When I was at the Gorvett & Stone shop in Henley on Thames (just down the street from Maison Blanc, not far from the parking lot behind the Waitrose if you’re thinking of visiting) I picked up a couple of things. One was this awesome bag of salted butter caramels.

The milk chocolate is Valrhona and so you know it’ll be nice. Not only that but it has cocoa butter in the caramel – yum! So I cut one open to see what it was like.  As you can probably see, it isn’t runny.  In fact this sea salt caramel is very different – perhaps because it is buttered caramel

The caramel is soft but not runny. Like very smooth fudge it is sweet and soft. There is a distinct flavour which is of dark sugar with that flavour echoed in the milk chocolate. Absolutely delicious – so much so I finished all 10 in a single sitting!

What can I say? The butter caramel is sweet but delicious. The milk chocolate is sweet and if you’re in the mood for absolutely delicious and sweet, this salted butter caramel from Gorvett & Stone is absolutely perfect!

I’m just in love with Hotel Chocolat sea salted caramel. It is something delicious with their milk chocolate loveliness and I’ve just fallen in love with their choccies. If there was one thing I would change about their egglets, I would make them thinner.

Well, my thinner shell wish came true in this lovely set of yummy choccies. The egg is white chocolate with vanilla seeds in it, making it creamy and intensely vanilla, kind of like eating vanilla ice cream in chocolate for,.  The yolk is delicious caramel and it is tough to separate out so I just ate it.  Then after eating the egg yolk of salted caramel and white chocolate, and the white of white chocolate and vanilla seeds, I started on the chips.

The chips… the chips are amazing. They aren’t too thick shelled and there is a *lot* of sea salt caramel in there. This is exactly what I was hoping for. A delicious stick of sea salted caramel goodness in mellow milk chocolate – just what you want to go with your chocolate egg.

I have to admit – I like these more than last year’s version.  Firstly, these are sea salted caramel and secondly they don’t look as real as last year. Woah but those eggy soldier things looked read and kinda creepy. So I’ll be keeping these for myself…

Well, this is absolutely stunning and available in the shop so you can go now and grab this  Pink Marc de Champagne Truffle Easter Egg because it is from one of the most popular names in chocolate and comes filled with their best selling truffles and comes in three great sizes.

The nice thick chocolate shell has a pattern. I tried to break the pieces of the shell off based on the pattern but the pieces were bigger… oh dear… I’ll have to eat them… and the perfectly shaped and moulded egg shell isn’t the only part of this egg that you get though.  I know that it seems small but I think you’re not seeing how deep this box is.

Wow… the secret of the egg is sealed inside and if you look you’ll find a bunch of truffles. Thi sis already a big egg and it is only the middle size. There is a smaller size if you want one that is just big enough for truffles and a ring or something and then there is a larger size which comes with even more truffles.  How many pink champagne truffles do you want to gift your Easter egg recipient with? You have a choice here and it comes with so many truffles of sweetness and champagne-ness.

This egg is amazing. Beautifully finished egg shell that are just perfectly beautiful with the truffles hidden inside – just like an Easter egg should be. And those pink champagne truffles – they are best sellers for a reason so get your bottom down to the shop or a Charbonnel et Walker outlet like Harrods and get yourself a smashingly good egg!

If you don’t have an egg for Easter yet, and I know a lot of you have been asking me so you must not have any yet, you’re going to want to consider getting one of these 260g dark chocolate Easter eggs. Divine Chocolate Ltd is the only Fairtrade chocolate company that is also co-owned by cocoa farmers. Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 45,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana, benefit not only  from the Fairtrade premium on the sale of their beans, but also receive a 45% share of Divine’s distributable profits giving the farmers more economic stability, as well as the increased influence in the cocoa industry company-ownership brings.

So any egg you get from Divive, whether this one, or a different one – or even just a  single bar of chocolate is going to help farmers in this company cut out the middle-man and improve their own lives. Divine is adding two brand new products to its Easter 2012 collection. A luxury dark chocolate egg comes with a bar of Divine’s bestselling ginger & orange chocolate bar and joins the milk chocolate luxury egg with praline mini eggs. I, of course, am trying the choccy one and not the praline eggs. YAY!

All Divine’s Easter eggs are free from artificial flavourings, colourings and preservatives and are suitable for vegetarians. Reducing the environmental impact of our packaging is important to Divine, as they see the world from the perspective of cocoa farmers, who like other smallholders around the world are disproportionately feeling the effects of climate change. Their Easter eggs have never used plastic packaging which you have to use a small chainsaw to get into and they have always kept cardboard use and waste to a minimum. All Easter cardboard packaging is suitable for recycling.  YAY!

The chocolate is, as always, lovely. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of the chocolate bar so I gave it to husband to try and he loved it. I can imagine that a chocolate lover would really immensely enjoy this egg and it doesn’t matter if they like or don’t like the bar because they can *share* and they’ll know that each bite of the delicious dark chocolate that they take helps farmers.

