How to make chocolate easter egg without a mould?

Question

I am planning on making some chocolate egg shaped things with my friends this easter Sunday, and we are each going to try to make a chocolate egg in a different way, without purchasing a purpose-built easter-egg mould. We have a few ideas for different methods, but thought perhaps others would have some good insight.

Idea 1:

Blow the insides out of a normal egg, leaving the shell, and pipe in melted chocolate to fill the inside, then let cool.

Idea 2:

Dip a balloon filled with cold water (or air, we have some debate about which is better) into a bath of chocolate, let the chocolate harden, then pop the balloon.

Idea 3:

Thoughts?

Answer 1

Start with a block of chocolate. Remove everything that isn't egg-shaped, leaving an egg-shaped piece and a bunch of chocolate shavings.

Answer 2

Idea 1:

Blow the insides out of a normal egg, leaving the shell, and pipe in melted chocolate to fill the inside, then let cook

The issue with that approach is that the temperature at which the potential bacteria from the raw egg is rendered safe*, will ruin the chocolate. Then there's the bacteria on the outside of the shell. Many countries do not wash their eggs before sale. So it's not uncommon for the outside of the egg to have traces of faecal matter. So if you take this approach, you should heat the empty shells to a safe temperature before filling them with chocolate. Either way though, I think this method isn't a very good idea.

Idea 2:

Dip a baloon filled with cold water (or air, we have some debate about which is better) into a bath of chocolate, let the chocolate harden, then pop the baloon

This is a method that chocolatiers use but be warned that some balloons are covered in a protective powder, and there's no knowing how clean the balloon is from the factory. So it'd be advisable to clean them. Just be careful what you clean them with though, as some things such citric acid, will cause the latex of balloon weaken and pop. You can test this by putting some citrus juice on your finger and touching an inflated balloon.

The other issue is one of size. Unless you were talking about an Ostrich egg, there's a pretty significant difference in size between a chickens egg and a balloon that has been inflated enough so that it can support the weight of the chocolate without wrinkling. Filling the balloon with water will also not only make it unwieldy and much more likely to burst, it will also distort it's shape. So rather than an egg, you'll get something in the shape of a pumpkin.

The other risk you run is having the balloon pop before the chocolate is set. It might make for memorable youtube videos but cleaning the explosion of chocolate of every inch of your kitchen, including the ceiling, isn't my idea of fun... my point is, if you take this approach, just be careful to avoid creating a giant mess.

Honestly, if possible, buying a mould might be your best bet.

* Technically speaking, you could render the egg bacteria safe, whilst the chocolate is already in the egg, without ruining the chocolate. But it would take a long time and precise temperature control.

Answer 3

Cover marshmallows in chocolate.

Buy some large marshmallows and cut them with scissors to an egg shape.

Heat chocolate in water bath just enough to melt it. Too much heat makes it turn gray when cooled.

Put one marshmallow on the end of a stick. Drip chocolate on top and spin the stick to get an even coating. Put it to cool in refrigerator and do the next one.

End result is chocolate eggs with marshmallow filling.

Answer 4

On idea 1: You need egg shells that are food safe. You could get these either by say boiling the empty egg shells after blowing them out or by starting with eggs that are from a sufficently reputable source and sufficiently fresh to use raw (there are various recipes that use raw eggs but there are safety concerns, so you need to make your choices).

What I don't get is why you intend to 'cook' them afterwards? If you fill the egg shell with melted chocolate you can afterwards let it cool down until the chocolate is solid again. You can then crack the egg shell and have a chocolate easter egg. It will be a solid egg the size of a chicken egg, which I would consider huge for a solid egg but in general this should work.

Answer 5

When things like gummy sweets/lollies/candy are made, part of the process is to stamp a mould into corn starch. The liquid sugar+gelatine gummy mix is then jetted into the depression in the flour.

An "egg shaped" void could be excavated in a large volume of pressed corn starch. This can then be filled ever-so-gently with molten chocolate. Once the shell is hardened (assuming that it cools first), the internal chocolate can be tipped off.

Having a floured outside is probably undesirable. This could be grated off with a fine grater once the egg-halves are joined. To hide the rough exterior, apply another layer of molten chocolate, and coat in crushed peanuts (or coconut, cocoa-powder, ...)

Answer 6

There are "3D chocolate printing pens" available.

You can imagine starting from a little circle, gradually increasing the radius as you go up, and then reducing the radius to finish the top half of an egg shape.

I don't know if treating chocolate to that sort of heating would be best for the taste, but you would also be able to make other fun chocolate shapes, such as bunnies, reindeer, and bears.

Answer 7

What about using the plastic eggs themselves as molds and having a piece of dental floss or fishing line type string that you close the egg on before you coat in chocolate that you can then use to then "cut"the chocolate off after hardened and then melt bacteria into one after the plastic egg inside is removed? I know there are the plastic eggs that come open long ways as well that you could coat each half and put together after I'm sure as well? This would also make filling with something an easier option I'd think?