Orange Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

Orange chocolate hot cross buns that are delicious and fluffy. Spiced with orange zest and cocoa powder, and a hint of cinnamon.

These orange chocolate hot cross buns are a delicious twist on an Easter recipe classic. It combines the soft hot cross buns’ orange flavor with the cocoa and chocolate chips in my double chocolate hot cross buns.

The result is a beautiful hybrid hot cross bun with the best flavors from both.

Equipment

I recommend kneading the dough in a stand mixer but if you do not have one, then it can also be done by hand too. 

Method

1. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the yeast, milk, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes and become foamy.
2. Add the remaining sugar, flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, orange zest, vanilla, salt, and egg. Turn the mixer on medium and combine until it forms a thick but slightly sticky dough. Add in the room temperature butter and keep mixing until the butter has been incorporated.
3. Keep it mixing until the sticky dough starts to strengthen and come together and pull away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. This can take around 15 minutes. Proper gluten development will allow you to stretch the dough so thin you can almost see through it.
4. Pull the dough out of the bowl onto a clean workbench and flatten it out. 
5. Form the dough into a ball. Place the dough ball into a clean bowl and cover it with a lid or plate, or a damp tea towel, and let it proof in a warm spot for 1.5- 2 hours until doubled in size. 

If making overnight orange chocolate hot cross buns, the dough can be covered and placed in the refrigerator overnight to rise slowly.

Kneading by hand

Add the yeast, milk, and 1 tablespoon of sugar to a large bowl. Let it sit for 5 minutes and become foamy. Add in the remaining dough ingredients except for the butter and mix with a fork until it makes a shaggy dough. Tip it out onto a clean bench to knead it further. Knead in the room temperature butter, a cube at a time.

For a dough like this, using a slap-and-fold method is easiest – slap the dough down hard on the bench, pull it forward quickly, and repeat. Quick motions can stop the dough from sticking to your hands too much. After a while, you will feel strength gathered in the dough.

It can be tiring so you can take breaks in between kneading, in fact, the dough will respond well to it. Come back to it with clean and slightly damp hands.

After around 15 minutes of kneading the dough, check to see if the gluten has developed enough by using the windowpane test. 

The windowpane test

Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes. With clean hands, grab a small piece of the dough and try to stretch it out slowly without tearing it. It should be able to stretch until it is so thin it is almost see-through. If the dough tears very easily then gluten has not been developed enough and you need to do a bit more kneading of the dough.

Once it passes the windowpane test, form the dough into a ball. Place the dough into a clean bowl and cover it with a lid or a damp tea towel. Let it proof in a warm spot for 1.5-2 hours until doubled in size. 

If making overnight orange chocolate hot cross buns, the dough can instead be covered and placed in the refrigerator overnight to rise slowly.

Shaping 

After the dough has been proofed, it’s then time to shape the dough. 

1. Pull the dough onto a clean bench and cut it into 9 even pieces. You can use a scale for exact measurements. Use your hands to form each piece into a tight ball. 
2. Line a 10×10 inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
3. Place each ball into the baking tray, then cover with a damp tea towel and let them rise until doubled in size.

Baking

1. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and water for the crosses, then pipe the crosses onto the buns
2. Bake the buns for around 25 minutes.
3. While the buns are baking, mix the glaze ingredients.

The glaze

1. In a saucepan combine orange juice with granulated sugar. Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Once dissolved, take it off the heat and brush it over the still-warm buns.

Serving and storing

Hot cross buns are always best when served fresh on the day. Leftover orange chocolate hot cross buns can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to three days.

Alternatively, they can also be frozen for up to three months.

For something a little different, why not try sourdough hot cross buns!

Related recipes

• Pumpkin Brioche Recipe
• Chocolate Orange Cookies