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No matter how indulgent or lavish the sweet treats waiting for you on Easter Sunday are this year, it’s hard to beat the excitement of the chocolate eggs you received as a child.
Thankfully, for those feeling a pang of nostalgia, photographs and adverts for the most popular Easter eggs from the 1950s to the 1990s have been revealed by the Daily Mail below.
They include chocolate creations by much-loved brands like Yorkie, Rolo, Toffee Crisp and Aero, as well as Cadbury and KitKat.
The tradition of Easter eggs can be traced back to the years following the First World War when the egg was adopted as a symbol of new life and hope.
Prior to that, chocolatiers had made chocolate fish, chickens and shoes at Easter because these were accepted symbols of the celebrations.
The new egg-shaped treats soared in popularity throughout the 1920s and 1930s, but production stopped in the 1940s due to World War Two rationing.
Shortages of key ingredients like sugar carried on until the early 1950s, until British firm Rowntrees, now owned by Nestle, released their Dairy Egg in 1954. Since then, chocolate Easter eggs have been a staple in households across the country.
So, take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of the chocolate treats of the past below – and don’t forget to tell us which of these was your favourite…
1950s
Easter eggs sold during the 1950s included some brands recognisable today, including Cadbury’s Roses and Buttons.
Whilst the designs on the packaging was hugely different from modern day versions, the chocolate snacks were still wrapped in decorative foil and housed in cardboard boxes.
Instead of simple blue or purple backgrounds on the covers, there was spring-themed artwork, with plenty of bright flowers covering the wrapping.
1960s
The 1960s saw the creation of two classic Easter treats – Creme Eggs and Mini Eggs, or at least the early versions of this popular duo.
Cadbury launched Milk Chocolate Mini Eggs in 1968, with the sugar coated treats featuring vibrant, yellow chicks on the design of the bag, surrounded by the five colourful chocolates.
Prior to this, Rowntree’s Cream Eggs were released in 1963, but it’s Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, launched in 1971, that live on today.
While Rowntree’s wrapped their milk chocolate Cream Eggs in green, gold or pink foil, Cadbury’s version comes wrapped in distinctive purple and red foil with a splash of yellow.
Filled with white and yellow fondant, Cadbury’s Creme Eggs are available from New Year’s Day to Easter Sunday.
1970s
A decade later, in 1974, Nestle’s Smarties were on the scene, offering a golden-wrapped Easter egg in white packaging, featuring playful and vibrant characters.
Smarties, although largely considered a treat for younger children, have long served fans of all ages.
The Easter egg offering from the brand has remained largely unchanged over the years – however Smarties’ artwork has evolved several times.
The product itself continues to feature a large milk chocolate egg filled with multi-coloured sugar-coated chocolates – just like the 1970s and 1980s design. But by the 1980s, Nestle had released Smarties Eggheads, which lasted until the 1990s.
Joining Smarties in the ’70s was Tooty Frooties – brightly coloured, chewy sweets, which to the dismay of many disappointed fans were discontinued in 2019.
The sweets’ heyday was much earlier on, stretching from the 1960s to the 1980s – and during that period, fans were delighted by a Tooty Frooties milk chocolate Easter egg, which contained the square-shaped sweets.
Elsewhere, Lion bars burst onto the scene in 1976 with the tagline ‘Crunch it, chew it. When you feel like a great big bite’. Combining wafer, caramel and cereals, the bar was a huge success with chocolate lovers.
The brand’s first Easter egg was made with milk chocolate and came with two Lion Bars, while today’s version only comes with one bar.
The packaging has also changed to a standard brown box, but the roaring lion logo remains.
But the ’70s was also home to Yorkie. So, remember when the chocolate wasn’t for girls?
Prior to 2011, the Easter eggs tailored for men were presented in a box resembling a lorry. The egg, wrapped in blue foil, contained chunks of Yorkie bar.
And, even earlier, back in the 1970s, the chocolate egg was sold as a spaceship.
However in 2011, the ‘not for girls’ slogan was dropped as the company’s marketing strategy opened up the product to all customers.
1980s
In the ’80s, a Toffee Crisp Easter egg included two signature chocolate bars. The eye-catching box, adorned with an illustration of a drummer, featured four cut-outs that revealed its contents to shoppers.
Elsewhere, the 1987 Walnut Whip incorporated a generously-sized milk chocolate egg and two small bags of Rowntree’s Walnut Whip.
