Classic themes of eggs, bunnies, sheep, and vibrant Spring colours are in full bloom in the latest Easter bakery line-ups at the nation’s retailers.
Helping back up Macphie’s recent assertion that bakery hybrids are on the rise, there are new formats that the traditional hot cross bun recipe has been twisted into.
There’s a few new faces placed on a caterpillar cake body, while a whole host of festively-decorated cupcakes, cookies and biscuits are taking up shelf space too.
Having previously batched up all the hot cross buns varieties appearing in supermarkets this Easter, we now discover more details on the newcomers to retailer bakery ranges as well as those rising once again for the season’s limited run:
Asda
Asda’s Patch the Bunny character hops up across multiple bakery items new for this year.
Patch the Bunny & Friend Chocolate Logs is a two-pack (rsp: £7) of chocolate sponge cakes with chocolate flavoured buttercream, milk chocolate coating and edible decorations that have faces of Patch and his cheerful carrot chum.
Meanwhile, the Patch the Bunny Carrot Cake (rsp: £6) sees a sugar model of Patch’s backend makes it appear he is diving headfirst into the soft cheese frosting.
Patch the Bunny Chocolate Traybake (rsp: £7) is a rich chocolate sponge topped with chocolate frosting, finished with sweet Easter decorations. Patch the Bunny Mini Cupcakes (rsp: £6, pack of 15) has vanilla flavour sponge topped with either chocolate, lemon or vanilla flavour frostings, finished with a chocolate flavoured sponge crumb or sugar decorations.
Finally, without Patch but with plenty of fresh Spring flavours and colours is the Raspberry and Lemon Cake (rsp: £3). This is a soft vanilla sponge filled with sweet raspberry jam and topped with zingy lemon buttercream, finished with lemon curd and sprinkles.
Co-op
The retailer has gone big on small bakery items this Easter, adding two new cupcake multipacks to its Spring line-up.
Having first introduced its puntastic sheep celebration cake back in 2015, which it dubbed the ‘diva of Easter’, Co-op has now created Lady Baa Baa Cupcakes. Priced at £2.50, each pack contains two vanilla and two chocolate sponges topped with vanilla flavoured frosting and sugar decorations in either sheep or grass stylings.
Also being rolled out for 2024 are Spring Party Fairy Cakes (rsp: £2.25), a nine-pack of vanilla sponge cake topped with vanilla or chocolate flavoured icing and colourful decorations.
Bakery items returning to its Irresistible range include the Happy Spring Sprinkle Topped Doughnuts (rsp: £1.25, pack of four) and the Passion Fruit & Lime Crumble Cake (rsp: £3.35), which has lime flavoured sponge filled with passion fruit and lime soft cheese frosting, decorated with a baked crumble and passion fruit curd.
Lidl
A pair of muffins and a sweet bread hybrid make up the discounter’s ‘special guests’ for Springtime trade at stores.
Sold individually, the new Easter Muffin flavours include Carrot Cake and Chocolate Mini Eggs Easter Muffins, topped with cream cheese frosting and a sugar carrot decoration or a couple of mini eggs respectively.
The Hot Cross Bun loaf, meanwhile, sizes up the classic fruity spiced bun into a loaf format with the traditional white pastry cross topping has been eschewed for a simple scored cross crust.
M&S
Continuing its caterpillar cake crusade, M&S has unveiled two new Easter-themed adaptations.
The Easter Lamb meets Colin the Caterpillar (rsp: £12, 750g) is a dual pack of the chocolate sponge roll recipe, one with Colin’s face in white chocolate and the other with a pretty lamb face. Colin is rocking a chocolate nest and mini eggs on his back as well.
Avoiding the need for a cake slice is the five-pack of Colin the Caterpillar with Easter Lamb & Chick (rsp: £3.25), individual chocolate covered sponge rolls with white chocolate faces of Colin, lamb, and yellow chick.
