I finally tried M&S’s custard cream ‘Easter egg’ and I was so disappointed

Marks & Spencer brought back its Outrageously Chocolatey Custard Cream Biscuity Egg this Easter and I tried the viral chocolate egg to see if it lived up to the hype

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Each season, it appears, a Marks and Spencer item becomes a sensation. Be it their strawberries and cream sandwich, their Dunked N’ Loaded doughnuts or loaded cookies, there’s invariably a culinary creation from M&S making waves across social media. Last year, the multinational clothing, food and homeware retailer launched the ‘Outrageously Chocolatey Custard Cream Biscuity Egg’, a sizeable hollow custard cream-shaped ‘egg’ that rapidly gained traction on social media platforms alongside Waitrose’s ‘No.1 Chocolate Croissant’.

This year, the custard cream Easter egg has returned, and I embarked on a mission to determine whether it lives up to the hype. Securing my egg proved challenging. I popped into my local M&S Food Hall on a Sunday and instantly wished I hadn’t when confronted by the crowds. The Easter chocolate aisle was heaving with customers browsing the supermarket’s vast array of chocolate eggs, ‘Big Daddy’ chocolate bars and chocolate-shaped animals.

I succeeded in snatching the custard cream Easter egg from the top shelf and was instantly taken aback by its lightness. I’d anticipated the box would feel heavier; nonetheless, it proved easier to carry home than I’d imagined.

At £12 for 320g, I think it’s reasonably priced for a novelty Easter product. By comparison, Waitrose’s No.1 Almond Croissant egg retails at £15 for 275g. The packaging proved robust, featuring an elegant golden-yellow box and a protective plastic casing for the custard cream egg. Even after a 20-minute walk followed by a 20-minute train ride home, the egg remained completely intact.

The chocolate egg is decorated with crispy biscuit fragments, filled with luxurious white chocolate and a custard truffle. Being a custard cream enthusiast, I couldn’t wait to sample the egg. My hopes were high; I anticipated the crispness of a shortcake biscuit, a sweet yet creamy custard truffle, and smooth chocolate to bring it all together, reports the Express.

When unwrapping the egg, the size took me aback. I’d anticipated something slightly larger, though after tasting it, I understood why this wasn’t necessary.

If a single word summed up my experience with the egg, it would be sickly. I have a massive sweet tooth and adore chocolate; I’ve even sampled numerous chocolate bunnies from British supermarkets to find the best one, yet this egg pushed things too far.

The taste resembles Kinder chocolate, a blend of white and milk chocolate with the odd biscuit fragment scattered throughout. The custard truffle proved excessively sweet alongside the white chocolate and failed to deliver a robust vanilla flavour. It’s possible the flavour was there, but it was overwhelmed by the overly-sweet white chocolate.

For me, the proportions were skewed; it required more biscuit, less white chocolate and perhaps a slightly more bitter chocolate – maybe a dark milk chocolate or a 50% dark chocolate to offset the sweetness and let the custard truffle take centre stage. I can’t dispute that the quality of the chocolate was top-notch. It was creamy and had a premium taste, but the overly sweet white chocolate detracted from it.

The most striking feature of this egg is its visual appeal. It boasts the traditional patterns of a custard cream, the iconic M&S logo, and, as mentioned earlier, remained flawlessly intact. In fact, cracking open the egg proved somewhat challenging.

In summary, I’d say this as a novelty item. It’s fun and would serve as an excellent Easter present for someone with a preference for sweeter chocolate. For me, this prioritises style over substance; I’d opt for a simple custard cream any day.