The dark chocolate is delicious and on a par with much more expensive eggs in my opinion. The foil is slightly loose and so my egg didn’t look absolutely perfect but who cares? It has a bow and some others didn’t and it has a whole bar of chocolate as well as having completely recyclable packaging!

Choose an ethical egg this easter – choose Divine deliciousness at your local Waitrose for a very inexpensive £10

OMG how cute is this?!? Now, this isn’t quite as visually stunning as the heart which I had such trouble breaking but it is still absolutely cute as a button and there are a whole series of images! This Donna Wilson Easter egg design has been hand-painted on white chocolate over a layer of dark chocolate which means you get a bit of sweet and a bit of dark in each bite. For a kid this is delightful egg with good, high quality chocolate, getting them into the habit of eating good quality chocolate at a young age. Check out the Russian doll eggs too as the fox is cute as a button!

For an adult, the chick egg is filled with 6 handmade ganaches and 2 solid chocolate squares and packed in a beautiful Rococo limited edition box which weighs 160g. The chocolate egg is absolutely delightful and yummy. It seems a shame to break it but I broke into it. I love the way the chocolate layers break unevenly with each layer showing itself as unique.

The chocolates inside are each different, and I believe that each egg many have a different selection. In fact, if you buy it at the shop in an unsealed box you might be able to pick your 6 chocolates – you never know until you try!

I love the way this is coloured, wrapped in tissue and boxed in a small box with very little excess packaging. It arrived in the post safely and was unbroken and I love that this was achieved with not much packaging. I think the six chocolates are just perfect and the whole package is absolutely perfect. The chocolate is a really good quality and not cheap and sugar-filled. The ganache chocolates are really good quality and deliciously yummy – a sweet treat which isn’t too sweet.

All in all, this is a really excellent Easter Egg which is a little bit unique, a little bit artistic and a lot of fun. If you’d like to get your very own, why not visit a Rococo shop and buy one – or a few!

Oh wow… I have always had a soft spot for Hotel Chocolat but this year they have done some SEXY things with their eggs and their sea salt caramel. Why I am addicted to it, I don’t know. Maybe there is crack in the sea salt caramel, or the chocolate, or both… but whatever it is, I swear I am absolutely addicted.

This particular egg is one of their extra thick eggs.  At 490g for £38, it certainly offers up a lot of chocolate for the price. I dipped right in to mine and found the packaging really well thought out.  The egg has each half individually wrapped so you can unwrap just one side and break into the thick shell. The shell is un-patterned with only the Hotel Chocolat name adorning it and it is their delicious milk chocolate.

Beneath the egg is the box of 2 layers of champagne truffles – one white, one pink. The box has 2 ribbons, one on each side, which help the recipient lift the box out of the packaging. The packaging is beautiful in its styling and very fashionable and the thought behind each element is perfect. With the 20 champagne truffles safely extracted the munching can begin.

I have to admit that I love opening an egg and finding chocolates inside the egg. I also appreciate opening an Easter egg box and getting more chocolates than could possible fit within an egg just under the egg.

I really love Hotel Chocolat eggs. I really enjoy their dark chocolate and their milk (but I like the milk better) and I just love their caramel eggs but these champagne truffles are absolutely going to tide me over until I can get some more

When I had the opportunity to visit Melt, I was shown their Easter collection and given some of their amazing shards which are inside each of the Easter eggs. Now, with Melt, you can’t get their eggs mail order – you have to pop into the Ledbury St shop or Selfridges to get these beauties.

There are a variety of eggs on offer from the egg-sized eggs to the super sized eggs and I’ve had the chance to try the insides of them all. The eggs themselves are such beautiful things. Look at that table.

The bigger eggs all nestled in a basket makes me thing back to Easter when I was a kid. My parents used to create little baskets for us kids. The eggs were mass-market but still lovely. We also got Laura Secord eggs but I swear they were nicer when I was younger then now. Anyway…

The large eggs have these lovely shards in them. The shards all have different flavours depending on the egg. Most of the ones I saw has the orange shards but there are other shards available in the shop and you can get the shards without an egg as well

The shards are made from some lovely couverture and come with the larger eggs but the smaller eggs rattle. The rattling is from the lovely little beads of chocolate like pearls of dark chocolate all rattling around. You can eat just one… maybe… if you have an iron will! I think I ate a small handful before I even thought about the fact I was in a shop and people were staring…

The Melt Easter eggs are nummy. They are really delicious quality chocolate and large or small they are great fun. Why not treat yourself this Easter to something different – a Melt Easter Egg.

Hotel Chocolat is constantly coming out with new ideas for Easter. Last year my favourite new product was the Nibblatron egg – well, specifically the robots. Luckily they continued producing those robots and this year they made a giant one! In addition to a giant chocolate robot, they also made these eggs.

The keepsake tin is the perfect thing for a young man or lady to give to their mother for Easter I think. What mom wouldn’t love to get a bunch of champagne eggs, caramel eggs and praline eggs? On top of that you can keep the tin after all the eggs are gone and keep other treasures in it.

