So long, sugar coma: healthy Easter options outsell traditional treats

Watch out Easter bunny, the sugar-free craze is coming for you.

Traditional chocolatiers are reporting a massive swing towards sugar- and sweetener-free Easter confections, as consumers look for healthy and more ethical options.

Rebecca Kerswell, of Kirribilli's Coco Chocolate, makes an extensive range of European-style chocolate treats, using hand-tempered organic chocolate, but said that her sugar-free Easter egg, made from cocoa mass, vanilla and freeze-dried raspberries, outsold every other product in her online store.

"It's unbelievable, ever since it launched three years ago, the audience jumped on it straight away, and it's still consistently been our biggest seller," Kerswell said. "People want something without palm oil, high sugar or high fat content, and they know that the higher the cocoa mass, the higher the flavour."

Kerswell, who hosted a private class for superstar Adele during her Australian tour last month, has now developed five other flavours in her sugar-free range, including blackberry and lime, and hazelnut with sea salt.

Followers of paleo and sugar-free diets are the biggest customer base for her range, she said, and won't accept sweeteners such as agave or maltitol.

Raw chocolate king Pana Barbounis offers Easter versions of his eponymous chocolate range, and said he's had to put staff on double-shifts for the first time in his company's history to meet demand.

"It's absolutely crazy; for the last few days, we've had queues outside of the store before we've even opened," Barbounis said of his stores in Alexandria and Melbourne's Richmond.

He makes a vegan version of Cadbury's cult-status creme egg, filling raw cacao chocolate with a creamy mix of coconut oil, coconut butter and coconut nectar, spiked with a little turmeric to mimic the yolk. It's not technically sugar-free, but that hasn't stopped punters.

"We make the eggs from scratch every day to meet demand, and still sell out. People care more and more about what they are eating, and there's a growing demand for products that aren't damaging to your health, or make you feel bad," Barbounis said.

"I had a mum come in saying that she was buying the no-sugar range for her kids, and they didn't have any medical issues. I begged her not to buy them; I could just imagine the devastation on their little faces when they bit into the egg," Kerswell laughed.

"Please don't buy kids sugar-free eggs! All things are fine in moderation."