The decade was also home to Easter eggs celebrating popular TV shows and characters. MilkyWay’s collaboration with Donald Duck was one of the most eye-catching eggs of the bunch.
Mackintosh’s Quality Street 1987 Easter offering, meanwhile, was a milk chocolate egg filled with bite size chocolates and toffees.
The charming packaging featured a man in a military uniform attempting to woo a lady wearing a voluminous pink dress.
Finally, known for its strapline: ‘Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?’, the brand seemed to draw inspiration from the quote for the sweet illustration found on its packaging from 1980.
It featured a boy holding flowers and his last rolo, making his way over to his crush.
This Easter offering contained two tubes of the toffee-filled chocolate cup alongside a large milk chocolate egg.
Still one of the nation’s favourites, the Rolo egg hasn’t changed much over the years.
1990s
The next decade, the 1990s, saw the launch of the Matchmakers Orange chocolate Easter egg.
Packaged in a gold box and released in 1991, the chocolate egg was accompanied by the thin, twig-like chocolate sticks that the brand has been known for since 1968.
The mint version was packaged in a green box and also came with Matchmakers sticks.
Rebranded as ‘Zingy Orange’ and ‘Cool Mint’ in 2003, both varieties can be found on supermarket shelves today.
Meanwhile, when Nestle’s Maverick chocolate bar was launched in September 1997, confectionery fans quickly realised that it was a dead-ringer for Cadbury’s Fuse bar.
Combining chocolate, fudge, nuts, raisins and crunch cereal, the Maverick bar was a success and soon got its own Easter egg.
The chocolate egg was wrapped in gold foil and accompanied by two Maverick bars, while the box featured illustrations of people performing daring stunts, such as a bungee jump.
Children’s favourite Winnie-the-Pooh also once had his own Easter egg, launched in the ’90s, which included a gold foil-wrapped chocolate egg as well as miniature versions of Milkybar Buttons, Smarties and Fruit Pastilles.
Elsewhere, Aero, launched in 1935 as the first ever bubbly chocolate, remains one of the country’s most-loved sweets.
The popular mint chocolate Aero was released in 1959 and by Easter 1999 it could be bought as a giant egg wrapped in mint green foil. Today, Aero’s chocolate bars continue to be enjoyed by eight million people each year.
The most quirky and unique Easter eggs you can buy this year revealed – including a £130 giant treat and a chocolate ‘all day breakfast’
With Easter just around the corner, the supermarket shelves are starting to fill up with eggs, sweets and confectionery for the spring holiday.
Chocolate fans will be overjoyed with the offerings but, for more experimental foodies, maybe the classic plain chocolate egg that we’ve had a thousand times before just won’t cut it.
If so, then fret not because there is an abundance of deliciously quirky Easter chocolates with unexpected flavour combinations available to challenge your taste buds this year.
From an English breakfast-themed treat to a marmalade toast-flavoured chocolate snack, and even eggs with pub favourites like Guinness and salty crisps, there is something for the more adventurous to try.
Chocoholics are sure to love Cocoba’s giant egg, which weighs in at a whopping 4kg and costs almost £130.
Some chocolate brands have taken to creating some unorthodox flavours in the form of Lakrids’ lime and liquorice egg or Cox & Co’s chilli and cherry variety.
We’ve been on the hunt for some of this year’s most unique Easter buys to snap up to gift your foodie friend or enjoy all for yourself.
Hotel Chocolat Marmalade on Toast Easter Sandwich
What looks like a supermarket meal deal sandwich at first glance, with its familiar triangular packaging, is actually Hotel Chocolat’s unique Easter treat.
The Toast & Marmalade Easter Sandwich is perfect if you want a sweet twist on your Easter breakfast.
It was made by 3D scanning two real slices of wholemeal bread to create a realistic mould.
Between each slice is smooth milk chocolate with sprinkles of feuilletine wafers and some Guérande sea salt to not only bring out the cocoa flavours, but also give it a familiar toast-like tinge.
Each slice has a half a caramel egg filled with Valencian orange oil and decorated with a swirl of orange éclat.
Hotel Chocolat has a range of Easter sandwiches available, including the Lamb and Mint, Caramayo, Cookie Dough and Ice Cream, as well as the Chocolate Spread varieties.
Torres The Crisp Milk Chocolate
Luxury crisp brand Torres has gone against the grain and launched The Crisp Milk Chocolate with Mediterranean Salt Chips Easter Egg at Selfridges.
