How do you like your eggs?

And by that, we mean Easter eggs? April 17 will be here before we know it, but there’s still time to introduce some fresh ideas when it comes to chocolate Easter eggs. This week, we’re featuring EGGS-tra Easter eggs to help spark your imagination.

 

 

Smash Eggs
Say “goodbye” to hot cocoa bombs and “hello” to smash eggs! Many chocolatiers already have a hollow Easter egg mould in their toolkit, but what do you fill it with? Depending on the size of your mould, you may want to fill your smash egg with jelly beans, miniature foiled chocolates, truffles, chocolate-covered mini pretzels, chocolate-covered nuts and/or berries, etc. 

 

 

Some other unique ideas we’ve seen are eggs filled with tiny white chocolate chicks (cue “aww!”) and the more unexpected mini chocolate dinosaurs (cue gasp!). For even more dramatic effect, don’t forget the sprinkles, which will undoubtedly go flying upon impact between the egg and the mallet!

 

 

We love how RCI members Anderson’s Candies and Sarris Candies displayed their colorful smash eggs on their Facebook pages!

 

 

Easter Egg Overflow
There’s no surprise what you’re getting with Aldi’s Curious Inventions Easter Eggs! These Easter eggs are so packed with flavor, the contents are bursting through the chocolate shell. Although this does create a nice visual effect, the flavor combinations are just as intriguing.

There are six different varieties, such as banoffee (banana, caramel and butterscotch flavors); salted pretzel and orange; cookies and cream; popping candy; strawberries and cream (with real freeze-dried strawberry pieces) and the Billionaire egg, featuring chocolate and caramel fudge, white chocolate covered cookies and honeycomb candy.

 

Easter Egg Bark
Who says Easter eggs have to be three-dimensional? Here’s two examples of eggs that, despite their shape, don’t fall flat on the delivery!

It’s eggs-on-eggs-on-eggs with this chocolate bark by the LittleSugar Snaps blog that features loads of popular egg-themed candies. We love the swirls of color on the eggs by the Chocolate Pizza Company, plus the addition of a beautifully scribed name is an extra special touch.

 

 

Fruity Follies

 

 

These fruity lookalikes will have you doing a double-take! With a little imagination, Melt London transforms a standard three-dimensional egg into a strawberry filled with a chocolate strawberry cake.

Fruit lovers will undoubtedly fall for these lifelike pomegranate and lemon-shaped moulded chocolates sold by British grocery retailer, Waitrose. The pomegranate is made with caramelized white chocolate and real pomegranate, while the lemon version features white chocolate infused with zesty lemon flavors.

 

 

Animal-Themed Eggs
Take a walk on the wild side when pulling your inspiration from this barnyard bunch by Australian chocolatier,  Cacao or try a more abstract approach with the animal prints created for fashion designer Roberto Cavalli’s Italian coffee shop.

No matter if you like your chocolate Easter eggs more traditional or if you prefer a more unconventional approach, we hope this week’s post offers plenty of sweet inspiration this season!

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Don’t miss the opportunity to celebrate dads in a big way this year! Father’s Day is June 20^th and we’re sharing sweet gift ideas that appeal to just about every dad and grandpa out there!

Mr. Fix It

For the dad who likes to tinker and fix things. He may have a toolbox full of tools and gadgets, but does he have a toolkit made completely of chocolate?

 

The Fisherman

Give Dad a fish story he’ll never forget. How about a life-sized chocolate-moulded fish, so sweet his pals will have to believe he’s telling another tall tale! Looking for tips to perfect your moulding techniques? Read this past blog post.

Give hard-working dads and grandfathers a tie they’ll actually love. Click here to check out a tutorial on how to create shirt-and-tie treat holders as ready-to-give gifts.

 

The Foodie

Have some fun with the foodie dad by faking him out with a sweet twist on his favorite foods. The only way to improve on a good, old-fashioned hamburger would be to make it all out of chocolate, of course.

 

 

The Beer Enthusiast

For the beer-enthusiasts out there, RCI members like Joy Lyn’s Candies and Hilliard’s Chocolates have found that confections like brittle and caramel really do pair well with beer.

The Wine Connoisseur

Since a bottle of wine would be too predictable, why not dip the whole bottle in fine chocolate? Sure, wine is fine, but wine and chocolate is even better!

