Break the mould for Easter eggs

Published on Monday 18 April 2011 13:37

WHETHER it's sweet and a bit sickly or spiced up with cardamoms, chilli or, of all things, salt and pepper, this weekend there's just no escaping it.

Easter - that most sacred of Christian dates - is now one major chocolate-fest.

From Cadbury's Creme Eggs, which seemed to hit shop shelves on Boxing Day, to handmade luxurious organic affairs laced with the most bizarre of ingredients imaginable, the Easter Bunny's workload has never been quite so immense.

Nor has it ever been quite so diverse: no longer will a hollow shell of thin chocolate shaped vaguely like a farmyard animal or a foil-covered egg quite hit the spot. These days we're talking finest quality Ecuadorian cocoa beans, chocolate lovingly hand tempered, flavoured with exotic spices or filled with delicate flowery creams and wrapped in luxurious bows.

Yet while many of us will indulge and then move on - probably to the local slimming club - having more than our fill of sweetness, for others, chocolate heaven lasts all year round.

"Yes, I do have the best job in the world, " says Penny Hext in the world," says Penny Hext, one of three chocolatiers based at Coco of Bruntsfield's chocolate "factory" in Roslin.

"Tasting the products we make is just part of the job - a very nice part - but the key is to have just a tiny bit."

As consumer tastes have become more sophisticated, demand for the chocolatiers to come up with ever more challenging combinations has soared. That is why Penny and her colleagues have been busy perfecting new recipes, including one that laces caramel with salt and pepper.

"We all ended up with a major sugar rush after testing the caramel," she confesses. "The thing with good quality chocolate is that you don't need much. It's completely different to the likes of, say, Cadbury's. That's a confection, it has its place, but it's totally different."

Today the chocolates she makes alongside colleagues Mary Hillard and Jen Forrest - all under the command of head chocolatier and Coco founder Rebecca Knights- Kerswell - are sought after far and wide.

Since its launch on Bruntsfield Place, the chocolate specialist has expanded 12,000 miles, with two outlets now up and running in Rebecca's native Australia, which regularly take deliveries all the way from the Roslin kitchens.

Closer to home, self-taught chocolatier Sharon Grimshaw cooks up her sweet treats in her kitchen on Littlejohn Road, sending luscious aromas of her award-winning apple crumble chocolates and her quirky Lia Fail truffle - laced with Perthshire brewed beer - across neighbours' gardens.

She sells her bespoke, handmade creations through her HotChocolates website and demand is growing all the time.

"I was making up little favours for my wedding guests and was so disappointed at the state of British chocolate available that I decided to make my own," she recalls.

She began creating recipes based on traditional British puddings - including black forest cherry and an oat and whisky Cranachan-style chocolate. For Easter, she adapted the classic Simnel cake, with spices, nuts, marzipan and orange, and turned it into a mouthwatering white chocolate.

Perhaps the oddest chocolate combination of all has come courtesy of East Lothian's The Chocolate Tree, which has introduced Marmite to a vegan chocolate.

But if you can't survive without a foil-wrapped egg or a chocolate chicken, shop shelves across the city are still heaving with them.

Head to Valvona & Crolla at Jenners for its 25 artisan Easter egg or Harvey Nichols for gingerbread chickens (7.95) and milk chocolate egg with truffles (11.47).

For true chocoholics, try John Lewis' 3ft James Chocolates rooster (75).