When the first bank holiday of the year rolls around, cracking open a luxurious chocolate Easter egg marks the end of the dull, dark winter months – which is precisely why you should select something bold in design, carefully crafted and, most of all, delicious.
Our 2024 celebrations are part of a time-honoured tradition: chocolate eggs were first recorded in the court of Versailles and became popular in the UK in the 19th century. We now eat around 80 million of them a year in the UK and spend an estimated £3-£4m doing so. If you’re on an Easter hunt for hand-painted artisan confections, truffles or a seasonal single-origin chocolate treat, we’ve got you covered, scouring the UK’s top luxury hotels, shops and restaurants for extra-special Easter gifts. Scroll on for nine of the best eggs for this year’s Easter Sunday (…and then discover the best wine to pair with chocolate treats).
Nine luxury Easter eggs
Melt’s ‘The White Lotus’ egg
Melt, based in Notting Hill in London, has been making artisan chocolate since 2005 and its White Lotus easter egg sees many childhood dreams come true because it’s solid rather than a hollow shell. The egg is made of segments, weighs a kilo and consists of seven flavours, including dark and milk chocolate with hazelnuts, white chocolate and fruits of the forest, coconut, pistachio and raspberry, caramelised almond and matcha with cherry. Inspired ‘by the lurid displays of wealth in the hit show The White Lotus’, this definitely fulfils the ‘lavish’ brief but there’s enough chocolate to keep all but most gluttonous recipients going for weeks.
£70, meltchocholates.com
Claridge’s Easter egg
Made from French Valrhona chocolate, Claridge’s easter egg comes wrapped in beautiful Art Deco packaging inspired by the hotel’s iconic black-and-white tiled lobby. Milk, dark and white versions are available, each version filled with handmade praline chocolate ‘gull’s eggs’ and encased in a beautiful jade box – true, classic luxury.
£65, claridges.co.uk
Fortnum & Mason’s Decorated Easter Egg
World-famous department store Fortnum & Mason offers a range of Easter eggs, including this milk chocolate version featuring handmade and applied sugar decorations with Easter-themed chocolates inside. The hand-tempered egg is made from Fortnums’ ‘tercentenary-blend’ chocolate, and dark and white versions are also available.
£50, fortnumandmason.com
Rococo’s Sea Salt Milk Honeycomb Chocolate Easter Egg
Rococo’s honeycomb easter egg is made with 38% Ocumare Criollo cacao, which is said to give the chocolate an almost caramel taste and texture. Ground honeycomb is stirred through the shell before the egg is formed for extra flavour and bite, making this a welcome deviation from plain chocolate eggs. This is surely the perfect luxury option for the Cadbury’s Crunchie enthusiast too, constituting a more refined Easter interpretation of the concept.
£46, rococochocolates.com
Marchesi 1824 salted caramel egg
Made from the Prada-owned Milanese patisserie’s high-quality salted caramel-flavoured chocolate, this egg is finished with a delicate etching of the Marchesi marque and crown. For those with different appetites or budgets, don’t worry: Marchesi also makes a raspberry-flavoured version, as well as smaller dark and milk chocolate eggs. Could there be a classier Easter treat out there? We think not.
€115, pasticceriamarchesi.com
Venchi’s milk chocolate and Piedmont hazelnut egg
Want an egg with impact? Look no further than the 1kg egg from Venchi. Featuring only whole Piedmontese hazelnuts, this egg nods to the delicious Italian biscuit, brutti ma buoni (‘ugly but good’). Made with Venchi’s signature milk chocolate, the egg’s interior is lined with the hazelnuts. For those not yet familiar, Venchi is a historic gourmet chocolatier that originated in Turin in 1878 and now runs chocolate shops and gelaterias all over the world.
£150, uk.venchi.com
Maglio’s ‘Africa’ egg
For something very grown-up, try Maglio’s ‘Africa’ egg. Its shell is made from Maglio’s single-origin 75% dark chocolate from the island of São Tomè and is coated entirely in almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios. Maglio has been making chocolate in Italy since 1875 and now prioritises sustainability by working directly with growers in Venezuela, Ecuador and elsewhere.
€40.50 for 450g egg, cioccolatomaglio.it
Hôtel de Crillon’s ‘Butterfly’ egg
Originally created to coincide with the opening of Hôtel de Crillon’s new pastry shop in 2023, head pastry chef Matthieu Carlin’s ultra-cool butterfly egg is available to buy at the five-star hotel in Paris for a second year running. This hefty 550g chocolate egg is made from 62% Brazilian chocolate, is filled with an organic red quinoa praline and coated with caramelised puffed white quinoa. There’s no question of how delicious it might be but whether you can bring yourself to break it apart is another matter.
€95 (collection only), shop.rosewoodhotels.com
Hotel Chocolat’s Dark Chocolate Ostrich Easter egg
The clue is in the title of Hotel Chocolat’s most luxurious Easter offering: it’s huge (apparently, the brand measured a real ostrich egg to ensure the sizing is representative) and is made from 70% dark chocolate that incorporates a half with almond pieces and one with hazelnut pieces; there’s a dash of salt to bring out the flavours too. To complement the egg, there’s a box of dark chocolates, including gin and rum truffles. There’s more than a kilo of chocolate in total and it’s all beautifully packaged in a reusable tin.
£85, hotelchocolat.com