The Daring Dad

These treats aren’t for the faint of heart, but for the thrill-seekers and daring dads who have ever wondered, “what does a chocolate-covered jalapeno/pickle/cricket taste like?” It can’t be too bad, after all, it is covered in chocolate!

 

 

Host a “Pin-to-Win Dad’s Sweet Dreams” Contest

If you're looking for an opportunity to increase your exposure on Pinterest, consider hosting a "Pin-to-Win Dad's Sweet Dreams" contest. Start by asking participants to create a Pinterest board full of their dad's favorite treats from your website. Require entrants to include your company name in the description (for brand awareness purposes) and email you the URL to their board or post a link to your Facebook page (Check out this Pinterest contest for ideas of how to communicate the idea to your followers).

Appeal to shoppers by offering gift ideas they can’t get from big box stores. We hope you find at least a couple ideas to apply to your business and are inspired to dream up a few more of your own.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

 

Impress your customers all year around with 3D moulded chocolates. RCI member, Chef Brian Donaghy with Tomric Systems shares step-by-step instructions for working with both solid and hollow moulds, plus important considerations when it comes to tempering and cooling.

Start with Good Temper

It seems fairly basic, but before we dive into moulding chocolate, I feel compelled to note that proper moulding techniques all start with chocolate in good temper. Good temper leads to appropriate viscosity (90˚F/32˚c or below for 3D moulding), which ultimately leads to better finished pieces, whether that be your three-foot hollow bunny, your solid chocolate Santa pop or the shell to that beautifully decorated artisan-style praline. We are always looking for bubble-free chocolate, of even thickness throughout the moulded piece with the beautiful shine and snap that will delight our customer. How can we get there?

Solid Moulds

Many 3D moulds are designed as an open or closed format. The open format allows the mould to be made hollow or solid, while the closed format only allows for hollow manufacturing. Solid forming is fairly straight forward; clip the two (or more pieces) together, fill with chocolate, (bubble-free is easier to achieve, if you vibrate the mould while filling) and set filled mould in a cool space with air flow—I prefer 50˚F/10˚C for my refrigeration temperature. Leave the mould there until you can see the chocolate pulling away from the inside of the plastic. If the chocolate piece experiences breakage during this time, I will often remove some of the clips and turn the mould onto its base to finish the crystallization process. Once the piece is ready to be unmoulded, I remove it from the cool space and allow it to return to room temperature before I unmould.  Waiting this little bit, helps to prevent sugar bloom or condensation on the piece. If the mould has flash (chocolate on the seam that slipped between the plastic sides), cut it off with a utility knife or sharp paring knife and then use compressed air or a badger-style brush to remove the excess chocolate.

Hollow Moulds

The process for creating hollow moulded chocolates is similar to the solid, but after filling it while vibrating the mould, set the mould aside at room temperature for a couple minutes. Next, pour the chocolate from the mould back into the temperer. Repeat this process until the piece is the appropriate weight or thickness. Create the bottom of the piece, by pouring tempered chocolate onto a lined sheet pan, slightly bigger than the base of the mould. Stand the mould into that pool of chocolate and place the mould and sheet pan in a cool space. Like the solid piece, remove clips early if there is breakage, and bring the piece back to room temperature before unmoulding. The extra chocolate around the base of the mould can be easily removed prior to opening the mould by placing a knife between the mould and the chocolate, it should just break away if the chocolate is finished crystallizing.

Cooling Time 

What amount of time is best to store chocolates in a cool space before removing the mould? This will depend on a few factors; the size of the mould, how much chocolate the mould uses and the actual temperature of the space. Regardless of these variables, remember that no matter the size, amount of chocolate or room temperature, you will get more consistent results if that space has moving air, because moulding chocolate that has been properly tempered requires heat exchange created by airflow.

Follow this expert advice to achieve bubble-free moulded chocolates with a beautiful shine and snap.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

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• High humidity (50% humidity or less is best)
• Cooling temperature was too low (below 50° F)
• Chocolates with a moist center were stored in a high-temperature room.

• Centers made with soft fats. Many nut centers can also cause fat bloom when in contact with incompatible fats.
• Proper storage temperature was not maintained.

• Mould was too cold or too warm, causing chocolate in contact with the mould to lose temper.
• Mould was not clean.
• Too much or too little seed when tempering.
• Sugar bloom (see above)
• Center was too cool. Center must be close to the temperature of the chocolate.

• Cooling temperature was too low (below 50° F)
• Chocolate was in the cooler too long.
• Low viscosity of the chocolate