It's every girl's dream spending an afternoon in a chocolate factory, and just the scent of the brown stuff was enough to set my mouth watering

Ogling the hand-crafted truffles and weird and wonderful shaped goodies – from stiletto shoes to musical instruments – behind the counters at Chocolate By Design on Packers Row, Chesterfield, I couldn't wait to get stuck into the action.

Unknown to me before, there is a small production factory beneath the shop where owner Derek Smith – a former chemical engineer – was going to teach me how to make a marble-effect Easter egg.

And when I saw the vats of tempered milk, dark and white chocolate churning round, I just wanted to dip my hand in and run my fingers through the smooth, silky loveliness.
But there was work to do.

We started by swirling white and dark chocolate into the mould and smoothing it out with gloved fingers before filling the mould with milk chocolate and running off the excess.

It then went into the freezer for a few minutes to set before a second coat of milk chocolate was poured in.

After another short spell in the freezer, it was ready and simply glided out of the mould.

We repeated the process to make the other half of the egg and the two pieces then had to sit untouched for 24 hours before being fused together using a hot plate.

Even if I say so myself, I was impressed with the result and surprised by how easy it was.

The shop is now opening up its factory to other amateur confectioners like me who will be able to try their hand at chocolate-making.

Derek will also be running science lessons about chocolate for schoolchildren, and other workshops and parties from a newly renovated demonstration and lecture theatre next to the factory.