Now, I love these salted caramel eggs more than anything but the champagne ones I just ate were pretty darn good. After those sweet ones, I have to admit I only ate half of the praline one before I cracked open another of the sea salted eggs… then I dipped into the egg and chips but that review is for later

Visit a local Hotel Chocolat shop and grab a few of these for gifts.

I absolutely love Lucky’s brownies and their eggs are something I’ve wanted to try since last year but alas work took me away from London. I’m pleased that not only was I in town this year but I was also sent four of these lovelies – one of each kind! These eggs are unique – they have a layer of chocolate, a filling and another layer of chocolate making up the shell – so they are hollow! I know – kinda weird – but give them a chance…

Lord Dark Toffius – 60% cocoa dark chocolate with intense dulce de leche filled shells. I’m into sweet right now and I am LOVING the sweetness of this egg. But there’s no salt to cut this caramel and it is creamy so if you’re going to go for this, be prepared for suh-weet!

Sir Namon Chai – 40% cocoa milk chocolate with delicious spiced ganache filled shells. I’m torn on this one – whereas the Lord Dark Toffius was sweet but it was cut with the dark chocolate, here it is sweetness and spice. The flavours come through clearly but it is sweet again. Maybe I need to eat some crisps…

Monsieur Coco Noir – 60% cocoa dark chocolate with delectable coconut ganache filled shells. I’m not a huge fan of coconut but I know some of my readers are and so I can say the light amount of coconut is still a bit much for me but it will be a delightful light but still satisfying layer for coconut fans.

Duke Of Nutting Hazel – 40% cocoa milk chocolate with luscious praline & hazelnuts filled shells. I enjoyed this much more than I thought as a non-praline fan. I’m more of a ganache gal but this was nice with large chunks of hazelnut added in the layer of praline is delightful.

Overall, Lucky’s has created some amazing eggs for Easter with delicious flavours and enough of a range that everyone is going to love it!

I received a box of these floral chocolates from Rafaella herself. After discovering all eggs were already sold out in the UK and so I could not get any for review, she dropped this around to my office so I could try and review them.  I got a lovely card with them but I went to the website to see what exactly I was getting and found a guide to eating and experiencing them. The site says “Enter our secret and magic garden: open a TuttiFiori Baruzzo box and let the flower scent overwhelm you in a delectable and indulgent defeat.”

Marigold – paired with honey from the North Italy for a balanced and herbal ganache. Very green this one with a hint of floral, this is very subtle as a chocolate and chows off more of the chocolate’s flavours than the flower or honey in my opinion.

Camomile – the best Roman Chamomile cold pressed and infused light, comforting and inspiring new creation. I know this from my aromatherapy days. Not my favourite essential oil and I find in a white chocolate ganache it is OK but because I know what I’m looking for, that herby floral comes through for me. Not strong but distinct.

Viola Odorata – a Violet from the North of Italy with a fresh, herbal hint aiming to a perfect combination with dark chocolate in flirty scent as its fragrance comes and goes.  I’m surprised here by the white chocolate ganache and violet flavours bring a new twist on an old favourite. This creates a fresher floral flavour and less cloying or sickly than others.

Rose – a white ganache scented with pure Rose Otto (Rosa Centifolia) to bring to the nation’s favourite an Italian twist. Rose Otto wasn’t used by me as much but here it gives a Damask Rose scented flavour to the white chocolate. Not unpleasant and very reminiscent of rose cremes.

Orange blossom – follow the scent to taste our most popular praline: crunchy hazelnuts mixed with candied orange peels and sprinkled with a few drops of orange water to evoke the intensity of Mediterranean gardens. O think that orange blossom needs a white chocolate base. Here you get a hint of that lovely orange blossom but it becomes quickly smothered by the crunchy hazelnut praline. I love the hints I get and I want more but it just cannot struggle through the orange peel and nuts.

Jasmine – Sicialian Gelsomino, a tea base infused of pure Jasmine oil from Palermo in an unforgettable milk ganache.  I love jasmine and here you get that light, clean jasmine essential oil flavour coming straight through as a fragrantly floral top note. I think this is slightly overdone when I compare it to Matcha’s jasmine tea but it is not perfume-y, just strongly floral like pollen in a ganache.

Vanilla – ignored in the flavour journey on the website, the vanilla is a white chocolate ganache with a strongly vanilla flavour like vanilla ice cream in a ganache. Not bad but not my favourite.

Saffron – also ignored on the flavour journey on the website, the saffron seems to be in a praline. It makes this less than pleasant as it hits your nose and combines to create a weird flavour and scent sensation in the nose. Hard to describe but just odd…

Rosemary – the last of the ones missed off the website, this is fresh and herbal with that distinctive flavour of rosemary lightly infused.  It is so easy to overdo this and they pull it off beautifully. Well balanced and delightfully herbal – almost palette-cleansing.

Amarissimo – a distinctive complex 80% Criollo ganache in a crisp and firm coating. This dark chocolate is interesting with a slightly red fruit flavour in the very distinctive cocoa nib flavour you can get with higher quality beans in a higher cocoa percentage.

All in all a box that is quintessentially spring with robust florals, herbals and a delightful pure ganache.