As a kid, Kinder Eggs were probably my favorite candy. Imagine my devastation when, upon moving to the US in my pre-teens, I discovered that they weren’t sold in the United States. As an 11 year old, I was ready to dismiss the whole country based on this single fact. No Kinder eggs, no deal.
Thankfully I’m an adult now, and I’m perfectly happy living here. Not just that, but I am an adult that knows how to temper chocolate. I can take care of my own chocolate egg needs these days.
This project is pretty inexpensive and fun, and if you use candy melts it doesn’t even require tempering.
NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: At the time of this post I tried very hard to find legitimate figurines that would fit in my egg mold, to no avail. The only option I could find was a super expensive and hard to obtain eraser set. I wound up getting a pack of super crappy knock-off figurines, which I don’t recommend for both “supporting licensed products” and “wanting things to actually look right” reasons. They were cute and worked for my photoshoot, but there are tons of available gashapon mini figures now and if you can afford it I really, really recommend those instead!
Pokémon Chocolate Surprise Eggs
Yields: 6 chocolate eggs
SUPPLIES
100g (3.5 oz) white tempered chocolate (OR white candy melts)
100g (3.5 oz) white tempered chocolate, mixed with red powdered food coloring (OR red candy melts)
200g (7 oz) dark tempered chocolate (OR dark chocolate candy melts)
Plastic chocolate egg mold (Link at the end of entry)
Small offset spatula
Paring knife
Scotch tape
6 miniature Pokémon figurines (in plastic baggies, not shown for photo purposes)
Parchment paper
Flexible Plastic/Acetate (optional, but extremely helpful)
Cookie Sheet
DIRECTIONS
1. Wipe down your egg molds with a soft cloth to make sure they don’t have any fuzz or dust on them. Next, use your scotch tape to tape off the upper half of each Egg as shown below. I also like setting each of my melted chocolate bowls into a container of warm (not super hot) water to keep the chocolate from firming up as I work.
2. Using a small spoon, spread your white chocolate into the exposed lower half of the egg molds. Hold them upside down over a sheet of parchment and tap lightly to drip off the excess, then flip the molds back over and allow them to firm up a bit until no longer liquid but not completely set. At this point it’s a judgement call: if your chocolate is a bit transparent, repeat this process to do a second layer of white chocolate. Otherwise, take off the tape.
3. Using a spoon again, fill the other half of the eggs with red chocolate and repeat the flip and tap to drip off the excess. Again, if you need to do two layers, go ahead! Allow to firm until mostly set, then use your paring knife to clean excess chocolate off the tops and get the chocolate level with the top of the mold. Allow to firm completely.
4. Using either a clean finger or small spoon, spread a thin layer of dark chocolate into each mold. Do not extend the chocolate all the way up the sides as you did with the white and red chocolate, as it will show through when you join the halves. Allow to firm up.
5. In the meantime, make the Pokéball button. On a sheet of parchment, draw six 1/2″ diameter circles with a marker. Now flip the parchment so you can see the circles, but the marker ink is on the underside. Fill some dark chocolate into a small piping bag fitter with a small round tip. Pipe over the drawn circle, and also pipe a dot in the center of each circle. Allow to firm up. Fill some white chocolate into another piping bag. Snip the end of the bag slightly so that you can press out a small stream of chocolate. Fill in the inside of each of the circles with this white chocolate. Allow to set up, then pop off each circle and set aside.
6. Make sure the egg halves are totally set. Now, flip the mold over onto a parchment sheet and tap to release the halves. Warm a cookie sheet in the oven for 5 minutes. You want it warm enough to melt chocolate, but not piping hot. If it gets too hot, allow it to cool a little before going to the next step.
7. Match together two egg halves and choose a figure to put inside. Now, place the egg halves face down on the warmed cookie sheet for a few seconds to melt and level the edges. Quickly place the figure into one half and join the halves together while the edges are still liquid. Line up the seams as best you can, and set aside. Repeat for the remaining eggs. Allow to set.
8. Wrap a thin strip of parchment around one of your eggs and cut it down to be just long enough to wrap around the egg horizontally once. This will be your guide for length. Now, cut parchment or acetate into a series of 1/4″ strips and trim them all down to this length. On a sheet of parchment, line up your strips. Spread some dark chocolate over one of your strips, leaving just a small lip on one side. Lift the strip up with that lip while the chocolate is still soft, and set aside. Once the chocolate has set enough to not be liquid, but is still flexible, wrap it quickly around an egg. Try to center it so that the ends meet where the button should go. If necessary, you can use a dab of melted chocolate to stick down the edges. Allow to cool entirely, then peel off the strip of parchment/acetate. Repeat for the remainder of the eggs.
9. Finally, use a small dab of chocolate to adhere a button to the front of each egg. I suggest putting it where the edges of the strip meet to cover up the seam there. Enjoy!
Some notes about the recommended items:
If you do use candy melts, I suggest Merckens brand, as they have the best flavor of the types I’ve tried so far.Keep in mind that Merckens generally sells in larger batches, so if you don’t have much use for candy melts it might be more cost effective to buy a smaller pack of another brand.
I didn’t do this for photo purposes, but it’s a good idea to put the figures into little food safe baggies before moving them into the eggs. They’re also very small, so be aware they might be a choking hazard for younger kids.
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