A recipe for chocolates decorated with spring flowers

I’ve just got back from a lovely Easter in Glasgow. It was unusually sunny and, because the days are longer up north at this time of year, it felt really spring-like. While I was there, I was given a lot of Easter eggs so, with apologies to my family, I decided to recycle some of them into individual homemade chocolates once I got back to Sussex.

I don’t know if you saw the Great British Bake Off: Easter Masterclass on telly? Mary Berry crystallised some primroses to decorate a Simnel cake. I thought I’d try using the same method to decorate chocs and it worked really well. It’s a really nice way to celebrate the belated arrival of spring down South.




I crystallised primroses and mint leaves. The primroses don’t have a flavour but they look gorgeous and you get a nice crunch from the sugar. The mint leaves don't look as good, but they have a lovely delicate minty flavour.

Chocolates decorated with spring flowers

50g dark chocolate (I used half an Easter Egg)
8 edible flowers or leaves
1 egg white
Caster sugar

The first job is picking the flowers and leaves. Do this when it’s sunny so they are as dry as possible. Not all flowers and leaves are edible so make sure you know what you’re picking. If you buy yours from a garden centre, make sure they’re organic.

Some suitable primroses in my garden

To crystallise the flowers and leaves, follow Mary Berry’s method described here (points 8&9 of the Simnel cake recipe). Leave the flowers and leaves to dry for at least a day.

Now melt the chocolate. Pour boiling water into a saucepan. Put a heat-proof bowl on top of the saucepan making sure that the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water. Break up the chocolate, put it in the bowl and leave it to melt slowly. Stir it every so often.


The chocolate slowly melting over boiled water

Once the chocolate is completely melted, spoon it onto some baking parchment to make blobs about four centimetres in diameter. Let the chocolate cool for 30 seconds and then place one crystallised flower (or leaves) on top of each blob. Leave them to cool at room temperature for a few hours and then store in a cool place.

One crystallised primrose sitting on its blob of chocolate