Hot Chocolate Cups

Hot Chocolate Cups are an easy way to make hot chocolate bombs – they make a very rich hot chocolate when dropped into hot milk.

 

What is a hot chocolate bomb?

Hot chocolate bombs are balls of chocolate that you put into a mug with hot milk in order to make a hot chocolate. They usually have marshmallows hidden inside as well.

These hot chocolate cups are a fuss-free way to make a hot chocolate bomb.

What chocolate can I use for these hot chocolate cups?

You will want to use a good quality chocolate that has at least 65% or more cocoa with cocoa butter in it. Avoid candy melts as they won’t make a good tasting hot chocolate. I used chocolate chips for these hot chocolate cups and the result was good but a higher quality chocolate is more appropriate when servings guests.

If you want a high quality chocolate that is easy to work with, look for couverture chocolate. It is formulated with a high percentage of cocoa butter which helps it to melt smoothly for use in chocolate molds. 

Check the ingredients to make sure it contains cocoa butter. 

How to temper your chocolate

Tempered chocolate has a shiny, flawless appearance.

Slowly heating melted chocolate while stirring puts it into temper. If chocolate is not tempered properly, your finished product will be dull and have problems holding its shape. It will melt at room temperature and will be a huge headache to work with.

Thankfully you can quickly and easily temper hot chocolate in the microwave.

Step 1 – Chop your chocolate.  Chop as finely as you can with a knife. This will help it melt more evenly. If you get couverture chocolate you can skip this step.

Step 2 – Put the chocolate in a heat safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. It won’t be melted yet. Stir with a spatula, moving the chocolate from the outside edges, to the centre to evenly heat it. 

Step 3 –Microwave the bowl again for 15 seconds. Then remove and stir from the outside in as we did in the last step. Use an instant read thermometer to take the temp of your chocolate to make sure it’s not above 90ºF. 

Step 4 – Repeat this process 2-5 more times until the chocolate is almost melted. Once almost melted, just continue stirring until the chocolate is fully melted from the residual heat from the bowl to help prevent overheating. 

Step 5 – Test the chocolate. Pour some chocolate onto a piece of parchment paper and put it into the fridge for 5 minutes. If your chocolate is shiny and snaps when broken, then it’s tempered and ready to go in your molds.

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Hot chocolate cup flavour variations

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cups – Add a little cinnamon and cayenne to your chocolate.

Salted Caramel – Fill the cup with melted soft caramel candy and sprinkle over with a pinch of flakey salt.

Peppermint – Make a chocolate ganache for the inside and add a drop of peppermint extract. Sprinkle over crushed peppermints.

Peanut Butter – Add 2 tbsp of peanut butter into a chocolate ganache to fill the cups.

Mocha – Add 2 tsp of instant espresso into your chocolate ganache to fill the cups with.

Looking for more Hot Drink Recipes?

Check out some of my favourite hot beverage recipes:

Kid Friendly Slow Cooker Wassail

Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

Salted Caramel Latte

How to Make Hot Chocolate Cups

Makes: 8 | Prep time: 10 minutes | Total time: overnight for setting

Ingredients:

2 cups of  milk chocolate chips
2 cups of white chocolate chips
Mini candy canes (8)
Shot glass mold

Instructions:

Melt milk chocolate chips (See above about tempering your chocolate)

Fill the shot glass molds. Tap to release any bubbles

Set in fridge overnight or freezer for 1 hour

Remove chocolate from molds

Melt white chocolate chips and fill glass portion with white chocolate

Place in mini candy canes. I removed the hook part and just used the stick portion

Let white chocolate set for 25 minutes

To use, fill a glass ¾ way with hot milk and place in hot chocolate cup and mix. This hot chocolate is very rich.