Hames Chocolates guide to making the best Easter Eggs!
Before you can create your perfect chocolate Easter Egg you’ve got to make a few decisions.
By answering the questions below you’ll be part way to creating your perfect Easter Egg
You can make Easter Eggs in so many sizes. At Hames Chocolates we offer a range of sizes.
Baby Egg 15g-18g
Hens Egg 20g – 30g
Small Egg 50g
Medium Egg 75g – 100g
Large Egg 150g -200g
Extra Large Egg 200g -300g
Jumbo Egg 750g - 2kilo
Super Jumbo Egg 3 kilo
The Giant of Eggs – More than 3ft
Half Eggs available in Baby Egg, Medium Egg, Large Egg, Extra Large Egg
Select the mould that you are going to use. Take into account the finish you’d like your egg to be (the most popular are smooth, bark or crocodile):
If you are designing your perfect egg you need to make sure you select the correct type of chocolate mould. Easter Egg moulds available in lots of sizes and made of different substrates. If you are making a one off egg at home you might use a vacuum formed cavity mould generally made for just one or two uses. More commercially we’d use a polycarbonate chocolate mould as these are more robust and we can use these time and time again. These moulds are available in two different types, one for making Easter Egg by hand and the second has magnets attached and they are designed to put on Easter Egg spinner machinery. These magnet moulds are very expensive. We deposit molten chocolate into the these moulds and then they are placed on the spinner machines. Simply, the machines have arms that spin round and round ensuring that the molten chocolate fully coats the cavity walls of the Easter Egg mould and therefore creating a hollow chocolate Easter Egg.
Now you’ve decide what type of chocolate mould that you’re going to use, the size of Easter egg that you’d like to make, now you need to decide what sort of finish you’d like on your Easter Egg and that will probably be down to whether you’d like your Easter Eggs decorated.
The choices for the egg finish is:
Bark Egg:
This means that the egg will have a ridged pattern similar to tree bark
This is ideal as a “naked” egg, as a foil wrapped egg, we can front load the egg with sweets or other inclusions, we can also drizzle coloured chocolate into the egg shell to decorate.
Crocodile Egg:
This means that the finished egg will have a pattern on it similar to the pattern on crocodile skin.
This type of egg is more “old fashioned”, it’s ideal as a “naked” egg, as a foil wrapped egg, or we can front load the egg with sweets or other inclusions.
Smooth Egg:
This is a great egg to decorate, we can lustre with colour, we can pipe decorations in or on the walls of the chocolate, we can wrap in brightly coloured foil and we can front load the egg with inclusions. The drawback to the smooth egg is that it’s difficult to handle without making marks on the surface of the eggs
Bespoke Egg:
We can get moulds created to your very own requirements but be aware that bespoke Easter Egg moulds start at around £10,000
What type of chocolate would you like to use?
There’s so much choice: Are you looking to create a budget Easter Egg or a premium Easter Egg?
If you’re looking to create a basic chocolate egg then choose from milk , dark or white chocolate.
Want to create a more premium chocolate egg consider chocolate flavour profiles or inclusions. Use cocoa from a sustainable source.
Who’s the Easter egg for, do you want to make a claim about your chocolate egg? Consider a vegan chocolate Easter Egg, or for younger children a white chocolate Easter Egg, what about an egg made from single origin chocolate, or a milk chocolate egg made with British milk.
Sustainability
Do you want your egg to be part of a recognised scheme that supports sustainability such as Cocoa Horizons, Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade?
How thick would you like the shell of your Easter Egg to be?
Traditionally a standard hollow Easter egg will have a reasonably thin shell whilst a premium egg will have a thicker shell.
If you are making an Easter Egg by hand you’d make your Easter egg shell thicker by gradually adding layers of chocolate into your egg mould. In a more industrial setting we’d use a spinning chocolate mould and use one size mould to make different weights of chocolate. For example we’d use the same mould to make a 75g, 80g, 90g or 100g Easter egg, the only difference will be the thickness of the egg shell.
Do you want to put something inside your egg? Do you want to decorate your egg in some way?
If you want to put chocolates inside your perfect egg then we have to make the egg in two halves and then reassemble at a later stage but if you don’t want to put anything inside your egg then we make a hollow egg in the one
simple stage.
We can decorate your Easter egg with colour, drizzle, splashes, frontloaded with fruits, sweets or other. We can add chocolate shavings to make your Easter egg look like a sheep, we can put inclusions into the chocolate for example honeycomb to make a crunchy chocolate shell.
How are you going to pack your chocolate egg?
Remember, hollow Easter eggs are very, very fragile. How do you want your perfect Easter egg to be packaged?
Are you going to protect it in plastic?
Are you going to go plastic free? Does the packaging need to be recyclable?
Would you like your egg to be foil wrapped? And if so what colour would you like? Easter Egg foil is completely recyclable.
Are you going to keep it simple and put the egg on a plinth in a bag?
Are you going to have your egg boxed and what would you like your box to look? Talk to our chocolate experts at Hames Chocolates to create your perfect private label easter eggs.
About Hames Chocolates
Hames Chocolates began as a family venture and supplies many well-known businesses and high street brands with private label chocolate and business branded chocolates for all occasions from their BRC accredited site in Skegness on the east coast of England.
