Call it springtime folly. Or chocolate-flavored whimsy. But when the annual miracle known as spring arrives, chocolatiers take a collectively light-hearted and playful approach to their Easter creations.
This year, that means pirate-themed tableaux, Kerala-inspired colors and patterns and surfboarding eggs.
Easter enthusiasts looking for their Sunday brunch showpiece may want to turn to gourmet foods store Lenotre, which enlisted chocolatier Guy Krenzer to create a pirate-themed collection that includes a 7 kg (15 lbs) chocolate treasure island, complete with a shipwreck, tropical palm trees, pirates and parrots. But to place it on your dining room table will cost a small fortune in itself, at the eyewatering price of €990 (about $1,078 USD). Have yet to find a treasure chest full of gold? Opt for the fuchsia-colored parrot (250g) for €55 ($60).
This year, La Maison du Chocolat has collaborated with French luggage brand Moynat to create a travel-themed showpiece imagined by chocolatier chef Nicolas Cloiseau. Weighing in at 5 kg (11 lbs) and spanning the length of 130 cm (51 inches), buyers who shell out €950 ($1,034) are buying painstaking attention to detail that includes meticulously crafted Moynat suitcases and plumed feathers.
And at the Jacques Génin boutique in Paris, Easter eggs are reimagined as canvases for Kerala-inspired colors and patterns, with surprising and riveting results.
Here’s a sample of a few other edible Easter creations this year:
Ladurée
This year, macaron house Ladurée went with fruity, light  and flowery flavors for their 2015 Easter collection. Their limited edition gift box, for instance, holds eight macarons and screams spring with its fine floral print.
Don’t have €950 to spare for an Easter egg? Ladurée’s new spring macaron is lemon passion fruit and is a much more affordable €2 each.
Fauchon
For €800 ($870) gourmet foods store Fauchon will also hand-craft a 60 cm (24-inch) tall chocolate egg with dark Venezuelan chocolate, fill it with a kilo (2.2 lbs) of fish-shaped chocolate bonbons, and decorate it with chocolate fish in keeping with their maritime theme.
Les Marquis de Ladurée
In case you didn’t know, in 2013 Ladurée opened a chocolate boutique in Paris. And this year, their chocolate Easter egg is sheathed in small chocolate cameos, superimposed one on top of the other. The smaller 30cm-tall (12-inch) egg is €125 ($158) and the larger 54 cm (22-inch) egg costs €450 ($490).
Christophe Roussel
Know any surfers in your life? They’d get a chuckle out of French chocolatier Christophe Roussel’s surfer egg dude, complete with shades, bikini briefs and a surfboard.
€35 ($38).
Jean-Paul Hévin
From Jean-Paul Hévin, chocolate eggs are adorned in pretty bows for between €24 to €58 ($26 to $63).
Source: Relaxnews