M&S has also come out with Easter Bunny Crumpets (rsp: £1.50, pack of four), complete with a grinning face already singed in. And then there’s the Hot Cross Bun Cake (rsp: £12, 600g), which has a lightly spiced golden sponge with sultanas topped with cinnamon flavoured buttercream.
Morrisons
The supermarket chain is aiming to ‘make everyone hoppy this Easter’ with a variety of sweet treats to share with the family, all for under a tenner. These include:
- Mini Egg Bowl Dessert (rsp: £2.49, serves four) – new for 2024, this comprises a gooey chocolate brownie base topped with whipped cream and mini eggs
- Easter Egg Giant Cookie (rsp: £7, serves 12) – baked daily in-store and iced by hand
- Decorate Your Own Gingerbread Easter Eggs (rsp: £2) – four-pack of biscuits comes with yellow writing icing and coloured sugar decorations
- Hoppy Easter Cupcakes (rsp: £1.40, pack of two) – vanilla sponge cupcakes topped with flooded icing and cute bunny face decoration
- Easter Mini Egg Cheesecake (rsp: £5, serves 6) – vanilla-based cheesecake topped with chocolate cornflake clusters and sugar-shell milk chocolate eggs
- Easter Bunny Gingerbread Biscuit (rsp: £1, pack of four) – gingerbread decorated with icing.
Sainsbury’s
The hot cross bun hybrid trend abounds at Sainsbury’s, although one new offering has made a meal out of it, so to speak.
Elements of the traditional Easter bun have inspried the new Hot Cross Chicken (rsp: £10, 850g) – a British chicken breast filled with pork and orange stuffing, topped with a mixed spice glaze and finished with an all-butter puff pastry cross.
Also joining Sainsbury’s premium tier Taste the Difference range is Free From Hot Cross Bun Flavour Tarts (rsp: £3.25, pack of four). These feature citrus peel, raisins and spices mixed into a syrup sponge, encased in gluten- and milk-free pastry.
Tesco
Tesco is also looking to provide bite-sized bakery delights for Spring gatherings or home indulgences.
The new Chocolate Easter Cubes (rsp: £5, pack of six) are individual chocolate sponge cakes filled with chocolate flavoured buttercream, covered with milk chocolate and each topped with an edible festive decoration.
Easter Cookies (£1.30, bag of five) are returning and still studded with milk chocolate chunks and colourful sugar-coated beans, while the Easter Cupcake Platter (£5, pack of nine) comprise vanilla or chocolate sponges with respectively flavoured frostings along with different festively-themed decorations done by hand.
The Easter tradition of Simnel Cake is honoured on Tesco’s Finest range (rsp: £12, 850g) – a rich, lightly-spiced all butter fruit cake with sultanas, raisins, glacé cherries, lemon and orange peel, layered with marzipan and hand finished with lightly toasted marzipan balls. A value version at a smaller size (rsp: £4, 400g) is also available.
Waitrose
Enjoying sell-out success of its Cinnamon Bunettone at Christmas, Waitrose is now introducing two new sharing cakes for Easter.
The Hot Cross Bunettone, a panettone hybrid (rsp: £8, 500g), has a spice cake mix with butter, sultanas, and candied orange peel, which also comes with a sachet of icing and a stencil to decorate with at home.
In addition, there’s the Lemon & Raspberry Torta (rsp: £8, 500g) as an Italian twist on a lemon cake with pockets of sweet raspberry sauce finished by lemon-flavoured icing sugar.
Waitrose proudly declares that ‘Jack is back!’ – the Easter Jack the Jack Russell (rsp: £8.50) is a chocolate sponge roll cake with an adorable brown and white dog face and a colourful coat of decorations.
Finally, there are the Chirpy Chicks (£4.50, pack of four), cupcakes made with vanilla sponge, vanilla buttercream and hand-piped yellow chick decorations. Sweet tweets!
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