At any other time of year it would be considered bad form to buy a pound of chocolate to eat all in one session by yourself, but for one blessed weekend a year, all bets are off. We’re getting ready to worship the cacao bean this Easter with eggs handpicked from the best London has to offer.
Best egg for chocolate purists
Damian Allsop
Cru Virunga Egg, £39.95
The Mount Street Deli has a whole range of Easter eggs and chocolates from master chocolatier Damian Allsop whose chocolates can also be found at Michelin-starred restaurants Murano and The Hand and Flowers. The Limited Edition Egg (£39.95) uses Original Beans Cru Virunga 70% chocolate. Inside the chocolate shell are seven smaller Cru Virunga chocolates filled with water ganache, a technique for which Allsop is best known - being apparently the only chocolatier to combine chocolate with water, instead of cream, to create a purer taste. Sounds like practically a low-cal option.
Remember the excitement as a kid when you unwrapped a Rolo easter egg – swiftly followed by the crushing disappointment when you realised it wasn’t a gigantic egg filled bucket-style with gooey caramel? Paul A Young offers a grown-up solution to the problem – a chocolate egg filled to the brim with his signature sea salted caramel and presented with an egg cup and spoon for easy slurping. It may pack a mean financial punch at £19.95, but we can already taste that sticky sweet nectar...
These hares were commissioned from the Hackney-based chocolatier in response to the artwork of the seminal 20th century artist, Joseph Beuys and also as a way of looking at the hare as an ancient emblem of natural change and resurrection (not just Easter in other words).This is a Limited Edition solid organic 70% chocolate hare cast from a unique restored antique mould and decorated with gold leaf.
Irish chocolatier Gerard Coleman began his working life as a Pastisserie chef at the Gramercy Tavern in New York. Thank goodness he turned to chocolate (and set up in London) so we can enjoy such treats as this retro Easter egg. Using Artisan du Chocolat's popular milk chocolate UFO discs coated in popping candy as a jumping point, he's created Easter eggs studded with the popping candy.
With packaging designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood, the Ultimate Egg from Fortnum & Mason is one which aims to look as good as it tastes. There are five chocolate eggs in total which work through a range of chocolate intensities, beginning with white and milk chocolate and ending with three dark blends made with 50%, 72% and 100% cocoa respectively.
One of the few milk chocolate eggs on our list this year, the Union Jack Egg from Dorset-based Chococo holds a surprise in its pale interior. Already an eye-catching egg, hand–piped with a sketchy Union Jack, the real treat is in the first bite. Chococo have studded the inside of their 44% Grenadan milk chocolate with freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries, providing a fruity rush to mix with the creamy exterior. .
Stem Ginger Truffle Egg, varies according to seller but around £10
A controversial choice this, as technically not an ‘egg’ (at least not in edible form). Focusing their considerable talents almost entirely on truffles, the team at Norfolk-based Booja Booja work directly with independent artists in India’s Kashmir region to produce bright hand-painted wooden eggs and stuff them full of goodies. There may be no booze in these award-winning stem ginger and dark chocolate organic truffles, but we’re willing to bet they’d taste amazing with an ice-cold glass of Pinot Grigio. Just a suggestion.
More London shops and restaurants offering eye-catching eggs this season...
We rather like Hotel Chocolat's Classic Egg and Soldiers - a budget pack at just £7.50 which features five milk chocolate, praline-filled half shells, topped with a white chocolate fried egg, accompanied by five creamy white chocolate soldiers, dipped with a dollop of creamy chocolate yolk.
Alternatively, Gelupo pays homage to the Easter bunny with a 'rabbit hutch' trio of special flavours available for nationwide delivery - rabbit food (carrot gelato), rabbit bedding (hay gelato) and rabbit droppings (chocolate gelato). Order online for overnight delivery nationwide, or same day delivery in London. The gelato will arrive (still frozen!) in an insulated box along with, if needed, cups, cones, spoons and wafers. A 500g box costs £9 with 1kg costing £18.
Better still, dine at The Capital over Easter weekend where each table of four or more at lunch or dinner will receive an Easter egg decorated by the restaurant's pâtissier. On each of the four days over the holiday weekend, one egg will contain a Golden Ticket redeemable against an overnight stay, a bottle of champagne or an English Afternoon Tea Party.
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