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I am planning on making some chocolate egg shaped things with my friends this easter Sunday, and we are each going to try to make a chocolate egg in a different way, without purchasing a purpose-built easter-egg mould. We have a few ideas for different methods, but thought perhaps others would have some good insight.

Idea 1:

Blow the insides out of a normal egg, leaving the shell, and pipe in melted chocolate to fill the inside, then let cool.

Idea 2:

Dip a balloon filled with cold water (or air, we have some debate about which is better) into a bath of chocolate, let the chocolate harden, then pop the balloon.

Idea 3:

Thoughts?

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    The results of idea 1 are likely to be kind of gross, unless you spend a really excessive amount of time carefully scrubbing the inside of the eggshell through the hole before use. (From personal experience blowing out eggs for pysanky -- the inside never gets truly spotless, just clean enough to not worry about.) Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 5:47
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    Not a proper answer, since I have not tried this myself, but creating a mould out of flour, cornstarch or some similar powder covered with cling wrap by impressing an egg into it seems to be a way worth investigating. Then remove the egg, leave the foil and pour/drip chocolate into it to get a half-egg. Join up two halves with molten chocolate to get a whole egg. Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 10:52
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    Beware that melting chocolate is not an easy thing! Look up chocolate tempering before you start. (There are a couple of relevant questions here on Seasoned Advice as starting point.) Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 15:29
  • My mom used to do #1 decades ago to make jello eggs. I assume she cleaned them somehow, as she did this in both the US and western Europe. Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 15:38
  • It's not that hard to clean and dry an emptied-out eggshell (sticking it in a low oven for 20 minutes ought to do it), but if you want to make it more egg-mold-like, you can use an Xacto knife to carefully cut a shell in half. (I've never actually tried this, hence comment, not answer.) Commented Apr 18, 2025 at 23:23

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Start with a block of chocolate. Remove everything that isn't egg-shaped, leaving an egg-shaped piece and a bunch of chocolate shavings.

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    OP said "a chocolate egg-shaped thing" - neither "hollow" nor "shell" was specified. Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 2:19
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    Melting into a cylindrical mould would get you off to a good start, and probably be DIY-able (e.g. cardboard lined with baking parchment) Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 10:18
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    IOW, sculpt the chocolate. Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 13:58
  • upvoted, that's an out-of-the-box idea! Commented Apr 23, 2025 at 8:53
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Idea 1:

Blow the insides out of a normal egg, leaving the shell, and pipe in melted chocolate to fill the inside, then let cook

The issue with that approach is that the temperature at which the potential bacteria from the raw egg is rendered safe*, will ruin the chocolate. Then there's the bacteria on the outside of the shell. Many countries do not wash their eggs before sale. So it's not uncommon for the outside of the egg to have traces of faecal matter. So if you take this approach, you should heat the empty shells to a safe temperature before filling them with chocolate. Either way though, I think this method isn't a very good idea.

Idea 2:

Dip a baloon filled with cold water (or air, we have some debate about which is better) into a bath of chocolate, let the chocolate harden, then pop the baloon

This is a method that chocolatiers use but be warned that some balloons are covered in a protective powder, and there's no knowing how clean the balloon is from the factory. So it'd be advisable to clean them. Just be careful what you clean them with though, as some things such citric acid, will cause the latex of balloon weaken and pop. You can test this by putting some citrus juice on your finger and touching an inflated balloon.

The other issue is one of size. Unless you were talking about an Ostrich egg, there's a pretty significant difference in size between a chickens egg and a balloon that has been inflated enough so that it can support the weight of the chocolate without wrinkling. Filling the balloon with water will also not only make it unwieldy and much more likely to burst, it will also distort it's shape. So rather than an egg, you'll get something in the shape of a pumpkin.

The other risk you run is having the balloon pop before the chocolate is set. It might make for memorable youtube videos but cleaning the explosion of chocolate of every inch of your kitchen, including the ceiling, isn't my idea of fun... my point is, if you take this approach, just be careful to avoid creating a giant mess.

Honestly, if possible, buying a mould might be your best bet.

* Technically speaking, you could render the egg bacteria safe, whilst the chocolate is already in the egg, without ruining the chocolate. But it would take a long time and precise temperature control.

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    A water balloon might be useful there - they’re specifically meant to hold water and tend to be a lot smaller (more egg-shaped for the same total volume) Commented Apr 13, 2025 at 0:10
  • #1 is a traditional method of doing this - I have recipe books that describe this process, along with how to colour egg shells with various house-hold materials. Commented Apr 13, 2025 at 21:09
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    "The issue with that approach is that the temperature at which the potential bacteria from the raw egg is rendered safe*, will ruin the chocolate" One could of course sterilize the shell itself before doing the chocolate. For example, put the shell in boiling water or in the oven. Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 16:23
  • @user4574 The answer already said that later in that section: "So if you take this approach, you should heat the empty shells to a safe temperature before filling them with chocolate." Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 20:37
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Cover marshmallows in chocolate.

