The Easter egg of 2015: ‘Like a Picasso, it will be more an art piece’

ConfectioneryNews recently visited Barry Callebaut’s Decoration Inspiration Lab in Zundert where the company was already designing Easter Eggs for branded and private label customers for 2015 and beyond.

Art of the egg​

We asked the firm how it expected Easter Eggs to look in 2015.

 “Like a Picasso, it will be more an art piece,”​ said Sofie De Lathouwer, marketing director, Food Manufacturers Western Europe at Barry Callebaut.

Chef Jurgen Koens, who acts as a technical advisor to Barry Callebaut at the Zundert lab said that consumers in Western Europe were in some cases prepared to pay upwards of £20 ($31) for an egg.

“People want to pay for the design, not only the egg. People want to put it out on the table because they can show it. The egg needs to be like a piece of art in the house,” ​he said.

Classical egg designs tend to use a curve and include a little texture and detail, but Barry Callebaut expects egg makers to get more creative with textures and shapes.

A novel shape​

“People are not looking for the standard shapes anymore,”​ said Koens “Visually it still needs to be an egg, but an egg can also be sliced in two and put together in different angles.”​

“We are going away a bit from the classical milk, dark, white egg with a few nuts inside. You are not going to see that in the UK that’s for sure.”​

De Lathouwer added: “People would like to be seen with the products they buy and will go to extremes – they will go for the standard but also the extremes and these can be golds and in the colors.”​

That extra something​

Barry Callebaut says it has recently received many requests to print on the egg and is asked regularly if new molds are available as customers hope to personalize eggs to differentiate themselves.

Koens has created a series of Easter egg concepts at the decorations label in Zundert to boost shelf appeal.

For example, he has added decorations to create a patchwork egg and for another product has incorporated extra detail by cutting out a leaf shape. Koens has even designed an Egg with an intricate print of a moustachioed Easter bunny in a waistcoat that personifies how art is making its way into seasonal treats.