For many, hot cross buns are the ultimate Easter snack. (We uncovered Melbourne’s best in a blind tasting with some of the city’s top chefs.) But you (presumedly) can’t survive a four-day long weekend on buns alone.

If you’re venturing beyond the bun, here’s a list of our favourite chocolatey Easter snacks around town.

Dark Chocolate Bunny (With Mask) at Ratio Cocoa Roasters
This Brunswick chocolate shop, which makes all its dark and milky stuff from scratch, has created a very corona-conscious mask-wearing bunny for Easter. The 63 per cent dark chocolate bunny has its mouth covered with a white-chocolate mask. Prefer a bunny that doesn’t reference the current pandemic? No worries. A mask-free version is also available.

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The bunny is $8. Order online for in-store pick-up or delivery. Postal delivery isn’t available for Easter orders.

ratiococoa.com.au

Salted Hey Tiger x Gewürzhaus Chocolate Bars
Gewürzhaus, a spice shop with locations in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, has collaborated with Hey Tiger (a social enterprise that makes chocolate with ethically sourced ingredients) on a new range of salted chocolate. Flavours such as Red Gum Yum (red-gum-smoked salt with vegan dark chocolate) and Fine Vine (vintage merlot salt with vegan dark chocolate) are wrapped in vibrant, playful packaging.

The bars are $15 each and are available to pick up in-store, or online. Shipping takes two to three business days.

gewurzhaus.com.au

Birdsnake Chocolate Bars
These vegan chocolates are manufactured from bean to bar in Melbourne, and part-owned by the crew behind Carlton coffee shop Seven Seeds. Only three ingredients go into most bars – cocoa beans, sugar and cocoa butter – and each one is named after the region its beans were produced in, such as Peru, Madagascar, Tanzania and Ecuador.

The bars are $12 each and are available at Seven Seeds, Brother Baba Budan and Traveller, or online. Shipping takes one to two business days.

birdsnake.com.au

Koko Burrow at Koko Black
Melbourne-based chocolatier Koko Black has gone all-out this year with an intricate rabbit warren filled with clusters of chocolate bunnies and eggs. On a very cute illustrated box backdrop you’ll find caramelised coconut eggs; cookies-and-cream eggs; hazelnut praline milk and white-chocolate bunnies; strawberries-and-cream popping candy eggs; and more.

The Koko Burrow is $69. It’s available in-store or via Deliveroo.

kokoblack.com

Celestial Eggs at Bibelot
Outer space was the inspiration for this this year’s Easter collection at South Melbourne’s Bibelot – just like your primary-school science project, but edible. There are 12 handcrafted eggs to choose from, designed to look like the sun, the moon, the star-speckled Milky Way and the planets in our solar system. Some are dark chocolate, some are milk. All are out of this world.

The eggs cost $30 each, or you can get three for $80. They’re available in-store and online.

bibelot.com.au

Chocolate Bars at Burch and Purchese
For Easter, this South Yarra spot is selling almost a dozen handmade chocolate bars with chunky, souped-up fillings. Our picks? Dark chocolate and pretzel; raspberry with milk chocolate and popping candy; and dark chocolate with salted caramel.

The bars are $15 each. They’re available in-store and online. Shipping takes three to five business days.

burchandpurchese.com

Uovo di Pasqua (Easter Egg) at Piccolina Gelateria
Piccolina has created three distinct flavours of gelato-filled Easter eggs inspired by traditional Italian desserts – and all come in limited-edition tins. There’s the dark-chocolate-coated Ferrerolina, filled with nutella gelato, puffed rice and gianduja ganache; the milk-chocolate-coated Tiramisu, with mascarpone gelato, Kahlua-soaked savoiardi (ladyfingers) and a coffee-cream centre; and the white-chocolate-coated Colomba, with pistachio gelato, toasted colombo di pasqua (an Italian Easter cake) and soft caramel.

The gelato-filled eggs are $25 each and serve two to three people. Pre-order online for pick-up or order via Uber Eats. A small number will be available to buy in-store.

piccolinagelateria.com.au