Homemade Dark Chocolate

This recipe for dark chocolate (made from scratch!) is creamy, dreamy and so easy. Once you learn how to make dark chocolate you'll NEVER want store bought again. 🙂

I love making my own chocolate--and having it on hand in the fridge for those times when chocolate calls. It's just so satisfying to know exactly what the ingredients are 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.

As a bonus, this chocolate 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 these chocolate chip cookies or chocolate covered raspberries.

Jump to:

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

🌿 Ingredients

The ingredients for this dark chocolate recipe are very minimal. Most larger natural foods stores carry all of them, but you can also order them online.

• cacao butter or coconut oil
• pure raw honey or maple syrup
• cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
• pure vanilla extract
• sea salt (just a pinch)

Optional add-ins:

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

See recipe card below for exact quantities.

📝 Instructions

Okay, let's have some fun making chocolate! 🙂

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 chocolate bar mold.

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

Step 1: Melt

Okay, now it's onto our chocolate making. First, 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 2: Mix

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 to combine well.

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

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

Step 3: Mold

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

Step 4: Chill

Lastly, carefully transfer the chocolate bar mold plus any other chocolate that needs to cool 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 coconut oil; the chocolate 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 - 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 sea salt to your chocolate mold
• Cranberry dark chocolate - add finely chopped sweetened dried cranberries to your chocolate 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 chocolate shaped mold, but you can still make chocolate without a mold and just line a baking dish with parchment paper to form 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!

🍳 Recipe