Chocolate animals
Tesco Rainbow The Unicorn
200g,£3.50, tesco.com
Who doesn’t like a unicorn with a hundreds and thousands heart? I love it. Easy to open, it’s creamy, quite sweet but still beautiful.
★★★★
Waitrose Woodland Friends Izzy the Owl
200g, £5, waitrose.com
Owls? Easter? Not a traditional symbol – in my family, anyway. I like the thickness of the shell, beautiful shine.
★★★★
Marks & Spencer Laid Back Lamb
420g, £15, marksandspencer.com
Very cute, very cute indeed. Not the best milk chocolate. Nevertheless, it wins on presentation.
★★★
Paul A Young milk chocolate bunnies
min 100g, £14.95, paulayoung.co.uk
The bronze is gorgeous. The milk chocolate is quite rich, but pleasant. Perhaps not for kids.
★★★
Dark chocolate eggs
Lindt Excellence Easter egg
220g, £10.99, lindt.co.uk
Very rich, dark and creamy. It’s got the right balance of bitterness. The chocolate is a little bit powdery, chalky, but I don’t mind that.
★★★★
Hotel Chocolat hard-boiled egg
190g, £15, hotelchocolat.com
It’s got a rich darkness. There’s crunchy bits inside but the chocolate is so strong, I can’t define them. A shame.
★★★★
Prestat dark chocolate Easter egg
170g, £17.50, prestat.co.uk
Lovely bag of bonbons inside. Thick chocolate. Very pleasant, very bitter dark chocolate. One for the grown-ups.
★★★
Taste the Difference Belgian dark chocolate Easter egg
220g, £6, sainsburys.co.uk
Thin shiny shell. I’m not getting the bitter of dark chocolate, just a funny aftertaste.
★★
Eggs under £10
Taste the Difference Belgian milk chocolate salted caramel egg
220g, £6, sainsburys.co.uk
I love the way it looks. Not much salt – enough to balance the sweetness.
★★★★
Marks & Spencer speckled egg surprise
315g, £8, marksandspencer.com
Love the surprise inside. The chocolate is extraordinarily thick – very difficult to break, in fact.
★★★
Deluxe Cornish fudge egg
200g, £3.39, lidl.co.uk
Tastes a bit chalky. I’m not sure about the presentation – I like the way the decoration is sunk in but what is it supposed to be?
★★★
Irresistible milk chocolate honey bee and truffles
370g, £8, co-operative food.co.uk
Too thick. There’s not enough cocoa in it, all I can taste is sugar. I love the crunchy bits inside.
★★
Eggs over £10
BEST BUY
Rococo painted sea salt egg with seagull eggs
170g, £27.50, rococochocolates.com
Delicious. Nice thickness. This is the prettiest egg I’ve seen all day, maybe ever … beautiful. Great quality chocolate.
★★★★
Pierre Marcolini milk chocolate egg
250g, £35, uk.marcolini.com
I love the colouring, and the mini eggs are divine. The white chocolate is creamy and not too sweet.
★★★★
Hotel Chocolat extra thick just milk
390g, £27, hotelchocolat.com
The little eggs look like acorns. There’s a strange aftertaste – different to the chocolate I’m used to. I can’t put my finger on it.
★★
Prestat hot cross bun spiced egg
170g, £17.50, prestat.co.uk
The gold wrapped eggs are pretty. It tastes like Christmas spice. The chocolate feels quite powdery.
★★
Hot cross buns
Co-Op Irresistible sourdough richly fruited hot cross buns
4, £1.25, co-operativefood.co.uk
Nice and light but it’s very dry. Best presentation, and best balance of spice, but fruit is quite sparse.
★★★
Specially Selected hot cross buns
4, 99p, aldi.co.uk
Lovely and shiny. Good balance of spice. Nice fruit content, and it isn’t bitter. But it’s a bit doughy and heavy.
★★★
Waitrose richly fruited hot cross buns
4, £1.69, waitrose.com
This could do with more spice, and it is a bit dry. They look pleasant, though, with a very good shiny top.
★★★
Taste the Difference hot cross buns
4, £1.50, sainsburys.co.uk
The decoration is messy. Lacks shine. It actually doesn’t taste very nice, kind of bitter – too much fruit.
★★
Simnel cake
Morrisons The Best simnel cake
750g, £10, morrisons.com
The presentation is very appealing, it’s the prettiest. A great orange tang to it. I like the different types of fruits. The marzipan feels a bit hard.
★★★★
Waitrose simnel cake
approx 560g, £8, waitrose.com
I like the lattice top. Very tasty. Moist, not too dense, a lot of fruit. It does have a slight aftertaste – not bad, just unusual.
★★★
Taste the Difference simnel cake
740g, £9.50, sainsburys.co.uk
Quite nice and moist, very dense. If you like loads of fruit, this is fantastic. The presentation looks rushed.
★★★
Bettys apostle simnel fruit cake
1kg, £26, bettys.co.uk
Packed with fruit. I like the crimped marzipan sides, but it’s a bit dry.
★★
