This pretty box from M&S contains five milk, dark and white chocolate Easter eggs. Each egg is hollow, but has a window in the fornt where decorated pieces show through the shell, in a similar fashion to the Thorntons Banoffee Pie Easter Egg.
The varieties are:
Milk chocolate egg with white chocolate buttons and Italian brownie pieces
I don’t know what makes a brownie Italian, or if these particular brownie pieces have ever been anywhere near Italy, but they’re nice enough. A little dry and cakey, but you’re never going to get moist, fresh brownies stuck to the front of a mass produced Easter egg. They’re nice enough though.
The milk chocolate in all these eggs is 31% cocoa solids, and above average for an Easter egg. It’s creamy and smooth, but doesn’t have much depth. It’s quite easy to eat though.
Dark chocolate with Australian crystalised ginger and white chocolate buttons
The only dark chocolate egg in the box, and it’s a bit disappointing. It’s 53% cocoa solids, and probably the sweetest dark chocolate I’ve ever tasted. In fact, it’s almost as sweet as the white chocolate that decorates this egg. Apart from sugar, there’s no real flavour to the chocolate at all. The saving grace of this egg is the ginger pieces, which despite being difficult to get to through the thick layer of white chocolate, ar quite tasty and spicy.
Milk chocolate with white chocolate buttons and milk chocolate coated raisins
The same milk chocolate with some chocolate covered raisins. I love chocolate raisins, so was disappointed that there just aren’t that many here. The raisins aren’t bad, but as with all these eggs, it just needs… more!
White chocolate with sour cherry and white chocolate crispy pieces
The white chocolate is too sweet for me here, but I do quite like the decoration. The flavoured chocolate area and cherries themselves are actually quite tasty, and the crispy pieces adds a nice bit of crunch. Definitely needs more cherries though!
Milk chocolate with white chocolate covered meringue pieces
More of the same chocolate we’ve seen in the other eggs, with a bit of texture added by the meringue.
Overall, I’d say this selection of eggs looks more luxury than it tastes. There’s no doubting it’s well presented, but I’m not convinced by the quality of the ingredients. It will appeal much more to those with a sweet tooth, as even the dark chocolate is very sweet. Visually impressive, but needs more flavour.
Something a little different from Paul A. Young this time. No exotic flavour combinations here, just a simple box of eggs for an Easter egg hunt.
Each £35 box contains nine eggs; three large, hand decorated eggs, three sugar coated ganache mini eggs and three wrapped praline mini eggs. Everything is very simply packaged with just some shredded purple paper to protect the eggs. It doesn’t seem like it should be enough protection, but it did a perfectly good job of keeping my eggs safe on the combination of trains and buses I took to get these home.
First off, forget the large eggs, these little sugar coated beauties are amazing. Not only do they look exactly like real quail’s eggs, but they have the perfect texture and flavour. The best thing about them is the extra thick sugar shell, which means you have to either put some effort into biting them, or just stuff the whole thing into your mouth in one go and let the shell melt, revealing the soft milk chocolate ganache underneath. I could very easily become addicted to these.
The praline mini eggs are lovely, but just don’t quite do it for me in the same way.
The three larger eggs are milk, dark and white chocolate. The white chocolate egg (painted pink) is, as you might expect, too sweet for my tastes, but something the kids will probably love. The milk chocolate egg has a caramel flavouring to it, and it’s surprisingly good. It has a nice thick shell, and the kind of chocolate I could eat all day – and then feel guilty about afterward.
The dark chocolate egg is thinner and unflavoured, but packed with natural fruity notes. It’s not often you find a dark chocolate Easter egg made with real chocolate with natural flavour notes.
This is a visually impressive and delicious Easter egg hunt kit, but I’m not sure I would actually use the eggs for a real Easter egg hunt! I wouldn’t want to risk my Paul A. Young eggs by leaving them lying around, but if you have a small family or just want some great chocolate to share with your partner this Easter, then this could be the perfect solution. It’s much nicer than any mass produced egg.
The Easter Egg Hunt Kit is available form Paul A. Young’s London shops. Alternatively, if you live in the London area, Hubbub.co.uk will deliver it for you.
Easter clam? Yes, Easter clam!
For some reason, Demarquette have gone for a marine theme for Easter this year. I know not why, but it does make an interesting alternative to the usual bunnies and eggs. There are a few concessions to tradition though, starting with this cute little Easter chick on the box.
Open the box and unwrap the tissue paper, and what you find inside is this rather beautiful looking milk chocolate shell. It has a nice amount of weight to it, and a nice glossy finish.
Inside, you’ll see why this is truly an Easter chocolate gift.
Twelve mini eggs, lightly stuck to the lower half of the shell so they don’t move around, and each handpainted in a different colour. Obviously designed to look like pearls in an oyster, the effect is both surprising and unique.
Each egg has a different filling, made with a a variety of fruit purees, caramels. The flavours include Devon Strawberry, Oxfordshire Plums, Somerset Apricot, Yorkshire Rhubarb, Scottish Raspberry and Cornish Sea Salt.
Some of them are a little sweet for my liking, but others are very moreish. I just wish there was a way of fitting more eggs inside a clam.
I really like chocolatiers who do something a little bit different, and this is certainly different from your average hollow egg, yet retains an Easter theme. At £25, it’s pretty good value for a handmade chocolate gift of this size too.
Demarquette’s range is available to buy online or in their Chelsea store.
Update: This competition is now closed
It’s nearly Easter, and if you’re still looking for last minute Easter Chocolate gifts, we’ve got a competition for you!
We’ve put together this Easter chocolate stash for one lucky winner. It’s crammed full of chocolate from Hotel Chocolat, Thorntons, Green & Black’s, KitKat, Lindt and more!
This competition is for our Twitter followers, but if you’re not on Twitter already, it only takes a minute to sign up.
To enter, just follow Chocablog (so we can DM you to let you know if you win!), then retweet a link to this page.
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The Small Print
This competition is open to UK residents only. One entry per person.
The competition will close at 10am BST on Thursday 5th April 2012, and a winner will be picked at random and notified by direct message on Twitter. Note that if you want to receive your prize in time for Easter Sunday, the winner will need to check Twitter and get us their postal address the same day!
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Update: This competition is now closed
