How to make hot chocolate with a chocolate bar

Whip up your own warming cup of cocoa with any leftover chocolate bars you have in the cupboard!

Making hot chocolate from our sachets of hot chocolate flakes is one of the easiest ways to make a delicious cup of cocoa – and it’s even easier with the help of our hot chocolate station, The Velvetiser! But what if you don’t have any hot chocolate mix to hand? It’s time to make hot chocolate with a chocolate bar!

Using a chocolate bar is a great alternative, and it tastes delicious – we promise. We’ve taken a look at how you can make hot chocolate with a chocolate bar, and we’ve also explored how you can make your hot chocolate a little more adventurous. Whether you’re using up an old bar of chocolate or switching up your hot chocolate making ritual, we’re sure you’ll love learning how to make hot chocolate with a chocolate bar!

How to make chocolate with a chocolate bar: Ingredients

Unsurprisingly, one of the main ingredients needed to make hot chocolate with a chocolate bar is – well – a chocolate bar! However, you don’t want to settle for any old chocolate bar. To make hot chocolate with a chocolate bar, you’ll want to look for chocolate with a high cocoa percentage and one without any added vegetable fat.

Why? First, the overall taste of your hot chocolate depends on the quality of the chocolate you use. Bars with a high cocoa percentage will have a richer, deeper cocoa flavour – for example, 40% milk chocolate has a fuller flavour with more depth, compared to a bar of milk chocolate made with the industry minimum of 10% cocoa. We would never go lower than 40% – anything below that percentage and you risk losing the more nuanced cocoa flavours.

Second, check your chocolate bar has a high cocoa butter percentage. Although this doesn’t really affect the taste of your hot chocolate, a high cocoa butter percentage results in a smooth and velvety texture. Cheaper chocolates sometimes use vegetable fat to solidify the bar – this might mean your hot chocolate will have a thinner texture. To find out more about the wonders of cocoa butter, take a look at our blog on whether you can eat cocoa butter.

After you’ve got your chocolate bar, you’ll want to select your choice of milk. We suggest using whole milk for a thick and luxurious finish, although don’t worry if you’re after a dairy-free cup of cocoa. Oat milk boasts a similarly creamy finish, and there are a whole variety of dairy-free milks to choose from.

Although you could just stop there, we think the best hot chocolates should be ridiculously rich, with a thick and velvety finish. That’s why we recommend pouring a touch of double cream into your cup of cocoa. And that’s how to make hot chocolate with a chocolate bar all the more luxurious.

Method

Because you’re learning how to make hot chocolate from a chocolate bar, rather than just the ordinary powder, there’s an extra step involved in the hot chocolate making process. You’ll need to cut your chocolate bar up into small chunks to ensure your chocolate has an event melt. Although they don’t have to be completely even in size, it’s important to at least aim for similar-sized pieces. The more uniform the pieces, the easier your chocolate bar will melt, resulting in a glossy finish.

Next, you’ll need 200ml of milk at the ready. Gently heat 100ml of milk in a saucepan. When you can see that the milk has steam evaporating from its surface, add in your chocolate and whisk until all the chocolate has melted and you’re left with a rich, glossy mixture. Add the rest of the milk and 20ml double cream and stir until the mixture is hot, without letting it boil. Pour in your favourite mug, and enjoy.

Tip: for an even thicker consistency, substitute 50ml of milk with an additional 50ml double cream.

Best chocolate bars to make hot chocolate with

As we mentioned before, you need to make your hot chocolate with good quality chocolates. This will improve both the taste and texture of your hot chocolate. If you’re looking at how to make hot chocolate with a chocolate bar, but want to make your cup of cocoa a little more adventurous, then keep reading. We’ve included some of our favourite chocolate pairings which work beautifully in hot chocolate!

Chocolate and chilli

The gentle tingle of chilli, the comforting hug of dark chocolate – chocolate and chilli works stunningly well in hot chocolate. This flavour combination will leave you feeling warm and cosy, even after it’s gone. Look for a dark chocolate which has 70% cocoa solids to ensure you get a deep cocoa flavour, with a touch of sweetness to tame the chilli.

Salted caramel chocolate

When selecting your caramel chocolate, check there isn’t too much sugar on the back. Whilst this option is slightly sweeter than chocolate and chilli, sugar shouldn’t overpower the flavour of cocoa. A touch of salt brings a savoury element to this chocolate pairing, cutting through the delicate sweetness of caramel.

White chocolate and cinnamon

The creamy, delicate flavours of white chocolate make it a lighter option to hot chocolates which are made using cocoa powder. Although white chocolate doesn’t contain any cocoa, it is made from cocoa butter. We use 36% cocoa butter in ours. That’s much higher than other chocolate-makers, and it gives our white chocolate an astonishingly velvety texture and subtle floral aroma.

For an added bit of comfort, why not sprinkle some cinnamon into your hot chocolate mix? The warming notes go beautifully with the creaminess of white chocolate, making it the perfect winter drink.

The Velvetiser

For an easier, quicker and more luxurious result, we recommend incorporating The Velvetiser into your hot chocolate making ritual. Although we’d recommend using our single-serve sachets, this doesn’t mean you can’t make hot chocolate using a chocolate bar.

Simply grate your chocolate gossamer-thin. We make our carefully-crafted hot chocolate sachets with flakes of the real stuff too! Barista-grade hot chocolate, made possible in a matter of minutes – it doesn’t get much better than that!

The secret behind how to make hot chocolate using a chocolate bar depends on one simple factor – quality ingredients. We hope you now feel confident enough to make the perfect cup of cocoa for you to enjoy from home. Enjoy!