Middle-class favourite Torres, which hails from Barcelona, Spain, is known for its £4.95 artisanal crisps in flavours including black summer truffle, Iberian ham and cured cheese.
For Easter, the brand has released an Easter egg that, from the outside, appears like a typical one, but the chocolate actually features a salted crisp filling.
Selfridges is struggling to keep up with demand as shoppers snap up the salty-chocolatey treat, but it is frequently restocking, so no one will miss out this Easter.
Lakrids by Bülow AEGG Lime Crackle Chocolate Coated Liquorice Easter Egg
Liquorice is already a divisive taste, but combine it with lime and you might have even more people opting out of trying this unusual Easter treat.
However, that just means those liquorice and lime fans might not have to share their Easter sweets.
Danish liquorice brand Lakrids has made its crunchy green mini eggs by pairing lemon and lime with white chocolate and soft liquorice.
The result is said to be a ‘harmonious blend of tangy, sweet and salty flavours’ with a hard sugar exterior coating a chocolate liquorice centre.
Chocolarder Wild Gorse Flower Easter Egg
The team at Chocolader have made its gorse flower chocolate bar into an egg for Easter.
The edible gorse flower has a surprising coconut-like taste and is typically used in salads, teas, wine or pickling.
Handpicked gorse flowers from Cornwall are infused with milk chocolate to create a ‘one-of-a-kind flavour’.
Plus, the packaging is plastic-free, and the egg only contains four ingredients: cocoa beans, unrefined sugar, milk powder and gorse flowers.
Guinness Dark Chocolate Rugby Ball
Beer and chocolate aren’t typically paired together, but even the biggest stout lover (and sports fan) will feel included in the Easter fun with Guinness’s egg.
For a richer and deeper flavour profile, Guinness has made a dark chocolate Easter egg in the shape of a rugby ball infused with the brand’s signature stout.
It also comes with a handful of delicious dark chocolate truffles with a creamy Guinness beer-flavoured centre.
Choceur Biscuit Egg Jammy Wheel
Aldi is giving fans of one of Britain’s most beloved biscuits a special offering inspired by the jammy treat.
The biscuit-shaped snack is made of white chocolate with biscuit pieces and layers of raspberry.
This tasty treat has been available since late January and is already delighting fans who say it was ‘divine’ and ‘egg-stra’.
‘The chocolate is a bit like a Caramac chocolate, nice and thick, bit of a biscuit crunch, and the jam flavouring is a lovely addition. Highly recommend it,’ one woman said on Instagram.
Cocoba Giant Milk Chocolate Easter Egg
Weighing 4kg and standing at 51cm, this enormous egg could feed the whole family throughout the Easter long weekend.
It is Cocoba’s biggest ever Easter egg, made from its decadent milk chocolate and hand-decorated with milk, dark and white chocolate drizzles.
Almost as eye-watering as the size is its price, costing a whopping £159.95. However, Cocoba is offering 20 per cent off, so you can now order it for £127.96.
Choc on Choc All Day Breakfast
Easter is the one time of year that it’s perfectly acceptable to indulge in chocolate for breakfast – and this Choc on Choc treat looks the part.
Don’t worry, this creation is thankfully not bacon, egg and bean flavoured, but the novelty mould is impressively realistic.
The toast, fried eggs, mushrooms, baked beans and bacon are made from white and dark chocolate and sit on top of a creamy Belgian chocolate plate.
Cox & Co Miso and Caramel Easter Egg
Not many have thought about pairing miso with chocolate, but the team at Cox & Co have attempted the blend.
The brand’s Miso & Caramel hollow egg, also available in multipacks and bars, is made from certified ‘Fino De Aroma’ cocoa, meaning it is in the top 8 per cent of all chocolate produced in the world for quality and flavour.
It’s then blended with creamy oat milk and flavoured with white miso powder and natural butter caramel.
And it’s not the only unusual flavour the brand has come up with this Easter.
Chilli isn’t a completely unheard of addition to chocolate (Lindt’s chilli dark chocolate has been on supermarket shelves for years), but this Cox & Co creation combines the concept with cherries, adding an extra layer of sweetness.
Not for the faint-hearted, the egg is sprinkled with Aleppo chillies to give the chocolate a fiery hit. It’s also vegan, so even the dairy-free can enjoy the unique flavour profile.
