fresh berries or serve it with a dollop of ice cream, extra custard, pouring cream or whipped cream.

You can make this sweet treat up to one day ahead. Arrange the buns in the baking dish or ramekins, cover them with plastic wrap and store them in a cool, dark, dry place. Make the custard mix and store it in the fridge in an airtight container. When you’re ready to cook it, follow the instructions from step 3 onwards, starting from soaking the buns in the custard mix.