Page 60 of A Recipe for Romance
This is a simple ganache of cream and chocolate. Make it in small quantities, since it does not keep for more than a couple of weeks in the fridge.
You will need double cream and chocolate. While Chloe used couverture chocolate, patisserie or any type with a good percentage of cocoa solids will work perfectly well. I prefer very dark, bitter chocolate, but choose the kind you like best.
Have a clean jam jar ready.
For a firm but spreadable consistency, you need roughly equal parts of double cream and chocolate. Grate the chocolate into a bowl, or chop it finely.
Heat the double cream until it is hot but not boiling and then pour it over the chocolate. Stir well until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
At this stage you can add powdered ginger to taste, to make Chloe’s chocolate and ginger spread, or experiment with flavourings like rum or vanilla.
Spoon into the clean jar and allow it to go completely cold before covering and putting it in the fridge.
This is great fun to do and very easy, if messy!
You will need an Easter egg mould – I have metal and plastic ones in various sizes and they work equally well. Rub the insides with a piece of kitchen paper.
Couverture or patisserie chocolate are best for making hollow shells, but again, any good chocolate will be fine.
Melt the chocolate in a double pan or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Do not let steam or water get into the chocolate!
Coat the inside of the moulds with the chocolate.
My moulds have a deep, embossed pattern, so I prefer to coat the insides with a pastry brush, just as Chloe did.
The alternative is to spoon melted chocolate into the moulds and swirl it around to cover.
Whichever method you use, apply three or four coats, then clean any runs from the edges of the mould.
When it has set slightly, turn the moulds upside down on a wire rack and leave them to harden. They will contract slightly as they do so and a little pressure at one end of the mould should release them.
You can stick the two halves together, either with a little melted chocolate, or by heating a baking tray and briefly touching the edges to it before sealing them together. (I put solid chocolate rabbits inside mine before sealing the two halves.)
You can decorate the outside with a ribbon, piped icing – whatever appeals to you. I have made Fabergé-style jewelled eggs, sticking on cake decorations, like little silver balls and frosted, coloured diamonds, using sugar paste. Or simply put the egg inside a cellophane bag with a ribbon tie.
And the very best thing about working with chocolate is that you can eat your mistakes: have fun!
Ten fascinating facts about chocolate
Chocolate can have distinctly different flavours depending on the species of the cocoa bean and the conditions in which the bean was grown.
It is scientifically proven that chocolate contains the ‘love-chemical’ phenylethylamine, and by eating it you receive a similar feeling to when you are in love. Some might even say it is better than a hot date…
A cocoa pod contains roughly 40 to 45 cocoa beans. It takes up to 270 cocoa beans to make 500g of chocolate.
In general, darker chocolate contains a higher percentage of cocoa solids and is more expensive than milk chocolate.
90% of the world’s cocoa is produced by just 9 countries, the majority of which are African.
Cocoa butter melts just slightly below body temperature at around 33°C, which is why it melts in your mouth.
7. The world’s largest Easter egg was created in 2005 by a Belgian chocolate manufacturer and displayed in New Jersey, USA. It weighed in at a colossal 27 feet tall, 21 feet wide and weighed 4,299 pounds. That’s a lot of chocolate…
The first chocolate bar was created in 1847 by the Bristol company Fry & Son.
More than twice as many women eat and crave chocolate than men.
If stored in warm conditions, chocolate can develop a white film called bloom. This occurs because the cocoa butter separates out and melts sugar onto the chocolate’s surface.