Easter: Top of the chocs

There are five sleeps till Easter Sunday. Still need to buy some pressies? Melbourne's upmarket chocolateries offer a mind-boggling array that balances quality and affordability, while more specialised stores create characters almost too adorable to eat. Take South Yarra locals Zumbo Patisserie and Burch & Purchese for example: the former stocks Despicable Me ''minions'' over Easter, the latter, chocolate penguins in fried egg hats. Here are our picks.

ARTISAN EGGS

Sisko's limited edition character eggs - Hopp, Buk, Pek and Cluk - are abstract works of art ($80 collection, $22 individual). They're adorned with bunny ears, buck teeth, a beak and wings respectively, before being sprayed with gold. Guess the weight of the giant Hopp in store before April 17 and you could take home the entire Easter range (worth $300), including the flat eggs that have been a signature favourite for the past five years. Flat eggs are available in milk, dark or caramelised white French and Spanish couverture chocolate, and some come pimped with coffee beans, salted caramel, roasted hazelnuts and freckles (small $6, medium $8, large $12). See siskochocolate.com.au

SO FRENCHY

All of Monsieur Truffe's creations are made on site at their Brunswick East factory with single-origin couverture chocolate. During Easter their bean-to-bar philosophy becomes bean-to-bunny, courtesy of a smooth chocolate rabbit (pictured) driving a vintage-style car ($16). Like the rabbit, the rooster ($11) is available in milk or dark chocolate with or without an edible metallic sheen. Four milk and four dark chocolate sardines in pale blue foil also woo chocolate connoisseurs ($16.50). See monsieurtruffechocolate.com

EGG HUNTERS

Boutique supermarkets have a range of hunt-appropriate eggs that punch above their price. Piedimonte's Supermarket stocks a huge selection including Hillier's 130g packets of solid and filled chocolate mini eggs ($2.29); crisp Ferrero eggs with praline centres ($4.59 per pack of 10); solid ''M&Ms & More'' eggs with mini M&Ms, Malteser bits and Mars Bar fillings (250g bag $7.99); and Newman's hunt-friendly Happyville pack (18 eggs, $5.69). Head to Leo's Supermarkets and pick up some mini Lindt gold bunnies or kü¨ken ($5.90 for five) to hide, or add an affordable Hollingsworth gold sitting hare ($4.85) for something that will make their jaws drop. See piedimonte.com.au and lemaxgroup.com.au

ADULTS ONLY

Eggs aren't just for kids. Shocolate's roasted black and white sesame seed egg (pictured; $22.95) is a Belgian chocolate lattice embedded with roasted sesame seeds; and its stunning, hand-painted psychedelic eggs (pictured), are available in boxes of seven ($20) or egg cartons ($34). Ganache's half chocolate eggshells are filled with up to 50 decadent pralines (between $19 and $130). Koko Black's realistic speckled chocolate quail eggs with crisp sugar shells (110g $16, egg carton $24) and hot cross eggs oozing orange and spice spiked caramel (3 for $6.50) are also highlights. Their signature this Easter is the Surprise Golden Egg ($65): a liquid, salted caramel-filled mini egg, inside an egg, inside an egg. Everyone who buys one before April 17 can enter the draw to win the entire Koko Black Easter range. See shocolate.com.au, ganache.com.au and kokoblack.com

GOING NATIVE

Haigh's Chocolate focuses on native critters at Easter. Their classic Easter bilby huddles over solid chocolate eggs and comes in milk or dark chocolate (small $11.95, large $24.25). Bilby-themed chocolate is also available by the bucket ($19.95), tin ($12) and with a plush toy ($45). Since 1993, a portion of the proceeds from the Easter bilbies has been donated to the Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia to help protect the threatened species. Haigh's even stocks milk and dark chocolate Murray cod ($10.50), a nationalistic alternative to the French tradition of chocolate Easter fish. See haighschocolates.com.au