What is marbled chocolate and how you can make it at home

As stunning as marble but far tastier — here’s all you need to know about marbled chocolate and how to make it

Ever wondered how talented chocolatiers achieve smooth, nuanced marbled chocolate?

From the exquisite Venus de Milo in France to the dignified Taj Mahal in India, marble has long been the stone of choice for artists of antiquity and today. And it’s not hard to see why. Named for the Greek word for “shining stone”, the softness of marble and its beautiful colour have made it a favourite of sculptors throughout history. (Incidentally, chocolate also happens to be a popular sculpting medium…)

It’s from this stone that marbled chocolate gets its name. The tempered gleam of luxurious chocolate mirrors the smoothness of carved statues, while the dark chocolate cutting through the white brings to mind the meandering veins that wind through the rock. But for a dessert that takes its name from such a stately material, marbled chocolate is surprisingly easy to make at home.

What is marbled chocolate?

Don’t let the pretty patterns deceive you. At its core, marbled chocolate is simply two or more contrasting colours of chocolate swirled together. This is usually done by applying your base chocolate, drizzling the other colours on, then using a skewer or toothpick to move the colours around into the pattern you want.

The most common combination is dark and white chocolate for a lovely contrasting effect. However, many recipes call for milk chocolate for even more variation. Whether you opt for random patterns so that no slice is alike or create an intricate and purposeful work of edible art on your cake, the technique can produce some really stunning results.

What can you do with marbled chocolate?

Marbled chocolate is a decoration technique and not a dessert, which means you can apply it to just about anything that uses a setting liquid — even paint! We decided to become chocolatiers, not painters, so here are just a few of our suggestions for marbled chocolate desserts.

Millionaire’s shortbread

Millionaire’s shortbread is already a decadent mix of three scrumptious ingredients, and you can make it even more impressive by marbling the final layer of chocolate. Crumbly shortbread, gooey caramel, and a perfect blend of light and dark chocolate in beautiful swirls looks and tastes amazing. And you can make it at home too.

Cheesecake

A good cheesecake isn’t really complete without some decoration on the top. And the marbled effect doesn’t only look amazing from the top, oh no… When you cut a slice out of the cheesecake, you’ll discover that the pattern creates interesting shapes throughout the cheesecake.

Check out this marbled chocolate cheesecake recipe from Mary Berry to see how you can make it yourself! We think it looks absolutely divine.

Fudge

At Hotel Chocolat, you could call us fudge fans. We’ve even dabbled in fudge making ourselves with our yummy Chocolate Fudge Sundae Selector. Truly one of the most versatile sweets, fudge can be made with pretty much any flavour you want, which is what makes it perfect for marbling. This chocolate marble fudge recipe teaches you how to make marbled chocolate fudge that’s great for popping in gift bags (or just for nibbling).

Brownies

If it pours and bakes, you can marble it. And this includes one of our all-time favourites, the chocolate brownie. A treat so classic, we even created a chocolate Selector inspired by it: The Brownie.

This marbled chocolate brownie recipe from the BBC combines brownie and blondie in the ultimate chocolate brownie. Dollop one mixture on top of the other and swirl together to get the best of both worlds in one snack.

Change up the colours

Real-life marble might be known for its pure white colour, but you don’t have to just stick to plain colours. White chocolate as a base and drops of food colouring or gel male a bright spin on this technique and can create some truly stunning designs and colour combos.

Get creative with patterns

Free-form or structured, it’s all down to you. You can take a skewer to the chocolate and swirl to your heart’s content to create unique patterns, but if you’re looking for something a bit more uniform, there are some standard patterns you can use. Hearts, chevrons, spider webs, or even some more purposeful swirls and loops work for a more structured effect.

How do you make marbled chocolate?

And finally, the question we’ve all been waiting for! Luckily, marbling chocolate is easy as pie. Naturally, high-quality chocolate with a high cacao content will make for a better tasting finished product. We have all the bases covered with Dark, Milk, and White Chocolate Batons.

Step 1: melting your chocolate

First, you should line your baking pan with baking parchment, and then you can get to melting chocolate. Not sure how to melt chocolate at home? Our guide can tell you how.

Step 2: tempering

The challenging part of the recipe is tempering the chocolate. Tempering involves heating and cooling the chocolate at precise temperatures, and helps give a glossy finish and avoids fat blooms from forming. It’s not necessary if you just want tasty chocolate, but it’s recommended for a professional finish — worth the effort for that mirror sheen and perfect snap when you break it.

Step 3: pouring and marbling

Once your melted chocolate is all ready, pour your milk chocolate into the baking pan (or whichever type of chocolate you want to be the base). Next, pour or dollop the other types of chocolate onto the base, then move the skewer through the chocolate to create your patterns. This part of the recipe is all about you: you can make it as simple or as intricate as you like.

Step 4: cooling your marbled chocolate

Once you’re happy with it, leave your chocolate in the fridge for ten minutes, then take it out and leave it at room temperature until it’s ready to eat. And with that, you have your own marbled chocolate. Enjoy the swirling designs and three flavour combo of dark, milk, and white. Or share some with friends or family (if you can).

Marbled chocolates from Hotel Chocolat

Want to check out some of our marbled designs? Our Milk & White Chocolate Slab Selector showcases a harmony of high-cocoa 40% milk and white chocolate swirled together beautifully. Meanwhile, our Chocolate Gemstones bring together gorgeous white and dark chocolate drops.