How to Make Jamaican Easter bun

When we were growing up in Jamaica, there was hardly any cooking done during the Easter holidays. Our mom would buy and get (gifted) a good amount of Jamaican Easter bun and cheese which she would serve for main meals. We would also have Escovitch fish and bread. Those were the good old days.

Now we can make our own bread, escovitch fish and festival. In this post, I am sharing an easy way to make Jamaican Easter bun. This recipe has a lot of store cupboard ingredients and the best part is that some of the ingredients are optional so that you can choose from several options and use up what you have.

The Jamaican Easter bun is also known as Spiced Bun. The reason is that it uses up a lot of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, mace, cloves, mixed spice, etc. If you don’t have all the spices, use what you have and what you love. I would suggest that you use at least 2 of the spices listed below, and at least 2 of the liquid flavouring.

Use them up. That is if you have them all.

There is a recipe for a spiced bun that uses yeast, but to save on time, it’s nice to use something (a malt drink) like Dragon Stout, Guinness Stout, Malta, or Vitamalt to give your bun flavour. My favourite to use is Dragon Stout because it has the best flavour I think. I sometimes use one of the other drinks when I want to save my Dragon Stout for making Devon Stout Icecream. I will share the link for a yeast bun recipe below.

By the way, Don’t wait until you are ready to eat the bun to make it. The flavour takes days to develop so you must get yourself organised and make sure you have all your ingredients.

The spices are in orange colour and you can use any two or more.

The liquid flavourings are in green and you can use any two or more.

Ingredients to make Jamaican Easter bun

3 cups plain/all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground mace

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1 bottle malt drink like Dragon Stout, Guinness Stout, Malta, or Vitamalt (approximately 284 to 300 ml)

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup jam (guava jam gives a lovely Caribbean flavour but any jam can be used)

2 Tbsp honey or Golden syrup or maple syrup

2 Tbsp molasses (necessary for the dark colour and more malt flavour) This is rich in iron too, so good for you

2 eggs

The zest of 1 lemon

4 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond essence

1/2 tsp rose water

1 cup of dried fruits (raisins, currants, cherries, mixed citrus peels) soaked overnight in wine or hot water. You can make the dried mixed citrus peels yourself. This post shows you how to do that at any time throughout the year. Save it for making buns or Christmas cake.

Method for making the Jamaican Easter bun

Follow the video or steps below.

1. Preheat the oven to 180Degrees Celsius or 350 Degrees Fahrenheit And grease two small loaf tins. Line the base with grease proof paper.
2. In a large bowl, add the flour and spices and stir together
3. In another large bowl add all the other ingredients except the dried fruits
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. When everything has been properly combined, add the soaked fruits and give it a quick mix.
5. Pour the mixture into the two tins and add some of the glace cherry pieces on the top
6. Place the buns on the top shelf of the oven and set your timer for 55 minutes
7. While the buns are baking, wash up. Add a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of jam to a small bowl and melt in the microwave to use as a glaze
8. The buns are done when the time is up and an inserted skewer comes up clean.
9. Brush the glaze on top of the buns while still hot and allow to cool completely
10. Serve your bun with avocado, or cheese, or butter, or patty, or even fish. The choice is yours and the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy!

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Any questions about this recipe? Send it our way as we’d be only too happy to help. And if you do get to bake the buns, you can also share your pictures on Instagram and tag us (@joleisacreed) if you wish so we can share the pictures too.

One love,

Jo and Leisa