Food

EXTRAORDINARY FINE ART CHOCOLATE EGGS NOW.

Hotel Café Royal’s beautiful chocolate Easter Eggs.

Courtesy of Hotel Café Royal. Hotel Café Royal’s Handpainted Easter Eggs.

We have some exquisite egg confections to share with you today.

1. HOTEL CAFÉ ROYAL

We begin with a chocolate egg adventure, hosted by the Hotel Café Royal in London. Check out the incredible chocolate themed menu. Hidden inside 5 of the handpainted “Profile 66” chocolate eggs are 5 golden tickets. If you are lucky enough to get one, you win a day in the hotel’s amazing Chocolate Room with Executive Pastry Chef, Andrew Blas!

Available from 30 March to 12 April 2015.

2. SUGAR & PLUMM

This beautiful egg may easily snag the prize as the most impressive egg confection we’ve ever seen.

It is an edible masterpiece created by Sugar and Plumm, a New York based bistro and chocolatier.

It is a hand-crafted, hand-painted egg, composed of white, dark, and milk chocolate with intricately painted 3-D rabbits, clocks and gold detailed designs, visible both inside and outside of the egg. It is entirely edible -- all 40 pounds of it! The piece stands two-and-a-half-feet tall.

The artisan team, led by world-renowned master French chocolatier, Thierry Atlan, took two weeks to sculpt the clock-inspired piece in the Sugar & Plumm Chocolate Laboratory.

3. LICK THE SPOON

Lick the Spoon’s gorgeous Large Chocolate Filigree Easter Egg is made with a special blend of Grenedan dark chocolate yielding beautiful fruity notes. This magnificent egg can now be personalized with a name or short message incorporated into the filigree design. Available with a dark or milk chocolate shell, filled with champagne truffles.

4. ARTISAN DU CHOCOLAT

Artisan du Chocolat, an extraordinary London-based chocolate emporium, founded by chef Gerard Coleman, turns out set of new fantasy eggs each year.

Check out this year’s Hummingbird Egg, available in Ecuadorian dark or dulce de leche milk chocolate. The outer egg houses a flock of exotic edible hummingbirds nestled on a layer of assorted ganaches, pearls, caramels and mini eggs. It may be too pretty and precious to eat, but… then how can you resist???

Artisan du Chocolat’s Cocktail Egg looks like a tropical drink, but the whole thing, including the faux coconut shell, flowers, straw, and garnish are deliciously edible.

Artisan du Chocolat’s Geode Chocolate Rock Egg is surely the most unusual chocolate egg we’ve ever seen.

The outer shell is made of 100-per-cent dark Dominican Republic chocolate, coated inside with white chocolate and a central layer of crunchy sugar crystals.

5. VALENZA CHOCOLATIER

THE EGG, created by Amy Jo Valenza, of Valenza Chocolatier, is a one-pound masterpiece honoring Italian Easter traditions, symbolizing rebirth and renewal.

The large outer chocolate egg is filled with over a half pound of assorted bite size chocolates, including Valenza’s fabulous Nib Bar, Sesamo Bar, PB+C Bar, solid mini egg flavors, and the Limoncello Bonbon.

6. WILLIAM CURLEY

Michelin-trained chocolatier William Curley has been awarded ‘Britain's Best Chocolatier’ by the Academy of Chocolate four times. He is also known to have created the most expensive chocolate egg on record ($10,000).

But here are some that you can actually indulge in right now. The large chocolate Amadei eggs from Curley’s Couture Collection, are filled with more than a half-dozen varieties of bite-sized chocolates, including milk chocolate with Gianduja almonds, chocolate covered orangette sticks, dark chocolates with apricot, and heather honey truffles.

7. ROBERTO CAVALLI

Fashion designer Roberto Cavalli decided to do something about his sweet tooth. He created a set of beautiful chocolate eggs that bear his signature wild animal motifs. This Zebra Egg is made of milk and dark chocolate. Cavalli’s eggs are also available in Giraffe and Tiger motifs (see end of post).

8. HOTEL CHOCOLAT

Hotel Chocolat’s award-winning Classic Chocolate Ostrich Egg is formed from two enormous ridiculously thick milk chocolate egg shells mixed with puffed rice and cookie bits, to deliver a lovely crunch. It is chock full of 27 scrumptious candies, including confectionary egglets, caramels, pralines and truffles.

British entrepreneurs Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris founded the Hotel Chocolat in London over 10 years ago and have since branched out. They are obsessed with chocolate quality, growing their own cocoa beans at their plantation in Saint Lucia. They create their own chocolate recipes, and make their chocolates fresh from the bean in their hotel and cafes.

Their School of Chocolate at Cocoa Vaults recently opened in Covent Garden, offering a world of chocolate adventures and experiences.

9. PAUL A. YOUNG

Paul A. Young is an innovative award-winning chocolatier at the forefront of the British chocolate scene. Handmade, in small batches, using fresh ingredients, these chocolates are divine.

Paul A. Young Easter Eggs will come filled with miniature solid chocolate eggs. Available in milk, dark or white and decorated in shimmering green, gold and scarlet.

10. BOOJA BOOJA

Booja Booja Chocolate Truffles have won many well-deserved awards. They are made with organic chocolate from the Dominican Republic and Ecuador, and filled with the finest ingredients such as sweet-roasted Italian hazelnuts, plump sultanas, Champagne, caramel, and toffee.

The outer papier maché eggs are handmade and handpainted by a talented artists in Kashmir, India. Each egg contains 12 luxurious handmade vegan truffles.

Want to try your hand at making your own beautiful chocolate egg creation á la Paul A. Young? Check out the recipe for Simnel Spiced Salted Caramel Easter Eggs here.

Read more about Beautiful Eggs, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including A Magnificent Clutch of New Egg Books Now and Watch Eggs Hatching New Beautiful Birds Now!

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Eggs in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 04.05.15. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

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IMAGE CREDITS:

Image: Courtesy of Hotel Café Royal. Hotel Café Royal’s Handpainted Easter Eggs.
Image: Courtesy of Sugar & Plumm. Sugar & Plumm Chocolate Clock Egg.
Image: Courtesy of Lick the Spoon. Lick the Spoon Chocolate Filigree Easter Egg with Champagne Truffles.
Image: Courtesy of Artisan du Chocolat. Artisan du Chocolat Hummingbird Egg.
Image: Courtesy of Artisan du Chocolat. Artisan du Chocolat Cocktail Egg.
Image: Courtesy of Artisan du Chocolat. Artisan du Chocolat Geode Chocolate Rock Egg.
Image: Courtesy of Valenza Chocolatier. Valenza Chocolatier THE EGG.
Image: Courtesy of William Curley. William Curley Couture Collection Amedei Egg.
Image: Courtesy of Roberto Cavalli. Roberto Cavalli Zebra Egg.
Image: Courtesy of Hotel Chocolat. Hotel Chocolat Classic Chocolate Ostrich Egg.
Image: Courtesy of Paul A. Young. Dark Chocolate Egg Filled Egg.
Image: Courtesy of Booja Booja. Booja Booja Hazelnut & Banoffee Chocolate Truffles.
Image: Courtesy of Delicious Magazine. Simnel Spiced Salted Caramel Easter Eggs.
Image: Courtesy of Roberto Cavalli. Roberto Cavalli Animal Print Easter Eggs.
Image: Courtesy of Booja Booja. Booja Booja Easter Collection Truffles.