Long before Lindt d’Or bunnies, Nutella crepes and the obligatory duty-free Toblerone, the Aztecs believed cocoa beans to be a gift from the gods. I can’t really find it in my heart to disagree with them.

Chocolate first arrived in Europe aboard brimming Spanish galleons in the 16th century and it was the start of a beautiful love story spanning through centuries. Although the Mezoamerican peoples served their revered cocoa beans as an unsweetened drink, cocoa was soon paired up with sugar in Spain and the rest, as they say, is history.

Flash forward a few centuries and chocolate is everywhere you look, particularly at this time of the year, with Easter just around the corner. The giving and decoration of eggs in springtime has roots in many cultures, even before it was adopted as part of traditional Christian Easter celebrations, but it’s not entirely clear how and why chocolate came into the picture.

Whoever first had the idea to hand out egg-shaped chocolate treats to loved ones, they are clearly one of the unsung heroes of history and I salute them.

These eggshells hide delicious cake inside for a sumptuous Easter surprise.

However, though my love for chocolate is deep and true, I’ve had quite enough Easter eggs for one lifetime. Let’s face it, with the average egg costing over €10, you’re paying a significant markup on your chocolate just to make it egg-shaped and seasonally decorated. Personally, I like to get as much chocolate as I pay for and that’s why it’s high time to go on a quest for a delicious dessert alternative.

Whether your chocolate skills are the stuff of legend or you’re still a novice in the kitchen, there’s a scrumptious dessert to suit you and soothe that chocolate craving.

Not everyone is a baker, I understand that and even more so not everyone has the time to spend painstakingly measuring every gram of ingredients to meet a recipe’s exact specifications. If you’re not going to be precise, you’d better give up on baking as a rule, but there are plenty of recipes that don’t exactly need a master chef to be effective. If you can’t cook or won’t cook, I’ve got just the thing for you: two ingredient Nutella cake.

With the average egg costing over €10, you’re paying a significant markup on your chocolate just to make it egg-shaped

Where has this marvellous invention been all your life? It’s all right, just make up for all that lost time with 240g of Nutella and four large eggs. Simply whisk your eggs on a high speed for around five minutes until they triple in volume and microwave your Nutella in a large bowl for 15-20 seconds. Fold one third of the egg mix into the Nutella until it is entirely combined and continue to add the remaining egg mixture slowly until everything has been incorporated. Bake for around 25 minutes at 180 degrees and prepare to hand out the recipe to your adoring fans when you turn up to lunch with this beauty in your hands. You’re welcome.

For the brave bakers – the risk-takers who live off the adulation of those they feed – here’s an alternative Easter treat that you’ll be hearing about until Christmas: egg shell cupcakes. The name sounds a little less than appealing, but allow me to impress upon you the brilliance of these sweet treats: delicious cupcakes baked directly inside hollowed-out egg shells.

It sounds crazy, but that’s precisely what makes them so fantastic. Whip out your favourite chocolate cake recipe and prepare to be the toast of Easter lunch. Think of it like making normal cupcakes, but roughly a thousand times more awesome because you’re sneaking them into eggshells like some sort of magical fluffy cupcake ninja.

The first thing you’re going to need is guts… the second thing you’re going to need is a reasonably large quantity of eggs. Start by making a small hole in the rounded bottom of an egg, being very careful not to make a large crack in the process. Ideally you will want to use a cork screw, a needle or any other appropriately small and pointy utensil. Once you’ve successfully perforated the shell, pick away small pieces until you’ve enlarged the hole to be roughly the size of your fingertip.

Repeat this with a number of eggs and empty the contents of each of them into a large bowl to use later (hint: I hope you like omelettes for lunch). Rinse each of your empty eggshells out under the tap – remember to be careful with them – before completely submerging them in salt water for 30 minutes. Allow your eggs to sink beneath the water completely, if they fail to do so, add more salt to the water until they remain submerged. Once the 30 minutes are up, gently rinse the salty water away by running your eggs under the tap again and leaving them to dry on a kitchen towel.

While your eggs have hopefully survived the washing and drying process, it’s time to get that cake batter going. Seeing as you’ve just successfully hollowed out an eggshell to use as a cupcake wrapper, I don’t think anyone will begrudge you a little Betty Crocker cake mix, but feel free to make whatever recipe you like best. Make little aluminium foil nests inside a cupcake tray to help your eggs stay upright and stand them upside down so that you can see the hole easily.

Using a piping bag, fill the eggshells with your batter. Leave at least a quarter of each shell empty to give the cake time to expand during the baking process. Bake your amazing cake-eggs at 180˚C for around 20 minutes and voila. You are an Easter sensation in the making.

So much deliciousness to choose from and not an overpriced egg in sight. There’s no excuse not to make this Easter as chocolatey and special as possible.