By answering the questions below you’ll be part way to creating your perfect Easter Egg
- Choose the size of egg that you’d like to make
- Select the mould that you are going to use. Take into account the finish you’d like your egg to be (the most popular are smooth, bark or crocodile)
- What type of chocolate do you want to use?
- How thick a chocolate shell do you want to make?
- Do you want to put something inside your egg? Do you want to decorate your egg in some way?
- How are you going to pack your chocolate egg?
You can make Easter Eggs in so many sizes. At Hames Chocolates we offer a range of sizes.
Baby Egg 15g-18g
Hens Egg 20g – 30g
Small Egg 50g
Medium Egg 75g – 100g
Large Egg 150g -200g
Extra Large Egg 200g -300g
Jumbo Egg 750g - 2kilo
Super Jumbo Egg 3 kilo
The Giant of Eggs – More than 3ft
Half Eggs available in Baby Egg, Medium Egg, Large Egg, Extra Large Egg
Select the mould that you are going to use. Take into account the finish you’d like your egg to be (the most popular are smooth, bark or crocodile):
If you are designing your perfect egg you need to make sure you select the correct type of chocolate mould. Easter Egg moulds available in lots of sizes and made of different substrates. If you are making a one off egg at home you might use a vacuum formed cavity mould generally made for just one or two uses. More commercially we’d use a polycarbonate chocolate mould as these are more robust and we can use these time and time again. These moulds are available in two different types, one for making Easter Egg by hand and the second has magnets attached and they are designed to put on Easter Egg spinner machinery. These magnet moulds are very expensive. We deposit molten chocolate into the these moulds and then they are placed on the spinner machines. Simply, the machines have arms that spin round and round ensuring that the molten chocolate fully coats the cavity walls of the Easter Egg mould and therefore creating a hollow chocolate Easter Egg.
Now you’ve decide what type of chocolate mould that you’re going to use, the size of Easter egg that you’d like to make, now you need to decide what sort of finish you’d like on your Easter Egg and that will probably be down to whether you’d like your Easter Eggs decorated.
The choices for the egg finish is:
Bark Egg:
This means that the egg will have a ridged pattern similar to tree bark
This is ideal as a “naked” egg, as a foil wrapped egg, we can front load the egg with sweets or other inclusions, we can also drizzle coloured chocolate into the egg shell to decorate.
Crocodile Egg:
This means that the finished egg will have a pattern on it similar to the pattern on crocodile skin.
This type of egg is more “old fashioned”, it’s ideal as a “naked” egg, as a foil wrapped egg, or we can front load the egg with sweets or other inclusions.
Smooth Egg:
This is a great egg to decorate, we can lustre with colour, we can pipe decorations in or on the walls of the chocolate, we can wrap in brightly coloured foil and we can front load the egg with inclusions. The drawback to the smooth egg is that it’s difficult to handle without making marks on the surface of the eggs
Bespoke Egg:
We can get moulds created to your very own requirements but be aware that bespoke Easter Egg moulds start at around £10,000
What type of chocolate would you like to use?
There’s so much choice: Are you looking to create a budget Easter Egg or a premium Easter Egg?
If you’re looking to create a basic chocolate egg then choose from milk , dark or white chocolate.
Want to create a more premium chocolate egg consider chocolate flavour profiles or inclusions. Use cocoa from a sustainable source.
Who’s the Easter egg for, do you want to make a claim about your chocolate egg? Consider a vegan chocolate Easter Egg, or for younger children a white chocolate Easter Egg, what about an egg made from single origin chocolate, or a milk chocolate egg made with British milk.
Sustainability
Do you want your egg to be part of a recognised scheme that supports sustainability such as Cocoa Horizons, Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade?
How thick would you like the shell of your Easter Egg to be?
Traditionally a standard hollow Easter egg will have a reasonably thin shell whilst a premium egg will have a thicker shell.
If you are making an Easter Egg by hand you’d make your Easter egg shell thicker by gradually adding layers of chocolate into your egg mould. In a more industrial setting we’d use a spinning chocolate mould and use one size mould to make different weights of chocolate. For example we’d use the same mould to make a 75g, 80g, 90g or 100g Easter egg, the only difference will be the thickness of the egg shell.
Do you want to put something inside your egg? Do you want to decorate your egg in some way?
If you want to put chocolates inside your perfect egg then we have to make the egg in two halves and then reassemble at a later stage but if you don’t want to put anything inside your egg then we make a hollow egg in the one
simple stage.
We can decorate your Easter egg with colour, drizzle, splashes, frontloaded with fruits, sweets or other. We can add chocolate shavings to make your Easter egg look like a sheep, we can put inclusions into the chocolate for example honeycomb to make a crunchy chocolate shell.
How are you going to pack your chocolate egg?
Remember, hollow Easter eggs are very, very fragile. How do you want your perfect Easter egg to be packaged?
Are you going to protect it in plastic?
Are you going to go plastic free? Does the packaging need to be recyclable?
Would you like your egg to be foil wrapped? And if so what colour would you like? Easter Egg foil is completely recyclable.
Are you going to keep it simple and put the egg on a plinth in a bag?
Are you going to have your egg boxed and what would you like your box to look? Talk to our chocolate experts at Hames Chocolates to create your perfect private label easter eggs.
About Hames Chocolates
Hames Chocolates began as a family venture and supplies many well-known businesses and high street brands with private label chocolate and business branded chocolates for all occasions from their BRC accredited site in Skegness on the east coast of England.