We love Easter: toasty buns drowning in butter, the hollow crack of a chocolate egg, and the inevitable late-afternoon nap. This year we’re ditching the boring staples in favour of something special from a local maker. Here are some of our favourite finds.
The Sugar Man’s hot cross bun chocolate blocks
Never one to skimp on ingredients, Alex “The Sugar Man” Crawford is packing his Easter chocolate blocks with sourdough buns from Dough, butter from the Barossa’s Dairy Man farm and Riverland-grown-orange peel. Covered in 40 per cent single-origin milk chocolate and individually hand-wrapped, this is true indulgence at its stickiest. Find them at Dough, Smelly Cheese Shop, First Order Coffee, Fred Eatery, Belair Fine Wines and East End Cellars.
The Beigelry’s hot cross bun bagels
Everything at The Beigelry is strictly limited – its hand-rolled, chewy, New York-style bagels usually sell out by lunch time – but these fruit-filled numbers are something else. Bagel boffins Hong Pham and Brendan Petty have added the Easter-only special to their shop’s regular line-up for a few weeks only. Be quick, they’ll go fast.
The Lost Loaf’s sourdough hot cross buns
Okay, so this isn’t the wheel reinvented, but The Lost Loaf’s sourdough with apricot – baked by ex-Magill Estate pastry chef Emma Shearer – is a serious contender for Adelaide’s best bun. They're available at The Lost Loaf's shopfront at Plant 4. Don’t skimp on the butter.
Ona Coffee’s easter egg blend
Forget coffee served in Easter eggs. This seasonal blend from Canberran roaster Ona Coffee – pouring at Lockleys’s Third Time Lucky – tastes like Cadbury Cremé Eggs and milk chocolate. The blend consists of two naturally processed Ethiopian varieties, and washed coffees from Papua New Guinea and India.
Easter specials at Steven ter Horst
Few names stir a sense of anticipation in the hearts and mouths of chocolate lovers so feverish as Steven ter Horst’s. The Adelaide chocolatier is again turning it on for Easter with his “ruby honeycomb eggs”, hot cross bun chocolate petit fours, speckled “turbo bunnies” and beautifully hand-painted chocolate eggs, available in a mixed dozen.
Pane e Latte’s hot cross bomboloni
Matteo Giordano thrives on applying new twists to traditional dishes, serving up modern iterations of family classics. We’re not sure what his nonna would make of Pane e Latte’s hot cross bomboloni – light Nutella- and jam-filled dough balls adorned with seasonal crosses – but we’re all for them.
Devour’s hot cross bun doughnuts
Filled with vanilla custard and dusted with sugar, dessert master Quang Nguyen’s Easter doughnuts won’t clutter the cake cabinet at Devour for too long. Get in early.
Gilbert Street Hotel’s Easter taps takeover
Looking for somewhere to recover from family lunch? Head to Gilbert Street Hotel and kick back with a pint of dark-chocolate dark ale, Easter egg stout, vanilla and peanut butter porter or marshmallow stout. All on tap, all long weekend.
Abbots and Kinney’s hot cross punts
There are two things every Australian loves: days off and the start of footy season. Abbots and Kinney’s hot cross punts are a celebration of both. The punts, which are topped with laces instead of crosses, come in fruit and choc-chip varieties and they're available at A&K's Pirie Street, UniSA, and Croydon stores.
