The Ultimate Vegan Hot Chocolate Recipe (With REAL Chocolate)

Hot cocoa or hot chocolate – whatever you want to call it – is DELICIOUS.

But listen, guys, I don’t need to tell you how to make a vegan hot chocolate; the back of a hot chocolate packet could tell you that…

But what about a vegan hot chocolate made with REAL chocolate (instead of the powdered stuff) and covered in blow-torched marshmallows and cookie crumbs? Now that’s what I am talking about.

This recipe will show you how to make the most decadent and rich-tasting vegan hot chocolate with ALL THE TRIMMINGS.

(Want to find out which biscuits are vegan to pair with your vegan hot chocolate? Check out our blog on which biscuits are vegan).

Source: Unsplash

This vegan hot chocolate recipe is partially inspired by School Night Vegan and serves one, so if you are making two vegan hot chocolates, double the recipe (and so on).

Recommended Ingredients

Vegan Chocolate Sauce

Sweet Freedom Choc Shot

Source: Holland and Barret

This vegan fruit syrup-based chocolate sauce is 100% natural, 14 calories per serving and tastes AMAZING.

Vegan Cookies

Rhythm 108 – Double Choco Hazelnut Biscuits

Source: The Vegan Kind Supermarket

These non-GMO, palm oil free cookies are small and crumbly rather than soft and chewy, which makes them perfect for crumbling on top of your vegan hot cocoa!

The ULTIMATE Vegan Hot Chocolate Recipe:

Ingredients:

The Base

250ml Almond or Oat Milk
1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
15 grams Of Vegan Chocolate Chips
1 Tbsp Caster Sugar

The Marshmallow

10 ml aquafaba
Tiny Pinch of Cream of Tartar
15g Caster Sugar
10 ml Water

The Toppings:

Vegan Chocolate Sauce
Vegan Cookies

Source: Canva

Method:

The Hot Chocolate

Warm the milk in a microwave or saucepan; it’s best that the milk is steaming but not boiling.
Take the milk off the heat and add the vegan chocolate chips to the warmed milk and whisk it until combined; it will look weird and like it won’t mix at first but keep going until it’s a smooth, brown colour throughout!
Add the sugar and cocoa powder to the milk mixture, whisking as you do it. (The cocoa powder will clump if you don’t keep whisking!). Set aside.

The Marshmallow

In a VERY CLEAN bowl, use a hand mixer to whisk the aquafaba until the surface is filled with tiny white bubbles.
Stop whisking and add a small pinch of aquafaba, then continue whisking the mixture until you form stiff peaks.
Make a sugar syrup by heating up the water and dissolving the caster sugar in it until it reaches 115c (use a candy thermometer).
Slowly pour the sugar syrup into the Aquafaba mixture while whisking with the electric mixer.
Place the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a round metal nozzle and set aside.

Assembling The Vegan Hot Chocolate:

Pour your hot chocolate into a mug.
Pipe your vegan marshmallow all around the edge and on top of the hot chocolate – it doesn’t matter if it’s messy!
Use a chef’s blow torch to blacken the marshmallow.
Squeeze the vegan chocolate sauce in a swift back and forth hand motion on top of the vegan hot chocolate to create stripes of sauce across the hot chocolate.
Using your clean fingers, crumble the vegan cookies on top.

Source: Canva

3 Flavour Variations

Vegan Hot Chocolate Orange

To TRANSFORM this vegan hot chocolate recipe into a chocolate orange vegan hot chocolate, follow the recipe as usual but add some clean orange peel to your milk when you’re heating it and then remove the peel before you add the chocolate chips. This will infuse the milk with an orange flavour. Add some orange zest on top at the very end.

Cinnamon Vegan Hot Chocolate

Cinnamon spiced hot chocolate is PERFECT for the wintertime, especially around Christmas. The warming spices of cinnamon pair perfectly with the smooth vegan hot chocolate. All it takes is following the recipe as usual but adding ¼ tsp or less of cinnamon along with your cocoa powder.

Mocha Vegan Hot Chocolate

To bring a sophisticated espresso twist to your fancy vegan hot chocolate, take 25ml of your non-dairy milk and heat it in the microwave. Once it’s warm, mix in one tsp of instant coffee and stir until combined. Add this to the rest of your milk before warming it, and then follow the recipe normally.

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About the Author

Amy Swain

Amy Swain is a content writer for Plant Sumo, foodie and ex-chef. If she’s not baking then she’s got a paintbrush in hand, working on her next masterpiece.

We’re Plant Sumo, a London-based UK vegan meal prep service, delivering innovative, exciting, and flavoursome plant-based meals. If you’re on the hunt for healthy and delicious vegan food in London, look no further.

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