Wendy Hargreaves: Five of Melbourne’s best Easter treats

BY WENDY HARGREAVES

It’s time to pull out the stretchy pants.

Easter holidays give us all a free pass to eat chocolate before breakfast with a hot cross bun chaser. Bring on all the Red Tulip Elegant Bunnies, and those little Cadbury speckled eggs. Irresistible.

But your friends at Five of the Best want to make sure your sweet indulgence is worth all the calories, so here are our five favourite Easter treats.

ONLY MINE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Shop 1, 540 Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, Olinda (open daily until 5pm)

This little gem has so many hand-made chocky treats for Easter, with gluten free, dairy free and vegan-friendly options, but one sugar fix rises above the rest… the Easter Sundae Dessert Bowl. Take half an Easter egg and fill it with two scoops of ice cream, drizzled with your choice of toppings and extras (only available from April 15-22).

SHOCOLATE
Easter pop up stores at Highpoint and Doncaster shopping centres.

Five of the Best fell for Shocolate’s fabulous hand-painted creations in Fitzroy, but the shop closed. All is not lost though. You can find the fabulous golden chooks and eggs online, or at one of two pop ups until April 20.

STOKEHOUSE EASTER BOMBE
30 Jacka Bad, St Kilda

Pastry chef Lauren Eldridge has taken the Stokehouse favourite and given it an Easter twist, using Easter eggs to make a chocolate parfait, all balanced by mandarin sorbet and fresh raspberries… all encased by the trademarked toasty meringue. It’s only available from April 15 until April 24.

CHEEKY PANTRY
98 Warrandyte Rd, Ringwood North (open by appointment on 0402 911 237)

Their sweet offerings include a cute chocolate bunny, all 22cm of milk/dark/white chocolate covered in all the good stuff – pretzels, mini Oreos, mini eggs, gummy eggs, gummy carrots, marshmallow, mini Smarties, sprinkles and even a mini Malteser rabbit. Find it among many other sweet treats at this home-based cake business.

BURCH AND PURCHASE
647 Chapel St, South Yarra

Melbourne’s own Willy Wonka always comes up with the goods come Easter time, with cute-as-a-button eggs and chocolate treats, but this year is a bit special. Behold the Easter Cheesecake Trifle with layers of strawberry and mango jelly, vanilla sponge, passionfruit curd, mango cream and delicious vanilla cheesecake, all topped with Easter chocolate. Get ready for a nanna nap after a serve of this one.

Wendy writes online at 5ofthebest.com