No-Bake Chocolate Easter Nests
- Sweet
- No cook
Chocolate nests made from a simple no-cook chocolate paste, shaped by hand and chilled until firm. A dense, rich Easter treat with a pinch of salt to keep the chocolate from tasting flat.
- Total
- 62 min
- Prep 20 · Cook 2 · Rest 40
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Whisking · Folding
Instructions
-
Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Break 150 g dark chocolate and 80 g milk chocolate into small pieces and put them in a large heatproof bowl.
~5 min
-
Pour 500 ml hot tap water into a saucepan or larger bowl and set the bowl of chocolate over it, making sure the water does not touch the bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until the chocolate is fully melted and smooth, about 5 minutes.
~5 min
Gentle indirect heat melts chocolate evenly; direct heat or steam contact can scorch it or seize it into a grainy, stiff mass.
-
Lift the bowl off the hot water. Stir 60 ml cream, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 pinch salt into the melted chocolate until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is glossy and thick.
~3 min
The salt sharpens the chocolate's flavour, while the cream and sugar loosen the melt into a glossy paste that stays shapeable as it cools.
-
Separate 1 egg. Put the white in a small bowl and whisk it to soft, foamy peaks, about 2 minutes. Fold the egg white into the chocolate mixture in three additions until no streaks remain; the paste will loosen slightly and turn mousse-like.
~2 min
Whisked egg white traps air, and folding it in gently in batches keeps that air so the chilled nests set light rather than dense.
The egg white is what gives these nests their light, mousse-like set without any baking; fold it in gently with a spatula so you keep the air rather than knocking it out.
Whisking Whisk the white with a light, circular motion until it holds soft, droopy peaks; stop before it turns dry and clumpy, which makes folding harder.
Folding Add the white in three parts and cut down through the middle, then lift and turn the bowl; stop as soon as no streaks remain to keep the air in.
-
Spoon heaped tablespoons of the mixture onto the lined tray and press a shallow hollow into the centre of each with the back of the spoon to make a nest shape. You should get about 8 nests.
~7 min
If the chocolate mixture stiffens before you finish shaping, set the bowl back over the hot tap water for 30 seconds and stir, rather than adding more liquid.
-
Chill the tray in the refrigerator until the nests are firm and lift cleanly off the parchment, about 40 minutes. Fill the hollows just before serving.
~40 min
Cold firms the chocolate and sets the egg white foam, so the nests hold their shape and release easily from the paper.
