Tiramisu hot cross buns, doughnut eggs: Have Easter treats gone too far?

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George Sandemanand

Olivia Hutchinson

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BBC

Flavours appear to be getting very creative on supermarket shelves this Easter

Creme eggs have been delighting - or not, depending on your palate - British tastebuds for more than 50 years.

“I scran them up so fast,” says Ethan in Manchester, who is on his way to a gym session.

The 23-year-old, an Easter treat enthusiast, has tried Cadbury’s other creme egg varieties - including a new Biscoff-filled one released this year.

“I’m not a fan,” Ethan says with a grimace. “It’s too gritty, that texture ain’t for me.”

You might have seen the caramelised biscuit Biscoff creme egg sitting alongside others in your local supermarket recently - a white chocolate version, Terry’s chocolate orange, Lindt, Reese’s peanut butter and more.

The humble filled egg is just one of many Easter staples on the shelves that seem to be branching out into all sorts of flavours.

But do shoppers really want to buy these creative versions of Easter classics or is a back-to-basics approach the way forward, particularly when the cost of living is rising?

These items are available across all big supermarkets. BBC News visited three major ones this week to see what people thought - and views were torn.

Traditional hot cross buns alongside some newer flavours - red velvet and chocolate

The ancient origins of hot cross buns have long been disputed by historians. And when it comes to new flavours, it turns out these currant-filled spiced buns - traditionally eaten on Good Friday - can be just as divisive today.

At M&S varieties now include red velvet, lemon curd, tiramisu, caramel fudge, chocolate, cheese and apple incarnations.

At Sainsbury’s the range is similarly extensive with orange marmalade, salted caramel, carrot, cherry, rhubarb, ginger and cinnamon.

Standing outside a supermarket Ethan tells us he’s heard very good reviews of lemon curd hot cross buns.

“I’d be up for trying all of them,” he adds, looking disappointed we haven’t brought samples.

But around the corner, we meet Jann, who disagrees.

“I’m not into all that,” the 80-year-old, who lives near Oldham, says. "Just give me a hot cross bun, plenty of fruit… toasted and buttered.

“It’s got to be buttery.”

Ethan and Jann are split on the newer versions of hot cross buns

Another Easter treat, mini eggs, have also been expanding into different flavours in recent years. In 2024 Cadbury’s released orange mini eggs, rivalling Terry’s chocolate orange versions which first appeared in 2020, joining other milk and white chocolate varieties.

And it’s a similar story in the world of big Easter eggs. Visiting a supermarket in Manchester city centre, we see two kinds of “layered” easter eggs - one made of chocolate and a caramelised biscuit spread, the other with caramel but no biscuit.

A “chocolate doughnut Easter egg” triggers curiosity - a shell blended with shortbread and fudge pieces, topped with sprinkles.

Down the road we meet 78-year-old John, who tells us he’s very open to trying new foods, but still has an allegiance with many of the classics.

“You’re kind of torn between holding on to the original and trying the new,” John says. “But I quite like the hot cross bun with a bit of apple.”

His favourite treat, however, is the Simnel cake, a traditional fruitcake typically made with a layer of either marzipan or almond paste and associated with Lent.

“You don’t find it very much [now],” John laments. " It’s a wonderful thing, very special for Easter."

It’s easy to see why more inventive Easter creations keep appearing on our shelves - people like to buy them. Research group Mintel says 75% of the 2,000 people it surveyed in December had bought food or drink for Easter in the last year, with chocolate the most popular purchase (48%) followed by cakes, sweet bakes or desserts (23%).

More broadly, the agency also has research from October 2025 suggesting seven in 10 people generally enjoy food and drink that provides new experiences such as new flavours.

Filled eggs have long been an Easter classic, but newer versions have been launched

But rising global cocoa prices mean chocolate is now 15% more expensive than it was a year ago - and Easter 2026 comes at a time when many household incomes in the UK are squeezed.

While chocolate companies have been heavily criticised for shrinkflation in recent years, Cadbury archivist Sarah Foden insists creme eggs are “exactly the same size” as they were in 1971 - and showed us the moulds used in the company’s Birmingham factory that year.

Cadbury estimates the Easter chocolate market in the UK is worth around £700m. Its vice president of marketing Dave Clements says Biscoff-filled creme eggs are “doing incredibly well” - which the company believes is down to shoppers having “new desires about textures, tastes, flavours and bringing something a little bit different to more traditional eggs”.

The company is not alone in its confidence about the appeal of more creative Easter treats. Bakery Lottie Shaw’s, which has been making treats in Yorkshire since 1912, says sales of its “hot cross tarts”, which combine spiced fruits with treacle in a shortcrust pastry case, have surged by 800% since launching last year.

Lottie Shaw’s

Lottie Shaw’s makes hot cross tarts which are sold in supermarkets around the UK

Neil Rocklif, who is in charge of innovation at Finsbury Food Group which bakes about 100 million hot cross buns a year for several major supermarkets, says experimentation with varieties began in the early 2010s, but exploded a few years ago following lockdown.

Cakes and desserts are a big inspiration for his team, and they’re proud of a new hot cross bun inspired by carrot cake.

“We used roasted carrot shreds in that one [with] pockets of white chocolate in the bun to replicate the frosting that you’d normally get on your carrot cake,” he explains. “And then to give it some crunch, we used pumpkin seeds in there as well.”

Of the millions of hot cross buns the company makes every year, two thirds are fruit-based. When it comes to new flavours, “it’s your imagination, that’s the only limitation”, Neil says.

“I’ve eaten all of the different flavours at this point,” he adds with a grin. “All in the name of research, of course.”

Outside another Manchester supermarket we meet Alina, 24, who says the rising cost of chocolate means she is buying less than she used to - and is now baking more at home instead.

“I work in retail,” Alina tells us, “you barely scrape by.”

She loves mini eggs and misses treating herself to those, but she can live without a creme egg.

“They are too sweet for me,” Alina says, “and I have a sweet tooth.”

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