Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 170°C.
- For the custard, bring the milk and the cream just to the boil in a saucepan. Turn down the heat, cut the vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds and add to the milk and cream.
- Whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale, then whisk in the milk and cream mixture, removing the empty vanilla pod. Dip the hot cross bun halves in the mixture and place into a large ovenproof dish.
- Sprinkle the orange zest and the whiskey, if using, over the slices and pour the rest of the custard over the top. Leave it all to soak for around 15 minutes and then place the dish into a larger tray, half-filled with hot water.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top of the pudding is nicely golden and slightly crisp. Sieve some icing sugar over the top of the pudding and serve warm. Mmm!