Chocolate creme eggs: homemade to appropriate size

The Cadbury's brothers first produced filled eggs in 1923, but the Creme Egg in its current form wasn't produced until 1963 and it's only been called a Cadbury's Creme Egg since 1971 - perfect timing for this blog (and credit to chief research assistant Julie Hill for googling that!). And as we all suspected, they are getting smaller: in 1977 a Cadbury's Creme Egg weighed 39 grams; last year they weighed only 34 grams each. So it's not just my hands getting bigger then...

My homemade versions weigh in at a whopping 93 grams and will probably send most children super-hyper on sugar. The other advantage (?) is that you can use really good chocolate; another naughty change by manufacturers was swapping the Cadbury's milk chocolate shell to some cheaper chocolate a couple of years ago. Milk chocolate shells taste most like the original version, although dark chocolate shells are a delicious balance for the sweet fondant filling.

I used a silicon egg mould to make the shells, and I would really recommend this option rather than trying to roll chilled fondant into egg shapes by hand and dipping in molten chocolate.  I got pretty messy using the mould so I can only imagine the carnage without it. This version was £4.99 from Lakeland (oh, if only I was getting product endorsement deals!). They also have mini versions that should work in the same way but might be a bit fiddly. 

For the fondant filling, there are a couple of recipes on the net using corn syrup aimed at US cooks; some suggest replacing that with golden syrup for UK cooks but this results in an off-white filling, not the pure egg white we need. Instead, I tried simply using icing sugar and water, which makes the right texture and consistency but needs jazzing up with added flavours. The closest flavour to an original Creme Egg is vanilla extract, but I've made a few other suggestions at the end of the recipe.

Ingredients

(Makes 3 eggs using the Lakeland mould)

300g good quality chocolate (milk or dark, or a mixture)

200g icing sugar

A few drops of vanilla essence

A few drops of yellow food colouring (I find the gel types work best)

Method

1. Melt the chocolate, either in the microwave for a few seconds or over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool slightly, then spoon into the egg shell moulds, making sure to coat the sides. Chill in the fridge for an hour until set, then repeat to make a thick crunchy shell.

2. Make the filling by mixing the sieved icing sugar with a trickle of cold water to make a thick white paste. Add a few drops of vanilla essence.

3. Pinch off a third of the fondant and add a few drops of yellow food colouring. Mix well and chill in the fridge until the chocolate shells are ready.

4. When they're completely set, pop the chocolate shells out of the moulds. Add white fondant to a pair of halves until about almost full. Roll a small lump of yellow fondant into a ball and push into the middle of one half egg.

5. Brush the edges of one half shell with molten chocolate, add the other half and squidge together to fuse the two halves into a complete egg. Chill until ready to eat.

Enjoy as you would a normal Cadbury's Creme Egg, i.e. whenever you feel like it between now and Easter Sunday. You might need to phone a friend to help get through whole one...

As promised, here are a few variations for flavourings and fillings: 

- Add 2 drops of rose water to the white fondant instead of vanilla

- Add orange essence or finely grated orange zest to the yellow fondant for a chocolate orange vibe

- Add a mini egg to the middle of the yolk for an extra surprise

- Fill the whole egg with mini eggs or other bite sized sweets (they're big enough!) for anyone that finds the fondant a bit too sickly sweet.

Happy Easter!