Easter: This year’s must-buy eggs for all the family

We teamed up with our friends at Brampton’s The Food Marketing Agency to put a clutch of this year’s eggs to the test. If it’s your job to play Easter Bunny, read on. . .

Tester: Karen Braithwaite
Egg: The Chocolate Smiths Mixed Selection Easter Egg Box, 170g, £12.95 + £3.95 postage, thechocolatesmiths.com
On the outside: A beautifully presented selection of pie-flavoured eggs, all expertly handmade by The Chocolate Smith’s own team of chocolatiers, sits inside a very cute box with a clear window. The illustration on the box - an Easter-goes-to-the-circus theme, featuring a juggling bunny popping out of a top hat and a lamb leaping through a hoop - is joyful.
On the inside: There are two egg halves of each flavour: Pecan Pie, Mississippi Mud Pie, Banoffee Pie and Lemon Meringue Pie - perfect for sharing the enjoyment or the calories! The banoffee pie filling was absolutely delicious, made using real bananas and topped off with golden chocolate - this felt like a very decadent treat indeed!
Score: 4/5 Yes, this is a more expensive option than some of your usual High Street brands, but these treats are beautifully made, beautifully packaged and make a great gift. A perfect alternative to the single traditional egg.

Tester: Kirsty Wilson
Egg: Harry Specters Dark Golden Egg, 150g
On the outside: This Ely-based company holds a special place in my heart for offering employment opportunities to those with autism. The presentation is, as always, faultless and very eye-catching. Seeing the golden brush strokes on the dark egg through the brightly coloured box makes me very excited to 'crack' it open.
On the inside: The egg looks too pretty to break into. It is dark and glossy with the beautiful gold contrast - very elegant indeed. Even better than its appearance is its taste: dark, strong cocoa but not too bitter with a hint of vanilla. The egg is the perfect thickness to break off a little piece at time; not an egg you would eat all at once, but perhaps savour over a few days.
Score: 5/5 Perfection.

Tester: Louise Cummings
Egg: Bettys Milk Chocolate Orange Crispy Egg, 190g, £25, bettys.co.uk
On the outside: Famed for its indulgent bakes, from Fat Rascals to fondant fancies, Bettys is best known for its much-loved Harrogate tea rooms. But founder Fritz Bützer was a Swiss chocolatier – and this passion for artisan chocolate continues to flourish in the Yorkshire craft bakery. Bettys latest Easter release, the orange crisp egg, is beautifully packaged in a duck egg blue box featuring foiled gold decoration. It’s an Art Deco masterpiece!
On the inside: It’s truly scrumptious, so much so, that my husband and I practically polished off the lot in one sitting! Moulded from a thick layer of finest Swiss Grand Cru milk chocolate, flavoured with fragrant orange oil, it’s packed with puffed rice segments, and decorated with spun dark and orange chocolate. A simply exquisite fusion of creamy, crispy and fruity flavours and textures, each decadent chunk of shell melts in the mouth and leaves you wanting more. . .
Score: 5/5

Tester: Vhari Russell
Chococo Sapphire Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Easter Egg, 250g, £20, chococo.co.uk
On the outside: Created by husband-and-wife team Andy and Claire Burnet, this multi-award-winning brand started in the seaside town of Swanage and now boasts four retail outlets. Andy and Claire are hugely passionate about the sourcing of their beans and paying the farmers a good price, saying that “People, Product and Planet” are at the heart of the brand. The packaging of this egg is not only stunning but fully recyclable. The design is eye-catching and requires no wrapping, as it's just too pretty.
On the inside: I just love the message when you open the box, wishing you an egg-cellent Easter! With its elegant sprinkling of colour, the egg itself is a work of edible art. The chocolate is wonderfully thick and feels very generous, delivering a real depth of flavour with every bite. The little bag of sea salt caramel ‘gems’ inside the egg also melt in your mouth.
Score: 5/5 This is the perfect egg for the chocolate-lover in your life.

Tester: Janet Gordon
Egg: Pump Street Chocolate Chicken and Eggs Boxes, 68g and £9.95 each, Pump Street Chocolate, Orford and pumpstreetchocolate.com
On the outside: After a Sunday family lunch, I produced the gorgeously illustrated Pump Street Chicken and Eggs and we settled in to taste. There are three different types of Chickens and Eggs, all similarly styled with a pastorally idyllic illustration on the back of the boxes, which together make up a bucolic country scene in pastel colours. Glimpsed through each front window is a chocolate chicken sitting on multi-coloured mini eggs.
On the inside: Number one to be tested was the yellow-boxed 75% Jamaica Dark Chicken and Eggs, which elicited a 4.5 from all tasters and a “some dark chocolate is very bitter but this is perfect” from daughter-in-law. Number two was the pink-boxed Madagascar 58% Milk Chicken and Eggs, which everybody loved, and also received a 4.5. Number three was the lilac-boxed Hot Cross Bun Chicken and Eggs, which disappeared so quickly I was lucky to even taste it. “Oh my goodness, it tastes of currents and it’s just like a hot cross bun,” said son, whilst granddaughter decided that’s going to be her chosen chocolate treat for Easter. It was a unanimous 5/5 for this one.
Score: 4.5-5/5 At £9.95 per box, initially these might be thought a little expensive, but the (fully recyclable) box is so, so beautiful and the (seriously high quality) chocolate goes a long, long way, which makes them well worth the money. Can I have another Hot Cross Bun Chicken please?

Tester: Alice Ryan
Egg: Tony’s Chocolonely Egg-stra Special Egg Box, 150g, £3.75, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Co-op, Morrisons and Ocado
On the outside: Housed in the cutest little cardboard egg box are a dozen dinky foil-wrapped eggs, all solid chocolate and spanning a pick-and-mix of flavours, from straight milk, white and dark to orange, nougat, pretzel toffee. . .
On the inside: As you’d expect from Tony’s Chocolonely - the brand founded by Dutch investigative journalist Teun (Tony) van de Keuken who, on uncovering slavery within some chocolate supply chains, launched his own brand to exemplify ethical production methods - both provenance and quality of this chocolate is impressive. Made solely from 100% traceable and fairly traded beans, these eggs - each a generous mouthful - are rich, smooth and packed with flavour. My favourite has to be the sweet-yet-sharp raspberry white, coming with a popping candy surprise.
Score: 5/5 You get a lot of top-notch chocolate for the price and the mix of flavours makes it fun to share (or scoff solo).

Tester: Kath Goodwin
Egg: Chocolat Chocolat Eggsplosion Egg for Kids and Big Kids, 290g, £14.95, chocolatchocolat.co.uk
On the outside: As always with Chocolat Chocolat products, the Eggsplosion is beautifully presented: intricately decorated with white chocolate and embossed with a fondant mini egg, the milk egg is wrapped in cellophane with a simple organza ribbon tie at the top. Billed as an Easter treat for one to two people, the shell, made from a thick layer of Chocolat Chocolat’s famously smooth and creamy house milk chocolate, is designed to be smashed - pinata-style, with the little wooden hammer supplied - to reveal the treats inside. Inspired!
On the inside: A carnival of chocolate! Prettily presented on a layer of tissue paper, we found foil-covered mini eggs, marshmallows, milk chocolate salted caramel half eggs, dark chocolate half eggs. . . I didn't know what to eat first! Again these are made with the signature Chocolat Chocolat chocolate. The Eggsplosion feels completely decadent and a wonderful treat for Easter.
Score: 5/5 It’s great fun for all the family. To be honest, we would have given it 10 but we couldn't score that high!