My first attempt at Easter eggs:
Clockwise from top left, the flavors are: strawberry cream, crispy hazelnut gianduja, dark salted caramel, and layers of crispy peanut butter gianduja and cherry pâte de fruit. The caramel proved to be a challenge. With the first batch, using my standard caramel, about a third of the shells developed hairline cracks. So I washed the molds, decorated them again, and made more caramel, this time using a recipe that included added white chocolate and cocoa butter. None of those has cracked so far. Any ideas as to what might have happened with the plain caramel? I used Ewald Notter's recipe, and it has not leaked or caused cracks when piped into smaller cavities, so I'm guessing the larger volume of the egg molds is a factor. The eggs are 2 3/4" long and, with the caramel filling, weigh about 50 grams.
