Whenever Easter rolls around, I think about the time I stole my cousin’s Cadbury Creme Egg. Blatantly. Right out of his Easter basket. While he sat there with his back turned. It has become something of a family joke over the years because my dad managed to capture undeniable video evidence of the entire sad affair.
I’ve edited this video, not to cast a dreary shadow over my otherwise pristine legacy, but to make a point: I adore Cadbury Creme Eggs. Is adore strong enough a word for a person who would steal their own cousin’s Easter bounty? Perhaps not. Perhaps I am infatuated with Cadbury Eggs. Obsessed. They embody every wonderfully confusing aspect of Easter—conflating rabbits and chickens while insisting it all has something to do with Jesus—in one toothachingly delicious confection, wrapped in colored foil reminiscent of a bejeweled crown.
Yet you’d be justified to ask why this topic belongs on a 1980s-centric website. After all, the cream-filled chocolate egg was first conceived of in 1923, eventually evolving into the treat we now know in 1963 (then called “Fry’s Creme Eggs”). It wasn’t until 1971, and still notably long before the ‘80s, when they officially became “Cadbury Creme Eggs.” Further, these Easter treats are still made and sold today. So the question remains: why am I writing about them on the 80sXchange?
First, I’d argue that Cadbury Creme Eggs didn’t reach the height of their popularity until the ‘80s, when America was first introduced to the adorable clucking Cadbury Easter Bunny. A commercial that would air for decades, even as the equally memorable “Cadbury Bunny Tryout” commercials of 1989 and 1994 made their own marks on history.
Further, in the UK they got the incredibly effective “How do you eat yours” campaign in 1986 (two years before the “How do you eat a Reese's?” ad campaign). Worth mentioning, though slightly off topic, is that the Cadbury Eggs of the UK reportedly taste different than the US version. Though I’ve never had the UK version, I’ve had enough experience with other candies from overseas to know that the quality isn’t just different. It’s better.
Secondly, I’d argue that the Cadbury Creme Egg of today is simply not the same confection as the one of the 1980s. Not only has the egg decreased in size over the years, but the chocolate recipe has also changed, at least here in the US. While they’re still good, it’s just not the same candy.
I still remember the yearly hunt for these foil-wrapped treasures, often stacked in boxes or in great piles within enormous displays. Children would paw through looking for the best, unmarred eggs. For if there was as much as a tiny fissure or puncture in the chocolate shell (so the legend goes) the fondant filling would go from silken and creamy to seized-up and grainy. In my estimation, whether punctured or not, I always had a fifty-fifty shot of getting the subpar filling.
Although time changes all things, I can assure you that—shrunken or not, different recipe or not—I will go on my yearly hunt for Cadbury Eggs. And yes, I may even sneak one out of some unsuspecting family member’s Easter Basket.
For old times’ sake.
