Vegan Cream Filled Chocolate Eggs
It feels like Christmas is just over when Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs start filling up the supermarket shelves. Easter bunnies replace Santas, and marzipan potatoes become marzipan eggs, how brilliant! And then there are Milka's famous “Löffeleier“ which basically means “spoon eggs”.It's a sweet classic at Easter that many remember from their childhood. Packed in a purple egg box, you get four chocolate eggs with different kinds of fillings. .I have never eaten one, but many of you love them and have asked for a vegan copycat version. So, with Easter just around the corner, we thought now would be a perfect time.
But how do you develop a recipe for something you've never tried yourself? That's right! You study the ingredient list thoroughly and get help from experts. I had the support of two dear friends who diligently tested the current Milka varieties and gave me wonderfully precise information about consistency, appearance, and taste. So I had all the information I needed for my little experiment. The cream,, unlike what I expected, is not mousse-like and light but firm, crunchy, and incredibly sweet. The chocolate egg is also thicker than you would think. So I swirled the liquid chocolate back and forth in silicone molds until the layer was thick enough. If you don't like your chocolate eggs this thick, you can let the excess chocolate drip off. However, this also makes the shell much more unstable. And yes, you heard me right: for this recipe, a silicone egg mold is super helpful to get a more authentic result.
I got the final go after two or three test runs, so here it is – a simple recipe for vegan "Löffeleier". I've only adapted one thing: the filling is not as sweet as the original by far, but you can adjust that to taste. I was also allowed to burrow the original packaging and wooden spoon for our photos, so I could perfectly recreate the original sweet treat – without ever having tried them.
Vegan Cream Filled Chocolate Eggs
Ingredients
For the chocolate eggs:
- 200 g (7 oz) vegan milk chocolate
For the filling:
- 125 g (4.5 oz) vegan white chocolate
- 100 ml (0.5 cup) vegan cream for whipping
- 8 g (2 tsp) cream stiffener
- 8 g (1.5 tsp) vanilla sugar
- 50 g (1.75 oz) vegan butter
- 20 g (0.75 oz) ground hazelnuts
Instructions
Melt half the vegan milk chocolate in a double-boiler. Once the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat and add the remaining vegan milk chocolate. Stir until the rest of the chocolate has also softened.
Pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag and pipe evenly intosilicone molds. It’s best to start at the outer edges of the mold and let the chocolate run down into it. Then, carefully turn and swirl the silicone molds until all sides are covered evenly with chocolate. Refrigerate the molds until the chocolate is solid, then carefully remove the eggs from it.
Now stick two chocolate halves together. To do this, clean the pot that you used for the double-boiler, dry and turn it upside down. The bottom should still be lukewarm (if not, put the pot back on the stove and heat it again). Next, place two halves of the chocolate eggs with the open sides on the pot's bottom. The chocolate should melt slightly. Now press the two halves together to form a whole egg. Leave the chocolate eggs to cool again in the fridge.
Tip: Make sure that both chocolate halves melt equally. If one half melts more than the other, it will be much smaller – the halves won't fit together perfectly in this case.
For the filling, melt vegan white chocolate in a double-boiler and leave it to cool (it should not be too liquid). In the meantime, whip the vegan cream with cream stiffener and vanilla sugar until it’s stiff. Next, mix vegan butter with ground hazelnuts in another bowl and gradually add the white chocolate. Add the vegan whipped cream and stir in with a hand mixer. Finally, transfer the filling to a piping bag and set it aside at room temperature.
Now it’s time to fill the chocolate eggs! Cut off the top of the eggs using a sharp knife. Heating the knife before makes it easier, but be careful – too much pressure will cause the chocolate eggs to break apart. Use the piping bag to fill the eggs, thenput the tops of the chocolate back on.
