How to Make Dark Chocolate

This easy chocolate bar recipe (made from scratch!) is creamy, dreamy and delicious. Once you learn how to make chocolate at home you'll never want store bought again. 🙂

I love making my own chocolate. It's just so satisfying to know exactly what ingredients went into it and that it hasn't been sitting on a shelf in a wrapper for who knows how long. Plus, it really is SO creamy and delicious--trust me when I say that you probably won't want to go back to store-bought after you try this recipe. And as chocolate recipes go, this is one of the easiest with no prior experience required.

As a bonus, this recipe is also healthy (woohoo!) since dark chocolate has numerous health benefits all on its own. Plus, this recipe contains only pure, raw honey and no added processed sugar to keep things even healthier.

And if you have any left over, you can also use your homemade chocolate in other recipes such as this chocolate bark or these chocolate covered raspberries. It's also an awesome chocolate recipe for fondue. 😉

Jump to:

• 🌿 Ingredients
• 📝 Instructions
• 📋 Substitutions
• 📖 Variations
• 🔪 Equipment
• 🍱 Storage
• 🎉 Top tip
• 💭 FAQ
• 🍳 Recipe

🌿 Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe are very minimal, with the two key ingredients being cacao powder and cacao butter. Most larger natural foods stores them, but you can also order them online.

Pro tip: Note that you can easily substitute unsweetened cocoa powder and/or cocoa powder for the raw cacao versions. Just make sure that if you use cocoa butter it's a food grade product (look for "food grade" on the label.)

Some optional add-ins include:

• chopped almonds, cashews or peanuts
• chopped dried cranberries
• pomegranate arils
• sea salt

See recipe card below for exact quantities.

📝 Instructions

Okay, let's get started! 🙂

Step 1: Prep your add-ins

First, get any fillings you'd like to use ready to go. Finely chop your favorite nuts, dried fruits or any of the optional add-ins listed above, and then place them in one or more sections of a silicone chocolate bar mold.

Pro tip: If you don't have a mold, you can simply line a shallow baking dish with some parchment paper to make one large chocolate sheet, and then break it into pieces once it's cooled.

Step 2: Melt the cacao butter and add honey

Now, we'll melt the cacao butter, and then add some honey.

Pro tip: If your cacao butter is in large chunks rather than mostly smaller pieces, chop the large chunks into smaller ones first before you measure it, for better accuracy.

Place the cacao butter in a double boiler and start warming it using about an inch of water in the bottom of the boiler over medium heat.

Pro tip: If you don't have a double boiler, just place a stainless steel mixing bowl over a saucepan with an inch of water in it, and heat to medium.

Continue to heat the cacao butter slowly until it just melts, and then use a whisk to mix in the honey.

Once the honey is incorporated, remove the top of the double boiler to a heat safe surface or cooling rack.

Caution: If you are using a bowl rather than a double boiler, be extremely careful as you lift it off the saucepan so that the steam below doesn't burn you--try to lift it off towards you rather than off to one side.

Step 3: Mix in the cacao powder

Once the cacao butter and honey mixture is away from the heat, add the cacao powder, vanilla and a pinch of sea salt to the melted mixture and whisk everything to combine well.

Pro tip: Take a taste of your homemade chocolate to test the flavor; add a little more honey, if desired, to reach your preferred sweetness.

Once you're happy with the taste, it's time to form some bars. 🙂

Step 4: Mold your chocolate bars

Place your mold onto a cutting board to keep it flat as it chills, and then carefully pour the melted mixture evenly among the mold sections until the chocolate is level with the top surface of the mold. (If you have any leftover, you can line any size container with parchment paper and add the rest to that to cool.)

Step 5: Chill your chocolate

Lastly, carefully transfer the mold to the fridge and chill for at least 45 minutes to solidify (keep it on the cutting board for easy transfer.)

Once they've solidified, remove the chocolate bars from the mold by slowly pulling the sides of the mold away, and then store your bars in the fridge in an airtight container.

📋 Substitutions

Here are a few substitutions in case you can't find cacao butter or powder, or if you'd like to make a vegan version of this recipe:

• Cacao butter - use food-grade cocoa butter, or substitute coconut oil; with coconut oil, the result won't be quite as creamy, but it will still be delicious!
• Cacao powder - use cocoa powder, but just make sure it's unsweetened!
• Vegan chocolate recipe - use maple syrup instead of honey

📖 Variations

The possibilities are endless for making dark chocolate! Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Almond and sea salt dark chocolate - add finely chopped raw, unsalted almonds and a little extra sea salt to your mold
• Cranberry dark chocolate - add finely chopped sweetened dried cranberries to your mold
• Kid friendly - add a little extra honey to the recipe if needed, for sweetness

🔪 Equipment

The main piece of equipment you'll need for this recipe is a silicone chocolate bar mold or other shaped mold, but you can still make this recipe without a mold and just line a baking dish with parchment paper to chill your chocolate in.

• chocolate bar mold (this one worked out perfectly with the amount of chocolate this recipe makes)
• double boiler (optional; you can also use a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan)
• cutting board
• chef's knife (for chopping any add-ins)

🍱 Storage

Homemade chocolate bars will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for up to 2 months--just make sure to store them in an airtight container. I don't recommend storing homemade chocolate at room temperature especially in warmer climates, as it does melt easily once it's warmed.

🎉 Top tip

You can experiment with using slightly less honey if you like your dark chocolate more on the bitter side rather than semi sweet side (I'd recommend ¼ cup of honey as a starting place). If it's not sweet enough when you do a taste test simply add a little more honey and keep mixing and testing.

Enjoy making chocolate!

💭 FAQ

🍳 Recipe