This year, chocolatiers and candy makers in Los Angeles are pulling out all the stops in order to make the Easter holidays that little bit more luxurious.
A twenty-four-Karat gold eggs is trending this years, as are artisan, hand-crafted chocolates are quite a trend in L.A.??According to the National Confectioner's Association (NCA), around 90 percent of Easter baskets will include chocolate or candy of some kind this year.??Todd Johnson, the CEO of Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, claims the Easter trends started here are adopted round the globe.??"Many different cultures want to have sweets at this time of the year and certainly in Los Angeles and L.A. and Beverly Hills are just big trendsetters for this," he says. ??"And chocolates and crepes and all these flavours and sugars and fantastic, unique, put together items are so big in this area and they're starting to spread not only throughout Los Angeles, but throughout the whole country and the world."??Here at Compartés Chocolates, a hip chocolate store in Los Angeles, gourmet chocolates are made from scratch by hand every day.??The store has become known for fusing chocolate with art, style, design and fashion.??It makes these handcrafted 24-Karat gold-covered chocolate Easter bunnies and gold-covered baskets.??But it's not just Easter treats, there are also these chocolate-dipped matzos for those celebrating Passover.??"We always have to do something special, something unique," says Jonathan Grahm, the founder and owner of Compartés Chocolates. ??"Create chocolate as art. Create an experience. Being in Los Angeles, we also want out chocolates to look like they're from Los Angeles. We have tons of celebrities. Everything here is decked out in gold and Bentleys and Rolls Royce, so you have to have the Rolls Royce of chocolate."??Le Mervetty Beverly Hills is a 19th century-inspired gourmet French pastry shop - it specialises in cloud-like meringue treats.??The designer milkshakes here feature Easter bunnies and matzo.??The extravagant 'shakes' are made using whipped cream, fresh raspberries, ice cream, milk and sweet sprinkles. They're priced at $16 USD.??The milkshakes are offered alongside these elaborate Easter cakes made solely from meringue, priced at $150 USD.??The Passover Matzo milkshake and Matzo Passover meringue cake are popular options for those aiming to avoid flour this Easter.??This year's Easter slogan for Beverly Hills candy maker, Sugarfina is 'Sun's Out, Buns Out.'??Manager Maritza Murguia says this year they've created miniature golden truffle eggs and marzipan eggs.??There's also a Springtime Candy Bento Box that boasts nine different boxes of eggs, plus designer bunny gummy bears.
?"Our Easter candy for 2017 is really over the top," says Murguia. ??"This is Beverly Hills, so we like to do things in a more luxurious, sophisticated manner and that's really what we stand out for here. So, just to give you an example of that, we have our Sun's Out, Buns Out fluffy bunny tails which are these little fluffy marshmallow strawberry flavoured gummies and they're just amazing and delicious. They're covered in this beautiful gold foil packaging. We also have our 24-Karat gold swizzle sticks, which is rock candy, but covered in 24-Karat gold flakes, so really just luxurious and over the top, perfect for Beverly Hills."??Diane Krön Chocolatier in Beverly Hills is offering creative paper rose gift boxes to fill with a combination of chocolates chosen by the customer. They're priced at $130 USD.??The business began back in the 1970's and soon became a well-known luxury name.??The company claims devoted clients over the years have included First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, artist Andy Warhol, actress Katharine Hepburn, Henry Ford and Estee Lauder.
This year, some of its Easter bunnies are made from solid milk and dark chocolate. ??Elsewhere, there are Easter and chicken themed bags filled with chocolate Easter eggs and various individual chocolates.