STEP BY STEP: Make your own easter egg

With a little effort and some time you can make your own Easter eggs. Great to give as a homemade gift

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Striped chocolate Easter egg

Get familiar with tempering, the art of creating chocolate with the perfect shine and snap.

MAKES 1 x 14cm, 2 x 10cm or 4 x 8cm eggs PREP 45 mins plus cooling and chilling COOK 10 mins MORE EFFORT

200g milk chocolate, about 36% cocoa solids, broken into pieces

To decorate

200g white chocolate, broken into pieces pink food colouring gel (optional)

100g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids (optional)

Equipment you'll need

• Plastic Easter egg mould (made of two halves), either smooth or crackled. The large mould used in these photos is about 14cm, medium is 10cm and smaller ones are 8cm.

• A wide artist's brush or pastry brush.

• Kitchen thermometer that can read low temperatures.

• Cotton or plastic gloves (available from chemists).

• A box, plus shredded paper or tissue to protect the egg. You could cover an old shoebox with pastel paper.

For super-shiny chocolate

Tempering means heating then cooling chocolate to form a particular type of crystals in the cocoa butter. It will then set hard and glossy with no blooming (dots and streaks) and it shrinks as it cools, making it easy to remove from a mould.

Here's a simple method

• Put 3/4 of the milk chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water and melt until smooth. It should reach 45C.

• Add the remaining chocolate.