Bruno’s been at Mawson for 21 years, but it wasn’t his first Canberra location. Photo: James Coleman.
“I can’t hold it because of my bad shoulder.”
That’s not a sentence you hear every day about an Easter egg. But inside Bruno’s Truffels in Mawson, it makes perfect sense.
Owner Bruno Ehrensperger politely declines the offer to hold his latest creation for a photo, standing instead beside the enormous, ribbon-topped chocolate egg that looks more like a sculpture than a snack.
Wrapped in clear plastic, weighing almost 5 kg and priced at $750, the egg is about as far from a supermarket hollow shell as you can get.
Bruno reckons it’s officially the biggest chocolate egg you’ll see in Canberra this year – even if it’s not the biggest he’s ever made.
How do you eat it? “You just break it with your hands and eat it!” Photo: James Coleman.
How do you make a 5 kg egg?
The giant egg took two full days to make and was crafted entirely by hand in the Mawson shop using 100 per cent couverture chocolate.
“I tried to do it last year, but it broke a lot, so I thought I’d give it another go,” Bruno says.
Last year’s attempt failed because the chocolate wasn’t thick enough to support its own weight.
This time, not only are the egg’s walls up to eight centimetres thick, but he also changed his process. Instead of joining two fully set halves, Bruno worked with a mould, pouring liquid chocolate into each side and sealing them together before they set.
“I got one half done, and then the other half, and before they both set, I put them together and taped it, and that way it’s sealed, and then I let it set.”
How do you eat a 5 kg egg?
The obvious question is what you actually do with something this big.
“You just break it with your hands and eat it!” Bruno says matter-of-factly.
“Or you just actually lift it above and just drop it on the table. It’ll break.”
Bruno says the egg is designed to be shared, much like his oversized Easter bunnies, which are towering up to 70 centimetres tall on a nearby shelf.
“I have customers who buy the big bunny, and have a big family gathering, and then they all share it. So that egg will work literally in the same situation.”
For now, there’s just one of the giant eggs in the shop, but more could be made.
“We can make more if we have to,” Bruno says.
Bruno’s Easter bunnies are often bought by families for sharing. Photo: James Coleman.
A lifetime in chocolate
Bruno has been in the business a long time.
Originally from Switzerland, he trained as a baker, pastry cook and confectioner before moving to Canberra in 1984, when he opened his first shop in Narrabundah.
“My first profession was pastry cook, so we’ve been making sourdough bread since ’91 here in Canberra, before it even became fashionable.”
After 20 years there, he moved to Mawson, where he’s been for 21 years and counting. Eggs, he says, have been part of the operation from the start.
“We’ve made eggs every year since I started.”
Bigger eggs, bigger problems
As big as the 5 kg egg is, it doesn’t come close to the largest Bruno has ever made.
“About 30 years ago, I made a two-metre egg,” he says.
That egg, weighing more than 200 kilograms, was displayed in Tuggeranong and was eventually smashed by then ACT chief minister Kate Carnell as part of a fundraiser for Malkara School.
“She used a sledgehammer as much as she didn’t quite need it, but it was for dramatic effect.”
The egg raised $5000, but Bruno says it wasn’t exactly a win financially.
“It cost me about 15,000 to 20,000 in materials and work, and it only raised $5000. It would have been cheaper to just give them money.”
Despite having other large moulds – including one a metre tall – Bruno says he’s in no rush to repeat the experience.
“If I had to go back, I’d never make the egg again.”
There are plenty of smaller, more affordable options. Photo: James Coleman.
Will it sell?
Despite the $750 price tag for today’s 5 kg egg, Bruno says it’s “actually the only discounted item we have in the shop”.
How long it will sit on the shelf is anyone’s guess.
“Hard to say. It could be someone walking in and wants it straight away, or they put an order in, put a name on it and pick it up closer to Easter.”
One thing’s certain: if you’re trying to resist temptation this Easter, this probably isn’t the shop window to linger in.
Bruno’s Truffels can be found at Unit 2/106 Mawson Shops, Mawson.
