Chocolate bunnies

Makes 2

There is nothing more exciting than unmoulding a home-made Easter bunny. I explain here how to temper the chocolate – expect a little mess and a few mistakes to start with, then follow my steps for a perfect shiny and smooth result.

You will need

— 2 polycarbonate or PVC bunny moulds (each will come in two halves)

— edible gold shimmer dust,

to decorate (optional)

— 1kg milk or dark chocolate, broken into pieces (this may sound like a huge amount but you always need more than the finished bunnies will weigh. You can reuse the leftover chocolate)

— a digital thermometer

— a marble or granite work surface, or marble or granite bathroom tile, about 60cm square (these are available online or from a DIY store, and are surprisingly cheap) — a palette knife and a stainlesssteel wallpaper scraper

Clean the insides of the moulds with cotton wool to remove any dirt and dust. If you are using gold dust, brush the insides of the moulds with a little of it and set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a large glass or metal bowl set over a pan of lightly simmering (but not boiling) water. Don’t let the bowl touch the water. Once the chocolate has melted, turn off the heat and leave for an hour to make sure everything is fully melted but not overcooked.

Turn on the heat under the pan again and use a digital thermometer to check the temperature of the chocolate. For dark chocolate you need 55C; for milk or white chocolate it needs to come to 45C. When it reaches the right temperature, lift the bowl off the pan and dry the bottom well to prevent water dropping into the chocolate, which will make it seize.

Tip out just over two thirds of the chocolate on to the marble or granite slab and leave the remainder in the bowl (see above, 1 and 2). Using a palette knife, spread the chocolate out to a thin layer (3). Then use the wallpaper scraper to scrape it back towards the middle of the tile (4).

Repeat the spreading and scraping process until the moment you see the chocolate thicken and wrinkle when you spread it – which will happen after 5-10 minutes. This is the chocolate re-crystallising, so quickly scrape it off the slab and back into your bowl of chocolate, and mix very well with a spatula.

Keep mixing in the bowl for 2-3 minutes, then dip the end of your palette knife into the chocolate and set it aside to see how the chocolate sets. It should set within a minute or two, with a satin sheen and without graininess or streaky lines. This is tempered chocolate and is ready to be used.

The temperature for tempered milk and white chocolate will be 27C; and for dark chocolate, 28-29C.

Take your bunny mould halves and fill each half right up to the top with tempered chocolate. While full, tap them carefully to release air bubbles within the chocolate. Then pour the chocolate out of the moulds and back into your bowl. Scrape the flat edges of the moulds clean. Rest them facing upwards on a sheet of baking paper for five minutes. Repeat this process (filling, pouring out and scraping) until you have the thickness of chocolate you require for your bunnies. I usually repeat it three times.

Refrigerate the chocolatelined moulds for 15 minutes, until the chocolate is cool and has started to shrink away from the moulds. (If it doesn’t do this, and is hard to remove from the moulds, then the chocolate hasn’t been tempered properly and you’ll need to keep practising.)

Carefully remove the moulds and use a little melted chocolate to glue the two sides of each bunny together. Leave to set.

Wrap in cellophane with ribbon or in gift boxes. Your bunnies will last up to a year in a cool and dark place (though they are more likely to be devoured in minutes).