In short: Easter bread is decorated with icing, chocolate, freeze-dried berries, nuts and sprinkles. One rule matters more than the choice: the decoration goes onto icing that is still fresh, or it will not stick and will shed within a day.
A tradition worth doing properly
Easter bread is a traditional sweet baked and decorated in many countries in the run-up to Easter. Every year families bake their own, and the decorating is one of the most anticipated parts of it.
Icing
The classic base for everything else. It has to stay slightly elastic once dry: icing taken too far becomes brittle and cracks the moment the bread is cut. Egg-white icing holds best; sugar icing on water or juice is simpler but more fragile.
Chocolate
Melted chocolate can replace icing entirely or be drizzled over it. Tempered chocolate holds its shine; untempered will bloom within a day but tastes the same.
Freeze-dried berries
The most reliable decorative option there is: bright colour, real flavour and almost no moisture, so nothing bleeds into the icing.
Nuts, candied peel and sprinkles
All of them work, and all of them have the same requirement: apply while the icing is fresh. Once a skin has formed, nothing sticks.
Frequently asked questions
When should I add decoration
Straight onto fresh icing, before it sets. Nothing adheres to icing that has already dried.
What can I decorate Easter bread with besides sprinkles
Freeze-dried berries, nuts, chocolate decorations, candied peel and edible flowers.
Why does my icing crack and fall off
It dried out or was made too thick. Properly made icing stays slightly elastic after drying.