Decorative Easter Egg

Name: Decorative Easter Egg
Prep time: 60 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 1 decorative egg.
Ingredients: MATERIALS NEEDED::; Ingredients for egg and icing recipe (see below); 5-inch egg mold (see shopping information); Icing knife; Serrated knife; Scissors; Pastry or plastic bags; Pastry tipsstar #21, round #12, petal #13 and leaf #67; 2 tablespoons sweetened shredded coconut for grass inside; Plastic lamb (or a 1- x 1-1/2- x 1-3/4-inch decoration of your choice); Flower nail (see note and shopping information); Footed cake plate or serving plate; Green Easter grass; Jelly beans; Store-bought sugar roses (optionalsee note); EGG::; 3 tablespoons water; Yellow and green liquid food coloring; 4-1/2 cups sugar; Cornstarch; ICING::; 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon water; 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar; 3-1/2 teaspoons meringue powder; Red, blue and green liquid food coloring

TAKE A CRACK at crafting this sugar ary shell from CT’s cooks. It’s sure to make Easter “eggstra” special! Our kitchen staff made the egg using a basic mold and piped icing. For additional holiday appeal, they filled their confection with green coconut “grass” and a purchased lamb figurine. If you have a bit of cake-decorating experience, you should have no problem creating the icing roses on top of the egg. Haven’t ever made roses? For an easier project, look for ready-made sugar flowers in the baking aisle of the grocery store.—Taste of Home Test Kitchen

Ingredients

MATERIALS NEEDED::
Ingredients for egg and icing recipe (see below)
5-inch egg mold (see shopping information)
Icing knife
Serrated knife
Scissors
Pastry or plastic bags
Pastry tips—star #21, round #12, petal #13 and leaf #67
2 tablespoons sweetened shredded coconut for grass inside
Plastic lamb (or a 1- x 1-1/2- x 1-3/4-inch decoration of your choice)
Flower nail (see note and shopping information)
Footed cake plate or serving plate
Green Easter grass
Jelly beans
Store-bought sugar roses (optional—see note)
EGG::
3 tablespoons water
Yellow and green liquid food coloring
4-1/2 cups sugar
Cornstarch
ICING::
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon water
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3-1/2 teaspoons meringue powder
Red, blue and green liquid food coloring

Directions

Directions: Prepare egg and icing according
to the recipe below.
EGG: Combine 3 tablespoons of water and 10 drops of yellow food coloring in a small bowl. Mix well. Add sugar and beat for 1 minute or until combined. Set aside.
Dust a work surface and the egg mold with cornstarch. Firmly press sugar mixture into each egg half and level the top with an icing knife. Immediately unmold onto prepared work surface. Using
a serrated knife, cut 1-1/4 inches from the small end of each egg half without moving the cut piece away from each egg half. (This will help keep the egg halves intact.) Let pieces stand, uncovered,
for 1-1/2 hours.
Using a serrated knife, carefully remove cut pieces and discard. Starting in the center of each half, gently scoop out the sugar, leaving a 1/4-inch shell. Discard the removed sugar.
Place egg shells dome side up on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 200° for 20 minutes or until dried.
ICING: In a bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder and remaining water. Beat on low speed for 7-10 minutes or until stiff peaks form. If you are not making your own icing roses, cover icing and set aside.
If you are making your own icing roses, place 1/3 cup of icing in a small bowl and tint purple with red and blue food coloring. Place 3 tablespoons of icing in another small bowl and tint green. Cover and set aside. Leave remaining icing white.
DECORATIONS: Grass and lamb: For grass inside egg, place 2 tablespoons of coconut in a plastic bag and add 1-2 drops of green liquid food coloring. Shake until color is evenly distributed.
Fill inside of bottom egg half with coconut grass and plastic lamb or a decoration of your choice. Spread a thin layer of white icing around edge of bottom shell and place top shell on bottom shell
with edges matching.
Zigzags: Cut a small hole in the corner
of a pastry or plastic bag. Insert star pastry tip #21 and add white icing. Referring to the photos for position and holding bag at a 45° angle, pipe zig - zags around the seam and window opening.
Roses: If you are using store-bought candy roses, refer to photo for position and attach roses to top of egg using a
dab of icing.
If you are making icing roses, cut a hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag. Insert round tip #12 and fill with purple
icing. Holding the bag straight up, pipe a dome-shaped mound of icing on the flower nail. See Fig. 1a.
With petal tip #103 and purple frosting, hold pastry bag at a 45° angle, wide end of tip down. Turn nail and squeeze bag to form bud as shown in Fig. 1a.
Holding pastry bag with narrow end farther away from the rose tip and turning the nail, pipe a row of three standing petals. See Fig. 1b.
Pipe a second row of petals, holding the narrow tip end at a greater angle. Repeat for a third row as shown in Fig. 1c.
Gently slide the ends of scissors underneath rose and remove it from nail. Referring to photo for position, place rose on top of egg.
In same way, make two more roses and add them to top of egg.
For leaves, cut a hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag. Insert leaf tip #67 and fill with green frosting. Pipe leaves around roses.
FINISHING: Arrange Easter grass on cake plate. Place egg in center of plate. Arrange jelly beans around egg.

Note: If you are using store-bought sugar roses instead of creating roses with icing, omit the red and blue liquid food coloring and cut the rest of the icing recipe in half. Also, you will not need the flower nail and round, petal and leaf pastry tips. Shopping information: The egg mold and flower nail are available from Wilton Industries. To order, call 1-800/794-5866 or visit the company’s Web site, www. wilton.com. Finished size: Egg shown is 5-3/4 inches long x 4 inches wide x 4-1/4 inches high.

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Originally published as Decorative Easter Egg in Crafting Traditions March/April 2002

Reviews

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Average Rating:

balzie

Mar 4, 2015

Worked out wonderful, I had tried three other recipes before this which kept crumbling! Thank You!
Brenda D

Mar 22, 2010

Thank you TOH for publishing this recipe. My grandmother used to bake and decorate cakes in her home for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Every year at Easter, she would make my sister and I a sugar egg for Easter with a different theme inside. When she passed away, I inherited all of her baking pans & molds, her cake & icing recipes, but we never found the sugar egg recipe. Now I have something very similar. The eggs take work, love and patience, but I thank you.