Artisans put the craft into handmade Easter eggs

Josie Raine hand decorates Betty's Imperial Egg with spring flowers

There are those who prefer a mass-produced Easter egg but these days there is plenty of demand for the luxury handcrafted product.

It is a busy time of year for Bettys with its artisan chocolatiers starting to prepare for Easter in its Craft Bakery in Harrogate as soon as they return from their Christmas holidays.

Named after the Imperial Suite at Bettys Café Tea Rooms, in Harrogate, its giant handcrafted Imperial Easter Egg is a real showpiece. Decorated with either hand-made and hand-painted sweet pea or spring flowers, they contain five kilos of high-quality chocolate. It is all made by hand and takes almost two days to make, and is priced from £200.

Other items in the Easter range include a hand-crafted otter.

A spokeswoman for Bettys said it had been a busy period in the run-up to Easter with products such as hot cross buns “flying off the shelves.”

She said in the two weeks in the run up to Easter sales have shot up over 40 per cent for hot cross buns and simnel cakes, compared with the equivalent period last year.

The spokeswoman said its milk chocolate spring flowers egg, which retails at £40, had been a favourite while Bettys online shop has seen a huge demand country-wide for special occasion cakes for the Easter weekend.