The Easter bunny paid an early visit to the T&W studio and left us with table styling ideas and a sweet treat to try. 

With Easter only a few weeks away, we created a gorgeous tablescape to inspire your own celebration. Starting with a neutral base – a textured white cloth – our creative team built up layers of soft colour and texture with china, glassware and tulle-covered decorations. Explore the details here, and don't forget Jono Fleming's recipe for mini donuts – a new tradition we'd be happy to adopt.



Pretty personal
Ribbons are an easy way to add pretty colour, a satin sheen and soft curves to each setting, as well as an opportunity to personalise each place.



Hanging garden
A bare branch provided a sculptural display, adapted for the season with colourful polystyrene eggs (try craft shops for similar). A large tulle-covered egg adds softness to the scene.



DIY to try
Stylist Adam Powell created a table feature using an old book. He removed the cover and spine (leaving the binding intact) and folded each page into a triangle, then fanned them out to make a circle. The colour of slightly aged pages worked perfectly with the palette and the angled form contrasts with the organic shapes of the hand-cast cloud plates.



Delicate beauties
Because everyone knows tulle-covered eggs aren't enough, we also suspended tulle-covered balloons over the table. An elegant orchid is a failsafe styling trick.



Glazed Mini Donuts
Donuts are back, according to Jono Fleming, and these homemade beauties allow for some creativity and innovation. If chocolate eggs aren't enough, create a new Easter tradition and tweak the glazing favours to suit your taste or your table setting.

Ingredients (makes about 30 mini donuts) 
Donuts
¾ cup of milk
2 packets of 7g yeast
2 tablespoons caster sugar
¼ cup caster sugar
pinch of salt
4 ½ cups plain flour
220g butter, chilled and cut into cubes
3 eggs, lightly beaten
vegetable or rice bran oil, for frying

Glaze
½ cup of icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon of milk or flavoured topping

Preparation
In a small pot, heat up the milk to a tepid temperature (not too hot or you'll kill the yeast when you add it) and then add the two packets of yeast and the 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and mix until combined. Leave the mixture for 10 minutes until the mixture is frothy.

In a large bowl, add the butter and flour and using your fingers, mix the two together. I use a pinching action to mix, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the caster sugar and mix until combed. Then make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture, and eggs. Mix until completely combined and then knead on a floured surface for 5-10 minuets. By the end, it should be quite a light, soft dough. Place the dough in a well oiled bowl, cover in cling wrap and allow it to rise for about 45 minutes. By that stage it should have doubled in size.

After 45 minutes, unwrap the dough and punch a little bit of the air out. Cut the dough into pieces and then roll it out, on a floured surface, till its about 5mm thick. Using regular circle cookie cutters, cut out a large circle and then the centre hole, the size is up to you.

In a deep frypan, add enough oil to come about 5cm up the side of the pan. Vegetable oil is a good option for frying as there's no strong flavour. I also like to use rice bran oil because there it has a much higher heating point and the oil won't burn. Heat over medium heat and when the oil is hot, drop in 3 donuts at a time (don't overcrowd the pan). This part happens very quickly, so pay attention! When the donuts start to turn a golden brown, flip them over and fry the other side. It should only take about 2 minutes to cook each set of 3. Using a slotted spoon, put the cooked donuts on a paper towel or cooling rack and leave until they are cool.

To make the glaze, simply mix the icing sugar with a tablespoon of milk. That will create an simple sugar glaze, similar to that of a Krispy Kreme donut. If you want to add other flavours, substitute the milk for 1 tablespoon of blended up strawberries, or try combinations that are a little different – watermelon, apple, the possibilities are endless. Then once the donuts are cooled, simply dip them into the glaze and allow the sugar to harden a bit before eating. This is the perfect time to get the kids in the kitchen and help decorate, drizzle different colours over to make patterns or add sprinkles and fruit on top to give your donuts some pizzazz.

I served my donuts on a spun sugar nest to make them a real dessert centerpiece. If you'd like to follow suit, use this online tutorial.