Hot chocolate is a creamy, rich, warm beverage you can serve on a cold winter’s night. Hot chocolate can be brought to new levels of flavor using a few of your favorite toppings.
The classic toppings for hot chocolate are whipped cream and marshmallows.
You can use sweet decadent sauces, chocolates, or sprinkles to make your hot chocolate look gourmet with a few of these delicious hot chocolate toppings.
Caramel Sauce
Caramel sauce is a sweet, decadent topping you can put directly on top of your hot chocolate.
Salted caramel sauce is another option, which adds a sweet and salty flavor to the hot chocolate.
Salted caramel is a specialty sauce for more of a gourmet hot chocolate.
You can add whipped cream on top of your hot chocolate, and then top with your caramel sauce.
Whipped cream adds more of a full-flavored, creamy texture to your hot chocolate.
Cocoa Powder
Cocoa powder looks beautiful on top of hot chocolate. You can simply use a sifter to “dust” a bit of cocoa powder on top of your hot chocolate.
Another option would be to put whipped cream on top of the hot chocolate, and then dust a bit of cocoa powder on top of the whipped cream.
Hot chocolate is made using cocoa powder, therefore adding it as a topping will just add a bit more chocolatey flavor to your hot chocolate.
Whipped Cream
Whipped cream is a classic topping for hot chocolate. Whipped cream has a softy, pillow texture that melts into the hot chocolate, making it extra creamy.
Whipped cream adds a rich flavor to your hot chocolate.
You can add caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, cocoa powder, marshmallows, or sprinkles on top of your whipped cream for a beautiful look to your hot chocolate.
Marshmallows
Marshmallows are a favorite topping for hot chocolate. Marshmallows have a soft, rubbery texture, but they melt and become soft in hot chocolate.
Marshmallows float on the top of the hot chocolate, making it look intriguing.
It’s best to use the small marshmallows so they can easily be drank in the hot chocolate.
Marshmallows have a hint of vanilla flavor to them, making them a delicious complimenting flavor to your hot chocolate.
Sprinkles
Sprinkles give hot chocolate a pop of color. Sprinkles are made of sugar, therefore they will melt in your hot chocolate.
You can use sprinkles on top of whipped cream on your hot chocolate so you can see them much better than if you added them right to the hot chocolate.
Sprinkles look beautiful on top of whipped cream when you use a variety of shapes and sizes, like large circular, and thin rectangular sprinkles.
You can also use specific colored sprinkles to go with the theme of your hot chocolate.
For example, you can use red or green for Christmas day hot chocolate.
Decorative Chocolate
You can make shaped decorative chocolate right at home using a melted chocolate and parchment paper.
When you melt you chocolate, you can use a piping bag with a small round tip to create words or shapes for the top of your hot chocolate.
If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a spoon to guide the chocolate into your specific shape.
Pipe the melted shaped chocolate onto parchment paper, then place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes until it hardens.
Gently remove the parchment paper by peeling it from the bottom of the chocolate.
It’s best if you put the chocolate on top of whipped cream so the shape of the chocolate will stay solidified for as long as possible. Eventually, the shaped chocolate will melt into the hot chocolate.
Chocolate Sauce
Chocolate sauce is a sweet sauce that will add even more chocolate flavor to your hot chocolate.
You can use chocolate sauce on top of whipped cream for a beautiful look to your hot chocolate.
You can even make a crisscross design with your chocolate sauce on top of the whipped cream.
Chocolate Shavings
Chocolate shavings can be made using a chocolate bar, and a potato peeler. Gently “peel” the chocolate from the chocolate bar for small chocolate shavings that will make your hot chocolate look eye-catching.
It’s best if you put the chocolate shavings on top of whipped cream on your hot chocolate. The chocolate shavings will melt into your hot chocolate if you put them directly on the hot chocolate.
