How to make your own Easter eggs
Move over Willy Wonka - Master chocolatier Paul A Young knows a thing or two about creating the perfect Easter egg, he’s here with a step-by-step guide to making your very own at home. He’s got everything from creme eggs to piñata eggs and even decorating your own unicorn-inspired egg!
How to temper your own chocolate
Easter eggs
Ingredients
1 kg milk chocolate, melted over a bain marie (temper the chocolate if you want to achieve a good finish and crack to your eggs)
Chocolate to fill the eggs: Smarties, Chocolate Buttons, Daim Bars, Mini Eggs etc.
Method
Take 800g chocolate and melt it in a bain marie to 45c. Never a microwave it won’t achieve a good melt and may burn the chocolate.
Pour two thirds of the chocolate onto a large marble surface. Ideally you will have this installed already and call it your kitchen counter. Temper it with a palette knife and a scraper, moving, spreading, piling in, spreading again until it starts to solidify.
Plonk the chocolate back into the remaining third of the still melted chocolate. Mix well until evenly smooth.
To line your Easter egg moulds
Clean the moulds well with cotton wool until shiny
Fill the moulds with chocolate until they overflow
Scrape off any excess chocolate then tap the mould on the counter to release any air bubbles
Set the mould aside for a few minutes until the chocolate sets to form a thin sell. Tip out any excess chocolate and scrape the mould to create clean finish on the eggs.
Refrigerate for 15 minutes until the chocolate has set and released from the mould
Wearing a pair of cotton of vinyl food handling gloves remove from the mould and place on a clean tea towel so they don’t roll away
Now carefully fill the egg half with your chosen sweets. Using your finger or a piping bag apply a small mount of chocolate around one half of the eggs.
Swiftly bring the two halves together to seal. Enjoy your eggs within two weeks of making and store at room temperature.
Paul's fondant eggs
Serves: makes 6 eggs
Ingredients
800g milk chocolate of your choice100g sugar100g water500g white fondant icingyellow and orange food colouring
Method
Take 800g chocolate and melt it in a bain marie to 45C. Never a microwave, it won’t achieve a good melt and may burn the chocolate.
Pour two-thirds of the chocolate on to a large marble surface. Ideally you will have this installed already and call it your counter. Temper it with a palette knife and a scraper, moving, spreading, piling in, spreading again, moving, until it starts to solidify.
Plonk it back into the remaining third of still melted chocolate. Mix well until evenly smooth. Pour the whole lot into your mould and tap to release any air bubbles.
Leave it for two to three minutes. Pour out the excess. Put the shells in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Put 100g sugar and 100ml water into a pan and dissolve to make sugar syrup
Take 500g of white fondant icing, cut it in half, pummel yellow food colouring into one half
Grate the icing and mix it with sugar syrup until it is the consistency of buttercream icing
Fill each shell half with white fondant then a dollop of yellow for the yolk and stick the two halves together with a little melted chocolate
Your eggs will – but are unlikely to – last for one month
Unicorn ice cream
Serves:2
Ingredients
4 tbsp melted chocolate, cooled1 Easter egggold edible shimmer spray2 ice cream cones3 tbsp buttercream icinghundreds and thousands sprinklesscoops of different coloured ice creamsgold coloured mini eggs, chocolate buttons and sprinkles, to decorate
Method
Place two tablespoons of melted chocolate on a large piece of baking parchment paper and sit one of the Easter egg halves on top. Repeat with the other egg half and allow to set.
Spray the eggs with gold edible shimmer spray to coat. Leave to dry.
Using a serated knife, trim the ice cream cones to about 11cm long.
Spread buttercream icing all over the outside of the cones using a table knife, then roll in the hundreds and thousands to coat. Leave to dry.
Using a palette knife, carefully transfer the eggs with their base chocolate to serving plates. Fill the Easter egg halves with scoops of different coloured ice creams and decorate with gold mini eggs, chocolate buttons and sprinkles. Serve immediately.