A new report claims chocolate maker Cadbury lost $20 million thanks to a slump in its traditionally best selling Easter egg line.

According to London’s The Telegraph, research by trade magazine The Grocer found that the Creme Egg was the biggest casualty out of all the company’s Easter eggs, losing $12.4 million out of the $20.6 million.

The steep dip has been blamed on Cadbury’s US based parent company, Kraft, for changing the chocolate recipe for the Creme Eggs in 2015.

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They said they would aim to make up for the losses this Easter.

A spokesman for Cadbury, which was taken over by Kraft in 2010, told The Sun at the time: “It’s no longer Dairy Milk. It is similar, but not exactly Daily Milk. We tested the new one with consumers. It was found to be the best one for Creme Egg, which is why we’ve used it this year.”

“The Creme Egg had never been called Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Creme Egg,” the spokesperson said.

“We have never played on the fact that Dairy Milk was used.”

But, on Tuesday, Mondelez International marketing manager Claire Low told The Telegraph that the recipe change was not the cause of the poor performance.

Mondelez International is the parent company for both Cadbury and Kraft.

“The fundamentals of Cadbury Creme Egg remain exactly the same. It’s simply not the case that Creme Egg has always been made with Cadbury Dairy Milk,” Ms Low said.

“We are aware shorter seasons can be challenging.

“To strengthen our positioning, we will continue to invest in power brands, launching new seasonal products and a brand new Easter pack design.”

A Cadbury spokesperson backed Ms Low’s comments in The Telegraph.

The spokesman said: “The fundamentals of the Cadbury Creme Egg remain exactly the same as the original in 1971 recipe with delicious Cadbury chocolate and a unique gooey creme filling. In fact, only six out of 45 years of gooey history saw the shell made with Cadbury Dairy Milk”.

“Cadbury remains the number one treat at Easter. The Easter ‘season’ changes every year depending on when Easter falls. It was two weeks shorter in 2015 than 2014 so it’s hard to compare like for like,” the statement said.

“This is why most of the big chocolate brands show a fall in revenue for 2015 against 2014. We are proud to be the nation’s favourite at Easter and we will continue to strengthen our position by investing in power brands and launching new seasonal products.”