Buy some large marshmallows and cut them with scissors to an egg shape.

Heat chocolate in water bath just enough to melt it. Too much heat makes it turn gray when cooled.

Put one marshmallow on the end of a stick. Drip chocolate on top and spin the stick to get an even coating. Put it to cool in refrigerator and do the next one.

End result is chocolate eggs with marshmallow filling.

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On idea 1: You need egg shells that are food safe. You could get these either by say boiling the empty egg shells after blowing them out or by starting with eggs that are from a sufficently reputable source and sufficiently fresh to use raw (there are various recipes that use raw eggs but there are safety concerns, so you need to make your choices).

What I don't get is why you intend to 'cook' them afterwards? If you fill the egg shell with melted chocolate you can afterwards let it cool down until the chocolate is solid again. You can then crack the egg shell and have a chocolate easter egg. It will be a solid egg the size of a chicken egg, which I would consider huge for a solid egg but in general this should work.

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    I think the OP simply mistyped "cool", they don't intend to cook it. It would still be interesting to know if this works in practice. I know it works for gelatine, but I have no idea if chocolate will do well in an egg shell, and if it will come out clean or all covered in egg membrane. Commented Apr 13, 2025 at 10:43
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    @rumtscho A simply typo is a good explanation, I didn't think of that. I don't know how well the peeling of the egg shell would work either, would be an interesting experiment. Commented Apr 13, 2025 at 12:09
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When things like gummy sweets/lollies/candy are made, part of the process is to stamp a mould into corn starch. The liquid sugar+gelatine gummy mix is then jetted into the depression in the flour.

An "egg shaped" void could be excavated in a large volume of pressed corn starch. This can then be filled ever-so-gently with molten chocolate. Once the shell is hardened (assuming that it cools first), the internal chocolate can be tipped off.

Having a floured outside is probably undesirable. This could be grated off with a fine grater once the egg-halves are joined. To hide the rough exterior, apply another layer of molten chocolate, and coat in crushed peanuts (or coconut, cocoa-powder, ...)

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  • Half moulds would be easier to fill gently, as they'd be so fragile. I reckon you could dust the coating onto a starch half-mould, then just brush off any residual starch. Ground almonds might be good, or sesame seeds. A little melted chocolate would be needed to glue the halves together, or a hot knife technique Commented Apr 15, 2025 at 11:14
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There are "3D chocolate printing pens" available.

You can imagine starting from a little circle, gradually increasing the radius as you go up, and then reducing the radius to finish the top half of an egg shape.

I don't know if treating chocolate to that sort of heating would be best for the taste, but you would also be able to make other fun chocolate shapes, such as bunnies, reindeer, and bears.

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  • Is this something you’ve tried? Or, if not, what 3D chocolate shape have you made which convinces you that this is a practical approach? Commented Apr 13, 2025 at 20:30
  • @Sneftel I have no artistic abilities - my limit with chocolate is melting some, mixing in Rice Krispies, and portioning into paper baking cups. Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 15:02
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    If the user is unwilling to buy a silicon mold for $10, I doubt they are up to purchasing a 3d chocolate printing pen. Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 18:48
  • @DanielB I thought this Q&A site was intended for everyone, not just one OP? Commented Apr 14, 2025 at 21:04
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    I know for plastics, 3d pens are quite hard to use -and that's with material chosen for its mechanical and thermal properties not flavour. Chocolate's melting behaviour would seem very unlikely to be able to handle the overhang at the bottom of the print, or the internal overhang at the top. While you could support the bottom somehow, you couldn't support the top from collapsing inwards, and a support would be basically a mould (though possibly a bowl you already have then build it up from there Commented Apr 15, 2025 at 11:09
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What about using the plastic eggs themselves as molds and having a piece of dental floss or fishing line type string that you close the egg on before you coat in chocolate that you can then use to then "cut"the chocolate off after hardened and then melt bacteria into one after the plastic egg inside is removed? I know there are the plastic eggs that come open long ways as well that you could coat each half and put together after I'm sure as well? This would also make filling with something an easier option I'd think?

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  • Welcome Mrs. Steph Ray. Did you mean to write "melt bacteria into one"? Commented Apr 20, 2025 at 22:32
  • Where did you get plastic eggs in the question? Commented Apr 23, 2025 at 8:57

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