Chocolate eggs are practically obligatory at Easter but there are other presents to give during the season to your friends, family or host, you know — traditional essentials to eat and spring-like treats to give .
How about these...
Apostle Simnel Cake, by Fortnum & Mason
Now this is the essential English Easter cake: a light fruit cake with a layer of marzipan in the middle and on top, with 11 marzipan balls for the apostles minus the traitor Judas. This one has a nice moist crumb, with cherries as well as fruit and well-flavoured marzipan and looks lovely. £27.95. fortnumandmason.com
The Italian Easter cake
The Columba (Lina Stores, £15.95) is similar to panettone but in the shape of a dove for peace (actually, if you didn’t know, you’d be hard pressed to identify a bird) with candied peel and a crunchy sugar and almond glaze. This excellent version from the Fiasconaro family in Sicily is light and flavoursome with vanilla and honey. linastores.co.uk
Easter Biscuits
Betty’s of Harrogate do very good, very traditional Easter biscuits, buttery, crumbly, with spices and currants (£7.75). The box, with its jolly pictures, is lovely. This is what you want with your Easter Sunday tea. bettys.co.uk
Sunday lunch centrepiece
Easter means Paschal Lamb, no? This succulent shoulder on the bone is actually more of a teenager than a baby - technically hogget - and so more flavoursome than the lambs born now. It’s been grass fed with a happy homelife, so a very good joint. From £18.05 for 1kg. Or if it’s a take on spring chicken you’re after, how about a nice fat cockerel? These are properly reared, with good muscle mass because they’re well pastured. It has a fuller, better flavour than chicken, and is much nicer, I think, than turkey. From £53.35, 3 kg. edenmoor.com
Lamb Wellington, Fortnum & Mason
Here’s a little showstopper: a lamb wellington in elegant buttery puff pastry (£70), which takes no effort to cook and cuts down on the washing up. The lamb is from Cornwall and matured for flavour and tenderness. Delish. Bear in mind it arrives partially defrosted so follow the instructions carefully. Serves four. fortnumandmason.com
A toothsome dessert: Raspberry Tropezienne
This is just the most delicious cake: a light, light brioche soaked in an orange blossom syrup, with raspberries. You will always find room for this, even after the Easter lamb. £22. birleybakery.com
Easter Cheese Board, Paxton and Whitfield
This is a jolly nice selection of cheese for the time of year and a worthy Easter tea. It includes the English Camembert, Tunworth, plus cheddar and soft little wheels of Ashworth goats brie and Yorkshire blue, plus a good white Rioja, quince preserve and beetroot crackers for £100. Oh and a little Simnel cake. It would be a welcome offering at chez McDonagh. There’s also an excellent Easter feast for £60. If you’re getting just one cheese, make it the very delicious raw goat’s milk La Bouyguette . Yum. paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk
Affordable champagne: Aldi’s Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut
Aldi’s Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut (£15.99, 75cl) - yes, you read the price correctly - would be perfect for that underrated cocktail, Buck’s Fizz. If you turn up with this and some orange juice for Easter Sunday breakfast you’ll be a very welcome guest. aldi.co.uk
Breakfast in bed
After the rigours of Lent, what could be nicer than a blow-out breakfast on Easter Sunday? With a ready-assembled breakfast box there’s nothing more to do than put on the frying pan. If there’s just one or two of you, Made in Olstead, has a fine assembly of yoghurt and granola and a fry-up including black pudding, sourdough and a slick of delish smoked beetroot relish with its own apple and verbena juice. £45, madeinoldstead.co.uk
Or if there are more of you, or yours is a hearty appetite, Daylesford Organic does a Full English breakfast hamper with everything you need to set you up for the day, so there’s an assortment of tea (not strong breakfast, alas), coffee, orange juice, milk and sourdough as well as a dozen eggs, chipolatas, streaky bacon and ketchup. Bring it on! daylesford.com
Red wine for Easter Sunday lamb
Berry Bros & Rudd Cotes du Rhone Rouge, 2024, by Remi Pouzin. This organic, fruity wine would pair nicely with roast lamb. Berry Bros says: “Enticing aromas of fresh blackberries and red cherries are followed by moreish flavours of crunchy hedgerow berries with a twist of dried thyme .” I say, yum. £14.95, bbr.com
Lovely flowers
At this time of year you can get beautiful and inexpensive bulb flowers but if you want a bouquet that has pretty well all the good things of the season, the lovely Spring Garden bouquet from The Real Flower Company includes scented narcissi, rosemary and a selection of pretty flowers, starting at £78. There’s also a seasonal bunch of tulips for £40. And for the gift that really keeps on giving, the company has a Spring Box of bulbs, tubers and seeds so you can plant your own and pick them all summer. From £30. realflowers.co.uk
Spring in a candle
Oh boy, this is spring in a candle. Diptyque’s Fleur de Cerisier (Cherry Blossom) , £58, has a subtle amalgam of all the scent of the season. It would be a lovely present if you’re staying with friends. diptyqueparis.com
Proper Easter Eggs
The really traditional Easter gift is indeed eggs, just not chocolate ones. Think Faberge. Eastern Europeans, notably Ukrainians, have a long tradition of decorating (real) eggs for the season - symbolic of the Resurrection. You can buy egg dye cheaply online, or decorative sleeves that adhere to the egg with hot water, or try the old fashioned method of boiling them with red onion skin. Or, how about doing things properly with a kit to try your hand at Ukrainian egg decorations, which can be as complex as you like. It’s laborious, what with all the wax applications, but Luba’s Deluxe Egg decorating kit has all you need. £35.99, consciouscraft.uk
Spring gardening secateurs
At this time of year, your fancy turns to thoughts of gardening, no? So you’ll be wanting some fabulous secateurs to keep the garden looking lovely, won’t you? There is, to my mind, nothing to beat Niwaki when it comes to garden implements, and its bright yellow secateurs, £59, is hard to lose, and given proper care, will last for years and years. The hori-hori knife is very useful too. niwaki.com
