It’s looking like it will be a cracker of an Easter this year. To usher in the festivities, several hotels and upscale bakeries in the city have stocked up on Easter-special treats, particularly chocolaty Easter eggs.
Easter eggs have become an unbreakable part of Easter celebrations in the West. During the season, people often gift decorated Easter eggs or, increasingly, chocolate eggs, to their friends and relatives, especially children. They are said to symbolise new life, given that Easter itself is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “The tradition of gifting Easter eggs is becoming quite popular here too. That’s why we’ve created all sorts of chocolate Easter eggs this season,” says Jose Thomas, executive chef, Vivanta by Taj, Thycaud. The hotel’s Caramel Café has chocolate eggs in three sizes – small, medium and large on sale this week, priced between Rs. 130 and 275.
In most hotels/bakeries there are two main kinds of Easter eggs available. The most popular are, perhaps, solid chocolate eggs that come with a variety of fillings. Caramel Café, for instance, has eggs with fillings of plain chocolate, white chocolate, almond rocks, cashew rocks and the likes. Hotel Hilton Garden Inn’s pastry chef, Gireesh R. Chandran, has created ones with hazelnut filling, butterscotch filling and the likes, which will be available with the hotel’s special Easter Sunday buffet lunch/dinner. “We can also customise chocolate eggs on order. Egg-shaped cakes are also quite in demand this time of the year,” says Gireesh.
Hollow chocolate eggs filled with confectionary – essentially, a sweet treat within a sweet – are also hot sellers. “To make these, first we make two moulds in an oval shape with a mixture of sugar, edible gum paste and the like. Once the shells are set we fill in each portion with bite-size pieces of homemade chocolate and/or sweets. Then, we gently solder the two pieces together, following which we decorate the eggs with icing or food colouring, the brighter the better,” explains Kukku Vinod of Ambrosia Bakery. Ambrosia has chocolate eggs with four varieties of filling in different sizes (priced from Rs. 30 to 150) and cute chocolate bunnies too.
This year, the bakers at Square One Talents in Vellayambalam and Pattom have given a twist to the tradition. Instead of making eggs of plain chocolate, they’ve made mini-cakes shaped like eggs, decorated with brightly coloured butter-cream frosting. “They’ve proved to be a hit with out customers, especially with kids,” says Georgina Ruji Shiju at the bakery. The scrumptious cakes come in chocolate and vanilla flavours and cost between Rs. 55 and Rs. 95, depending on the size. Tuck in!
