The gargantuan glass jar of mini eggs is emptying worryingly rapidly. Conveniently situated in the prime
Rather more upmarket than the standard waxen mouthful, these have a melting quality and a haunting nutty flavour not quite haunting enough to prevent you reaching for the next one. Jazzy jackets of rainbow pastel foil mean they’re fancy enough for a festive favour, too- and surely no grateful recipient would miss one or two siphoned off the top.
To compound my exquisite agony, there’s a cardboard carton full of multi-coloured eggs. Sadly not the product of a creative chicken coop, the shells of these ‘scatola di uova confettate’ are hewn from crisp coloured sugar- Smarties writ large. Reinforcing the carapace is a thick layer of milk chocolate, but no yolk. No joke, either- or pun intended- these babies are hollow.
So to fill that gap it’s the dove from above- or Colomba tradizionale as the folk at Carluccio’s would have it. The traditional bird-shaped Easter cake has a crisp, meringue-like hazelnut coating strewn
For offbeat ways of celebrating, Carluccio’s always bring out the big guns, and their Easter range is no different. In-store, the bambini can indulge in a spot of biscuit decorating, whilst us disgruntled old folk excluded from the hands-on festivities seek solace in rainbow-sprinkled Raffaioli cakes and chocolate-coated meringues pepped up with crunchy fennel seeds.
This year, do yourself a favour, spread those wings and step outside the overpopulated chocolate henhouse that is the supermarket Easter aisle. Instead, visit the Carluccio’s menagerie and liberate a sugar lamb, a fish-shaped sweet bread, or that colomba for a rather different festive mange. After all, eggs is eggs.
For the full range and info on in-store Easter events, see www.carluccios.com