National Hot Chocolate Day + Best Whipped Cream

Today is National Hot Chocolate Day! For me, every day is hot chocolate day, but for the rest of the world, it’s an excuse to celebrate the best beverage in existence. For the past week, Vancouver and New York have been holding hot chocolate festivals. Amazing! I wish there was one close to me…

Hot chocolate is kind of what started me down the chocolatier path. I became deeply obsessed with it and put a lot of research and time into trying to make the best cup. My cups of hot chocolate soon became famous among my friends! Eventually, I decided to branch out into other chocolate confections, but I still enjoy the simplicity of a good cup of chocolate. And, as it’s National Hot Chocolate Day, I’d like to take this opportunity to share my technique to make rich, heavenly hot chocolate. If you like whipped cream in your hot chocolate, you can use my recipe for that as well. It tastes like high-quality, creamy ice cream!

When I make this at home, I eyeball the ingredient amounts. I’ve attempted to put numbers on it for the purposes of this post, but there’s no need to get it exact, and you can feel free to adjust them to your own liking once you’ve tried it this way.

For the whipped cream:

~300ml cream

~2 tablespoons powdered sugar

~1 teaspoon vanilla paste ((Using paste will add flecks of vanilla seed to the final product. This makes it look fancy, which tricks the brain into thinking it tastes better too).

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whip until it forms peaks. Can you see the vanilla seeds?!

For the hot chocolate (one serving):

~200ml milk

~100ml cream

Heaped 1/4 cup chocolate, chopped (quality matters here – I use Valrhona 66%). Can we take a moment to adore these cute measuring bowls my boyfriend got me?

Process:

If you do not have a milk frother:

1. Melt most of the chocolate in a small bowl. Leave a pinch of finely chopped chocolate for later.
2. Mix milk and cream in a saucepan. Heat slowly on low until it starts to get bubbly.
3. Pour the milk/cream over the melted chocolate and whisk vigorously until the chocolate has melted. At this point, you have hot chocolate!
4. Pour the hot chocolate into your drinking bowl (I like mugs without handles so I can wrap your hands all the way around. It feels more relaxing this way).
5. If you are using whipped cream, add this on top either with a spoon or piping bag
6. Top with the leftover finely chopped chocolate.

If you have a large enough milk frother (I use this one):

1. Set the milk frother to 140 degrees. Put the milk and cream in the milk frother and push start.
2. Feel the outside of the pitcher with your hands. Once the pitcher feels warm (this takes my machine about one minute for one serving), slowly add the chopped chocolate. Let the frother run until it beeps and is done.
3. Pour the hot chocolate into your drinking bowl (I like mugs without handles so I can wrap your hands all the way around. It feels more relaxing this way).
4. If you are using whipped cream, add this on top either with a spoon or piping bag.
5. Top with the leftover finely chopped chocolate.

Now, enjoy a bowl-sized moment of happiness 🙂

Bonus – Cream and Cocoa with their hot chocolate: