Four recipes for Easter treats from chocolatier Paul A Young | Four favorite recipes | Food

Torte brownie melting egg (pictured above)

Preparation 30 minutes
Cooling 1 hour
cook 20 min
serves 8

For eggs
8 hollow chocolate eggs and the size of a hen (milk or black), halved

For the brownie base
50g unsalted butter
125g light muscovado sugar
30g of gold syrup
150g of dark chocolate (70% -75%), broken or cut into small pieces
2 medium eggs
35g of plain flour

For the truffle layer
400g of dark chocolate, broken or cut into small pieces
50g light muscovado sugar
½ teaspoon salt

For the vanilla fondant
250g of fondant
50g of powdered sugar
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Food coloring gel gel or yellow paste

Decorate
25g of dark chocolate

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a saucepan over medium heat until bubbling. Remove from heat, add the chocolate and mix until it is melted. Let cool, then incorporate the eggs one by one, then the flour and mix well. Line a 22 cm round tin, pour the mixture and bake at 170 ° C (150 ° C fan) / 335F / 3½ gas for 20 minutes. Cool completely.

For the truffle, melt the chocolate in a glbad or metal bowl placed over a pan of very hot water, until the mixture is smooth. In a saucepan, bring to boil 175 ml of water, sugar and salt, then add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour on the cooled brownie base and tap on a hard surface to smooth. Inlay the hollow egg halved around the torte, pushing each one-third of the way into the torte. Tap a hard surface again to level and then refrigerate for one hour.

Grate the fondant in a bowl. Simmer 50 ml of water and sugar, let them cool, then add them to the fondant with vanilla. Mix well until you get a smooth paste.

Put two tablespoons of fondant in a small bowl, add the yellow dye and mix well until smooth. It is best to use the fondant as soon as it is made, otherwise cover it with a cling film to prevent the formation of crusts – it dries out in the open air.

Fill each egg with white fondant and cover with a little yellow fudge to form the yolk. Grate the dark chocolate on the pie avoiding the stuffed eggs and serve at room temperature with the help of a hot, wet knife.

Crunchy slices of butter and butter

Preparation 15 minutes
Cooling 2 hours +
cook 35 min
Makes 30

For the ganache
125ml of whole milk
50g of powdered golden sugar
20g of butter
1 hot briochecrumbled
450g of milk chocolate (30% cocoa or more), melted
25g cocoa powderto ride

For the coating
3 buns
250g of milk chocolate (35% or more), broken or cut into small pieces

In a medium saucepan, bring milk, sugar, butter and hot crust roll crumbled over low heat for two minutes.

Using a hand blender, purée smooth. Pour into a bowl with melted chocolate and whisk until smooth. Let cool completely, then transfer to the refrigerator for two hours.

Once cooked, roll the ganache into balls of equal size by sprinkling them with a cocoa powder to prevent them from becoming sticky. Put on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

To make the layer, cut the hot rolls into thin slices and place them on a baking sheet at 150 ° C (130 ° C fan) / 300F / gas 2 for 30 minutes or until the slices are very dry and crispy. Put in a food processor and blitz with bread crumbs.

Melt the milk chocolate in a pan of hot water at 45 ° C, let cool for 15 minutes, then mix well. Coat the truffles with the melted chocolate with your fingers, then roll them into the crumbs of bread until they are completely coated. Put back on the plate and let cool in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. These will keep for a week in a cool, dark place.

Easter egg cake

Preparation 30 minutes
Cooling 2 hours
cook 1 hour 30 min
serves 8

For the chocolate cake
115g of butter
185g of self-raising flour
70g cocoa powder
½ teaspoon of baking soda
225g of powdered sugar
145 ml of evaporated milk
145 ml of hot water
2 medium eggs
½ teaspoon salt

For the butter cream
250g of salted butterat room temperature
50 ml of evaporated milk
500g icing sugar
100g of dark chocolatemelted

Decorate
Easter eggs of different sizes: one big, five smaller and some mini-eggs
100g of chocolatemelted
Colorful nuggets of your choice

Put the butter, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and sugar in a blender and blister until the bread crumbs. In a bowl, whisk together the moist ingredients, then add the salt. Combine both mixtures and bad gently.

Line the bottom of a 15 cm free-bottom cake pan with parchment paper, pour the mixture up to the surface and bake at 175 ° C (fan located at 155 ° C) / 45 ° C / gas for 45 to 50 minutes. until a skewer placed in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Take the cake out of the box and transfer it to a wire cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining mixture and the same mold and parchment. Let the cakes cool completely, then refrigerate for two hours.

Put the butter in a blender with the palette and whisk until smooth. Add the evaporated milk and half the icing sugar, and beat until frothy – about two to three minutes at high speed – start at slow speed to avoid a cloud of icing sugar. Add the remaining icing sugar, mix again for three minutes, then pour the melted chocolate and mix until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.

Cut the top of each cake to level it, then cut the largest cake into three layers, the smaller one in half. Glue a base layer on a plate with buttercream, spread there an equal amount of buttercream and repeat the operation, keeping a little buttercream for the sides. Put the cake in the refrigerator to set for 30 minutes.

When the mixture is cooked, spread the rest of the butter cream on the sides – do not worry if it is not particularly neat. To decorate, melt the chocolate in a small bowl on a pan of hot water. Let cool for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Paint the top of each chocolate egg with the melted chocolate using brush strokes down, then decorate it with the colored nuggets. Let stand and place the eggs on the cake; Start with the larger one, followed by the smaller ones, adding around the base of the cake. Serve at room temperature.

Vegan dark chocolate praline eggs

Preparation 15 minutes
cook 10 minutes
serves 4

4 dark chocolate Easter eggs (about 12cm) high)

For praline ganache filling
200 ml of water
50g light muscovado sugar
½ c. At sea salt tea
100g of walnut butter of your choice
400g of dark chocolatemelted

Walnut praliné
100g of almonds
Pistachio 50g
50g of powdered golden sugar
1 pinch of sea salt
Cocoa nuts, decorate

Fill a jar with boiling water. Using a sharp knife heated in hot water and then dried, cut the chocolate eggs in half at an angle, to form a bowl. Keep the peaks.

To make the praline ganache, put the water, sugar, salt and nut butter in a saucepan and let it simmer until the sugar has melted. Pour into a bowl with melted chocolate and whisk. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Heat the oven to 180 ° C (160 ° C fan) / 350F / gas 4, then briefly heat a saucepan over medium heat and turn over. Rub the chocolate egg bowls briefly over the dish to flatten the bases, then glue them to a dessert plate.

Pour the praline ganache into the four egg bowls, then break the reserved eggs into pieces and put them in the ganache.

Heat the nuts in the oven for five minutes. Meanwhile, put the sugar and salt in a frying pan over medium heat until they are melted and browned. Pour nuts and mix, then pour on baking paper to let cool, spreading to form bunches. Once cooled, break into pieces and place in the bowls of eggs, then sprinkle with cocoa feathers.

• Paul A Young is an award-winning chocolatier who owns stores in London W1, EC3 and N1.