We like light, floral cocktails as much as the next woman (seriously, we do, take a look), but sometimes you just need something darker, something more... intense.
This is the luxurious and indulgent world of chocolate cocktails. Specifically, luxurious and indulgent chocolate cocktails you can make yourself in the comfort of your own kitchen.
Our selection of 14 recipes from bars, restaurants and brand experts prove that chocolate creations don’t have to be big and creamy (although plenty of them are) as milk, white and dark all pair fabulously with flavours such as coffee, hazelnut, orange, rose and beetroot.
So if you’re the kind of person who hears the world ‘spring’ and thinks not of daffodils, but of Easter eggs, scroll through our selection below.
Mexican Mocha
The tequila experts at Patrón know that coffee and chocolate doesn’t always need a creamy base. This short packs a punch.
45ml Patrón XO Cafe
4.5ml aromatic bitters
Chocolate hazelnut syrup
Method: Add all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Using a bar spoon, mix to chill and dilute the mixture. Strain into a rocks or coupe glass filled with ice. Garnish with an orange twist for an extra sensory hit.
La Cura
Choc cocktails don’t have to be dark and moody or overly sweet: this is a fruity white chocolate number from Mexican restaurant and bar Cafe Pacifico.
40ml Curado Tequila
20ml Mandarin Napoleon
20ml lime juice
15ml white creme de cacao
5ml agave syrup
1 drop orange bitters
1 drop chocolate bitters
Method: Shake and pour into a classic tumbler over ice. Garnish with a Mandarin dry slice and cherry on a bamboo stick.
Coff’ Medicine
Mr Black is a cold-press coffee liqueur, thus has the bitterness and intensity to work well with both Campari and chocolate. NB this recipe includes infused bitters; if you don’t have the time (or patience) you can buy chocolate and chilli bitters separately.
25ml Mr Black
20ml Montelobos Mescal
20ml Campari
2 dashes cacao nib and chilli-infused Angostura bitters
Method: Stir all ingredients over ice and then serve up in a coupette glass. Garnish with an orange peel twist.
Mr Tumnus' Tipple
Jason Atherton’s The Blind Pig bar has a new menu inspired by British children’s literature. For a taste of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, try this rose mix, evoking that oh-so-tempting Turkish delight.
40ml Hendrick’s gin
15ml Lanique rose liqueur
10ml rose vermouth
4 drops tobacco essence
3 dashes of chocolate bitters
Method: Stir over ice and strain into a glass goblet. Garnish with rose petals
Cousin Cocoa
The team at cafe and cocktail bar Brother Marcus in London came up with this orange and ice cream mix – more of a dessert in a glass than a cocktail but we’re not complaining.
3.5 scoops chocolate ice cream
50ml milk
40ml Cointreau
Sprinkle of nutmeg
Sprinkle of cinnamon
Method: Put everything in a blender and blitz for 3 minutes. Pour into a glass of your choice and garnish with chocolate powder and orange peel.
Zurich to Louisville
From the team at German Gymnasium’s Meister Bar, this combines bourbon, chocolate, mint and syrup – a luxury sip with a refreshing edge.
50ml bourbon
15ml red wine
15ml dark chocolate liqueur
10ml sugar syrup
Handful of mint
Mint chocolate
Salted peanuts
Method: Build all the ingredients into a rocks glass or tin cup (as pictured), starting with the mint, then syrup, wine, liqueur and bourbon. Top with crushed ice, mint chocolate pieces and salted peanuts.
Top of the Chocs
This comes from Skylounge in London, and involves a lot of luxurious booze. Not one for the faint (or weak) of heart.
30ml vodka
30ml Mozart Dark Chocolate
30ml double cream
20ml vanilla syrup
15ml Irish cream
Method: Pour all the ingredients in a shaker and shake hard. Pour into a coupette glass and garnish with chocolate shavings and an edible flower.
Tiramisu Caketail
Olives Restaurant & Bar (in The Bailey’s Hotel, Kensington) offer up this appropriately named Caketail, which is easy to make and no doubt to drink.
25ml Kahlúa
25ml amaretto
25ml brown crème de cacao
Double cream
Chocolate to garnish
Method: Combine all ingredients (double cream to taste) in a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a Martini glass and top with coffee beans and flaked chocolate.
Beetroot and Chocolate Royale
This is from Richard Woods, head of spirit and cocktail development at Duck & Waffle. The method is simple, but you do have to make a relatively straightforward liqueur first.
250ml vodka
125g caster sugar
100ml water
55g sliced beetroot
35g cacao nibs
Champagne
Method: Heat water and sugar in a pan over a medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to stir while adding cacao nibs and beetroot. Once it’s dark red, remove from the heat and mix in the vodka. Once cooled, refrigerate in a sealed container for 4 hours. Filter through a coffee filter or cloth into a bottle.
When ready, pour 35ml of the liqueur into a champagne glass and top with champagne.
Chocolate Flip
This creation from Slingsby Gin mixologist Alex Hanson takes the rich theme and runs with it, using a whole egg and chocolate stout (there are several available, so hit Tesco for a budget version or properly treat yourself).
60ml Slingsby London Dry Gin
50ml chocolate stout
50ml chocolate milk
25ml double cream
25ml sugar syrup
One whole egg
Method: Add all ingredients to a shaker and dry shake. Add ice and shake again. Garnish with chocolate powder.
The Mad Hatter
This is from cocktail bar Archer Street and uses Cocchi vermouth, a rich version of the spirit perfect for punchy shorts. (For an extra hit, you can infuse the whisky with tonka beans by roughly crushing 20 or so and leaving them in the bottle for a week minimum.)
35ml tonka bean-infused Talisker Whisky
10ml dark creme de cacao
10ml Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
2 dashes orange bitters
Method: Pour the Talisker into a tumbler filled with ice. Add the dark cocoa, vermouth and orange bitters, and stir together. Garnish with orange peel.
Chocolate Batida
This from Las Iguanas restaurants is an indulgent treat, using condensed milk and Brazilian sugarcane spirit cachaça (more often found in your Caipirinha).
50ml full-fat milk
25ml brown crème de cacao
25ml condensed milk
15ml Las Iguanas Magnifica Cachaça
Dash of chocolate bitters
Method: Add the ingredients to a stem glass filled with ice. Stir well and top with a sprinkle of chocolate powder (and as many Mini Eggs as your heart desires).
The 10.10.10
From The Savoy’s Beaufort Bar, this is dedicated to the hotel’s reopening – which took place 10.10am on 10 October 2010. Fruity and chocolate-laden. (Infuse vodka with chocolate via various online methods or buy a pre-made chocolate vodka.)
30ml chocolate-infused vodka
10ml Cointreau
10ml pineapple syrup
10ml Manzanilla sherry
Champagne
Method: Shake all ingredients together except the champagne, pour into a champagne flute and top with the bubbles.
Salted Caramel Milkshake
Feeney’s Irish Cream is made with cream, chocolate and whisky: combine it with a honeycomb whiskey liqueur and you have a very grown-up milkshake indeed.
30ml Feeney's Irish Cream Liqueur
20ml The Dubliner Irish Whiskey Liqueur
2.5 scoops vanilla ice cream
Pinch of salt
Method: Add the Irish cream, liqueur, ice cream, three ice cubes and pinch of salt to a blender and blend until smooth. In a tall glass, add crushed ice and then pour in the milkshake. Top with a chocolate flake if desired.
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