Top Tips for Keeping Kids Cool at Night in the UK’s Heat Wave When the UK heat wave hits, bedtime can become a battleground. Hot, sticky nights leave little ones tossing, turning, and parents longing for a good night’s sleep. At BROOD, we know how important restful...

How to make your own Easter Egg
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN EASTER EGG
by Oli ‘the choc’ Dunn
🐥
Hey everyone, I’m Oliver Dunn aka Oli The Choc, I’m a Chocolatier and grateful to have grown up surrounded by chocolate in the family business Simon Dunn Chocolatier.
I love working with chocolate as it helps me to release my own creativity into the world but it’s more that that, it enables me to connect with people on a more meaningful level, helping them to enable their own creativity is something I’m passionate about.
More so I never know from one week to the next where my chocolate adventures will take me and what opportunities just might present themselves.
Master Chocolatier Oli Dunn is a Guinness World Record holder and has appeared on TV shows such as This Morning, Blue Peter and Stephs Packed Lunch.
How to make an Easter Egg using a balloon and some chocolate, here’s what you need;
Easter Egg Recipe.
- 1 balloon
- 300g of milk chocolate
- 50g white chocolate
- Greaseproof paper
- Wooden or metal skewer
- 2 large bowls
- Mini eggs for decoration
Method.
Firstly you’ll need to temper 300g of milk chocolate, which means you need to melt it and add solid chocolate pieces back to the mixture in order to cool it down, until there is no heat whatsoever in the bowl and especially in the chocolate, the chocolate should be cool to touch on your lip and when you splash some on the greaseproof paper it will solidify within a few minutes, if its still slightly warm add some more soli pieces until it’s cool on your lip and the chocolate pieces no longer melt, not even slightly.
For more in depth instructions on tempering you can follow the instructions on this video https://youtu.be/8hBEGFutYlI?si=93LXEkxY5VZ3-Jf5
Inflate the balloon to the size you would like the egg, in this case I recommend inflating to circa 100mm in width.
Thread the skewer through the mouthpiece and cover the balloon with as much tempered chocolate as possible.
Rest each end of the skewer on two boxes/ bowls or similar so the chocolate egg (covered balloon) is suspended above the surface and not in contact with anything.
Leave it to dry, you will notice as long as the chocolate is perfectly tempered (cool on your lip) that it will lose its shine and begin to have a slightly matt finish when it’s set and therefore ready for another layer. Repeat this process to give the egg a second layer.
Suspend the egg again using the skewer until the egg has completely set.
Pop the balloon carefully using the end of the skewer and slowly, carefully remove the balloon from inside.
Pipe a blob of chocolate slightly bigger than the hole onto a piece of greaseproof paper, allow it to lose its shine and as its beginning to set, sit the egg on the blob of chocolate. Once it has set enough to peel away from the greaseproof you can do just that while using a spatula or pallet knife to smooth out the patched up hole, you can use your finger to smooth it out too.
Pipe a similar sized blob, perhaps slightly bigger (circa 5cm wide) to sit the egg on so it stands up on its own.
Decorate the egg accordingly with white chocolate writing if you wish to personalise.
Or to make an egg-head by piping a face on, use chocolate buttons as eyes and a mini egg for the nose.
Give this a go, tag me and Brood in your pics.
Go Eggstra or go home.
Peace, Love, Choc ‘n’ Roll
Oli


Rice crispy cakes.
When I was a boy my Mum always used to use the chocolate from my Dads chocolate factory to make crispy cakes at Easter for my sister and I. Therefore the crunchy chocolateyness fills me with pure nostalgia and takes me back in time like I just hopped out of the DeLorean.
FFWD to NOW and I’m a big kid with a nearly threenager daughter, I love baking with her and the great thing about crispy cakes is they’re is no baking involved so it’s super quick and easy to do. If you happen to have any eggs left after Easter (unlikely though right?!) they can come in very useful and provide a great family activity, just melt and add rice crispies.
My Mums recipe with an Oliver twist.
100g rice crispies
100g milk chocolate (buttons or broken up solid chocolate bar pieces)
20g white chocolate (as above)
50g Mini Marshmallows
65 Sprinkles of your choice
4 Tbsp Honey or maple syrup (optional)
110g Mini eggs
10 x paper cases / cupcake case
Makes circa 6 cakes.
Method.
Temper the milk chocolate.
Firstly you’ll need to temper 100g of milk chocolate, which means you need to melt it and add solid chocolate pieces back to the mixture in order to cool it down, until there is no heat whatsoever in the bowl and especially in the chocolate, the chocolate should be cool to touch on your lip and when you splash some on the greaseproof paper it will solidify within a few minutes, if its still slightly warm add some more soli pieces until it’s cool on your lip and the chocolate pieces no longer melt, not even slightly.
For more in depth instructions on tempering you can follow the instructions on this video https://youtu.be/8hBEGFutYlI?si=93LXEkxY5VZ3-Jf5
Add the rice crispies or your choice of cereal.
Stir until all of the cereal is covered in chocolate, add more cereal if you can / if it looks like the chocolate will go further. More cereal the softer / easier they will be to eat.
Add 4 tbsp oh honey or maple syrup if you wish to make them softer, this will help bind the mixture too.
Act quick here before the chocolate starts to set, spoon the crispy cakes into the cases.
Then for the satisfying part, drizzle tempered white chocolate over the top and add decoration such as mini eggs, sprinkles or mini mallows.
Give it a go, tag me and Brood in your pics.
Peace, Love, Choc ‘n’ Roll
Oli 🫶🏼


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