Jamaican Easter Spice Bun

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Ingredients
  

Wet mix

  • 55 g dark brown sugar
  • 50 g granulated sugar
  • 85 g honey
  • 1 tbsp treacle
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 60 g melted butter
  • 230 g Guinness Stout or milk or 50/50
  • 1 egg

Dry ingredients

  • 250 g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder sieved
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • ¾ tsp nutmeg
  • ¾ tsp all spice

Dried fruits

  • 120 g raisins
  • 120 g glace cherries chopped

Topping

  • 140 g cherries optional to top bun

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease a loaf tin with baking spray; you may prefer to also line the inside with baking paper if it is a very square sided loaf tin like the ones I use.

Wet ingredients

  • In a large mixing bowl, add brown sugar, granulated sugar, honey, treacle, vanilla, melted butter, egg, and Guinness Stout or milk. Mix until even making sure there is no sugar at the bottom of the bowl.

Dry ingredents

  • In a second bowl combine flour, sieved baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Stir to mix evenly. Add the dried fruit.
  • Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix until you have a thoroughly even batter.

Bake

  • Pour mixture into the prepared loaf tin, add cherries on top if desired. Bake for about 60-75 minutes. Test with a tooth pick or bbq stick.
  • Let it cool thoroughly before slicing. Wrap in foil to keep fresh
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Jamaican Easter Bun (Bakery-style)

A 2 lb loaf tin is the standard large rectangular bread or cake tin used in UK baking. The “2 lb” refers to the traditional dough weight it was designed to hold (about two pounds of bread dough), not the tin’s own weight.
In modern metric terms, a typical 2 lb loaf tin measures roughly 23 cm long × 13 cm wide × 7–8 cm deep (about 9 × 5 × 3 inches). Small variations are normal, but anything close to that size counts as a 2 lb tin.
For your Jamaican Easter Bun specifically, the mixture is quite heavy and dense, so the 2 lb tin matters more than with a light sponge — it gives the correct tall, sliceable bakery shape.
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Equipment

  • 2ib loaf tin (Standard large loaf)

Ingredients
  

Dry ingredients

  • 300 g plain flour
  • 150 g dark brown sugar or muscovado
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp salt

Dried fruit

  • 200 g mixed dried fruit
  • 75 g raisins or currants
  • 50 g chopped peel optional but traditional

Wet ingredients

  • 250 ml stout Guinness or similar
  • 120 ml milk
  • 2 tbsp black treacle or molasses
  • 1 tbsp browning or extra treacle
  • 1 egg
  • 60 g melted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp almond essence important for authentic flavour

Glaze

  • 2 tbsp honey or warmed apricot jam

Instructions
 

  • Heat oven to 170°C fan (180°C conventional). Line a 2 lb loaf tin.
  • Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, spices, and salt. Stir in the dried fruit and peel so everything is coated.
  • In another bowl whisk the stout, milk, treacle, browning, egg, melted butter, vanilla and almond essence. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to a thick, sticky batter. It should be softer than bread dough but thicker than cake batter; add a splash more milk if needed.
  • Spoon into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes until firm and a skewer comes out clean. If it darkens too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
  • While still warm, brush generously with honey or warmed jam for the classic shiny bakery finish. Cool completely before slicing, as the texture firms up as it rests.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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