Vegan Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the UK: these Vegan Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns are a fun twist on the classic recipe, made dairy free. This recipe was first published in 2016. Get the recipe below.

Breaking lent with Hot Cross Buns

I grew up enjoying hot cross buns for breakfast on Good Friday so when I moved out of my parents house I had to keep the tradition going. If I have the time I always prefer to bake my own and over the years I’ve begun experimenting with flavours. Traditional hot cross buns are soft buns, studded with dried fruits and flavoured with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Of course they wouldn’t be hot cross buns without the cross on top. This is made by mixing flour and water and piping this over the bun immediately before baking.

For my twist on this classic Easter recipe, I’ve kept some of the original spices I’ve also added plenty of zesty orange and chunks of dark chocolate for a rich, treat! Oh, did I mention there’s cocoa powder in the dough too! The result is a sweet and chocolatey bun that both kids and adults will love.

How to make Vegan Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

Using vegan substitutes

Hot Cross Buns are made from an enriched dough which means its made with milk, butter and sometimes egg. These are mixed with the usual ingredients of flour, yeast and water. Plus a little sugar to make it sweet too.

For my vegan chocolate orange hot cross buns, the first step was removing the dairy from the enriched dough. It’s probably no surprise that cow’s milk can be swapped with plant and nut milks.

I like to use soy milk as it’s the closest to cows milk. The butter can be swapped for your preferred brand of non-dairy butter. Just make sure it’s block “butter” not the spreadable kind. I almost always use Flora but Naturli also works well.

Mixing the dough

The recipe starts by melting the plant based milk and butter together until it’s almost simmering. You then take it off of the heat to cool down while you mix together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and yeast along with the spices. When the melted butter and milk is warm but not too hot, you add it to the dry ingredients and mix until it starts forming into a ball of dough.

Kneading the dough

To begin with it often looks quite scraggy but when you begin kneading it soon comes together. You can knead the dough either by hand or using dough hooks on an electric mixer. Either will do. If you’re kneading by hand it can take up to 10 minutes to form into a smooth. springy ball. With dough hooks it will take roughly 5 minutes.

The first prove

Once you’ve kneaded the dough it needs to prove for an hour or until it has doubled in size. Just be patient, if it’s not gotten there in an hour it may need a little longer. Just make sure it’s somewhere in a bowl, warm and covered with a damp tea towel or cling film so it doesn’t dry out.

Filling and shaping the dough

When the dough has risen it will be light and puffy. You’ll need to tip it out of the bowl on to a lightly floured surface. Stretch it out into a large rectangle and sprinkle over the dark chocolate and mixed peel. fold the dough a few times to encase the fillings and then knead to make sure they’re evenly distributed.

Once you’re happy that there will be chocolate or mixed peel in every bite, roll the dough out into a long log and cut into 8 even sized balls. Roll them into balls and place on a lined baking tray 1-2 inches apart.

The second prove

Now that the dough has been shaped, they will need to be left a second time. This time they won’t quite double inside but they will puff up again and should be touching before they go into the oven. Again you’ll want to make sure they’re covered with a damp tea towel or clingfilm, somewhere warm.

Adding the cross

What makes a hot cross bun a hot cross bun? Well it’s the cross of course! Making it is simpler than most people realise. All you need to do is mix together a little flour and water until it’s a piping consistency. It needs to come out of a piping bag easily but be thick enough to keep it’s shape when it’s piped on top of the buns.

I won’t tell you how to make the shape of a cross…that bit should be easy!

Time to bake

These buns don’t take too long to bake. Just 20 – 25 minutes will give you light, fluffy buns! Once they’ve baked all you need to do is brush over some marmalade that has been thinned with a little hot water. This creates the perfect glaze for these Vegan Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns.

The Recipe

Although there are a number of steps involved in these hot cross buns, some more technical then others, they are still simple enough to let kids get stuck in and have a go. They’ll love mixing the ingredients and kneading the dough. Why not let them pipe the white crosses on top too! (Mind you, the latter might get a little messy!)

Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

Emma

Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the UK: these Vegan Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns are a fun twist on the classic recipe, made dairy free.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 55 minutes mins

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Servings 8 people

Calories 426.01 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 225 millilitres non-dairy milk
• 50 grams non-dairy butter
• 450 grams strong white bread flour
• 14 g fast-action dried yeast
• 50 grams coconut sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 orange juice and zest
• 100 grams mixed peel
• 100 grams dark chocolate roughly chopped
• 100 grams plain flour
• 5 – 6 tbsp cool water
• 2 tbsp marmalade
• 2 tbsp hot water

Instructions

 

• In a small pan, heat the milk with the butter until the butter has melted and the mix begins to steam.
• Once it begins to steam, immediately take this off of the heat and place to one side.
• In the meantime mix the flour, yeast, sugar, spices and orange zest in a large bowl and place to one side.
• Check that the milk and butter is still warm to the touch and pour into the bowl of dry ingredients along with the orange juice and bring together into a ball of dough with your hands.
• Turn the ball of dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until the ball is smooth and elastic.
• Place the dough back into the bowl and cover with cling film or a tea towel to prove in a warm place for roughly 1 hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
• After the initial prove, stretch the dough out until flat.
• Cover the dough with 2/3rds of the mixed peel and chocolate.
• Fold the dough in half and cover with the remaining mixed peel and chocolate before folding in half again.
• Begin kneading the dough to incorporate the layers of fruit and chocolate into the dough. This should take roughly 5 minutes.
• Line a large oven dish with grease proof paper.
• Cut the dough into 8 equal sized pieces and roll into smooth balls.
• Place the 8 balls into the oven dish allowing room for them to grow and spread.
• Again, cover with either cling film or a tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove for a further 30-45 minutes.
• Once the dough has increased in size again, pre-heat your oven to gas mark 5 / 180C.
• Before baking, make a paste with the plain flour and water. Add just 5 tbsp to begin with, only adding the 6th if it is too thick to pipe.
• Add the paste into a piping bag and pipe crosses on top of the buns.
• Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
• Just before the 20 minutes is up, mix the marmalade and hot water together.
• Take the buns out of the oven when the 20-25 minutes is complete and brush the buns with the marmalade glaze.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack before eating.

Notes

Serving suggestion

These taste fantastic cut in half and toasted before being spread with either chocolate spread or marmalade!

Nutrition

Calories: 426.01kcalCarbohydrates: 77.04gProtein: 9.88gFat: 8.57gSaturated Fat: 2.33gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2.32gMonounsaturated Fat: 2.65gTrans Fat: 0.93gCholesterol: 1.77mgSodium: 84.67mgPotassium: 152.41mgFiber: 2.94gSugar: 22.63gVitamin A: 151.74IUVitamin C: 11.19mgCalcium: 62.41mgIron: 1.32mg

Keyword dark chocolate, orange

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

The therapy of baking

Lent and Easter have always been a time for reflection in my house so I think spending a couple of hours baking bread on Good Friday is a fantastic chance to be alone with one’s thoughts. As with any bread recipe hours of proving is required and the 10 – 15 minutes of kneading is great physical therapy. I always find the process of kneading and knocking back dough incredibly relaxing.

There’s also something incredibly satisfying about a warm kitchen, the smell of freshly baked (chocolatey) bread and breaking the first roll open. We love to serve these toasted under the grill with lashings of chocolate spread and / or a good quality marmalade. They are like a hug in a bun!

More Hot Cross Bun Inspiration

Classic Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Bun Fudge

More Easter recipes

Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies

Vegan Mini Egg Cookies

Praline Easter Cake

Chocolate Easter Cake

For the full range of Easter recipes check out the Easter Recipe Archive.