Whether you gave up the cocoa bean for lent and are planning to fashion a Sunday hat from the foil of all your Easter eggs, or whether the long weekend merely affords you more time to bake for the family (or yourself – no judgment), we have a bumper list of recipes chocolately and decadent for Easter.

Start amassing those bars, lovingly unpeeling the foil, and snapping the chockie into bite-size blocks… It’s time to make chocolate tart, cookies, fondant, brownies, slices, cupcakes and mousse.

Baked cheesecake brownies with raspberry coulis
This decadent recipe combines a classic base of brownies with a top layer of baked cheesecake and a swirl of homemade raspberry coulis.

Baked white chocolate and cheese tart
And if you thought there was no way to improve on the cheesecake above: try this white chocolate version with a crispy base made with amaretti biscuits and coconut.

Chocolate and hazelnut caramel bars
The creation of Rachel Allen, this is a wickedly sweet, chocolatey tray bake. The recipe makes a lot, but should you have some leftovers – we have heard of this thing, ‘dessert leftovers’, but have never encountered it in real life – you could freeze them.

Chocolate and marmalade tart
Rich and decadent, this tart combines the classic flavours of orange and dark chocolate.

Chocolate brownies with ganache topping
Bake these perfectly textured chocolate brownies to tide you over ’til your next chocolate course.

Chocolate brownies with homemade praline
These decadent chocolate brownies by Charmaine Lilje from Chardonnay Chefs are superlatively gooey, and with a delightful crunch on top.

Chocolate, coffee and hazelnut meringue
Roasted hazelnuts, rich coffee and 70% cocoa solids chocolate: this dessert is full of flavour without being heavy. It’s a great dessert idea for the lactose intolerant.

Chocolate, cranberry and pecan nut cookies
What’s not to like about this crunchy cookie combination?

Chocolate lime fondant
“There are a lot of fondant puddings around – which is a good thing – but I wanted mine to be slightly different,” says Valentine Warner of this irresistible recipe. “I was thinking about my favourite sweets as a child, which were the lime éclairs, those green ones with the little chocolate centre.”

Chocolate mousse with macerated strawberries
This recipe by the head pastry chef at Fancourt, Nicky King, combines the richness of chocolate mousse with the fruity tang of strawberries and Grand Marnier liqueur.

Chocolate pomegranate cupcakes
This moreish cupcake recipe comes to us from gorgeous new cookbook Make Give Sell, which contains ‘everything you could possibly make for any market, ever’.

Chocolate samosas
This simple, heavenly recipe comes to us courtesy of the winner of the award for best food blog at the 2012 Eat In DStv Food Network Produce Awards, Nina Timm of www.my-easy-cooking.com. “This is an easy do-able recipe and you will be ever so popular at your next dinner party!” says Nina.

Cognac truffles
Easy to make, these truffles look and taste wonderful. And they make perfect gifts.

Homemade chocolate crème eggs by Tami Magnin
Yes, it is true. You can make these babies at home, and won’t suffer the usual three-in-a-box limitation.

Homemade nutella
Roasted hazelnuts and a melted bowl of your favourite chocolate – how could it go wrong?

Mango skewers dipped in chocolate
The perfect post-braai pud, this healthy recipe couldn’t be simpler.

Microwave chocolate mug cakes
“A gooey, delicious cup of joy” is how Hilary Biller describes this easy microwave cake. Fresh from the Sunday Times Food Weekly Cookbook, one of these babies could be yours in a less than three minutes.

Millionaire’s shortbread
This is deemed the lottery winner among bars by Annie Bell. It’s one of many priceless puds in the author’s book, Annie’s Baking Bible.

Six-minute chocolate cake
This fabulous recipe comes to us courtesy of Sarah Graham, from her book, bitten. This can be on your plate in 20 minutes, with the majority of that time being lent to foot-tapping while you wait for it to cool just enough to ice.

Vanilla cupcakes with dark chocolate icing
This gorgeous cupcake recipe comes to us courtesy of Ready Egg, makers of free-range, preservative-free bottled eggs.