7 heavenly chocolate and spice combinations

1 Jun 2022

Chocolate Knowledge

Get creative in the kitchen with these chocolate and spice pairings

While we’ll always love chocolate on its own, plain and simple, it’s also fun to take flavour combinations to the next level — and that’s where spices come in. These are our favourite chocolate and spice combinations, listed according to chocolate grade.

Learn about the best flavours to pair with dark, milk, and white chocolate and how to use them at home.

A row of spoons with various spices

Dark chocolate and spice combinations

The bitter notes in dark chocolate are sublime when lifted by a spicy kick. We adore pairing dark chocolate (70% cacao minimum) with spices that deliver some real oomph.

Chilli

We thought we’d start our list with some fire: chilli. Pairing cacao with chilli can be traced back to the ancient Aztec civilization. Xocolatl, a warming cacao drink with chilli, vanilla, and cinnamon, was the world’s first hot chocolate drink.

Our twist on Xocolatl is our Mayan Chilli & Cinnamon Hot Chocolate, bringing fiery chilli and soothing cinnamon together with 70% dark chocolate for an aromatic, spicy hot chocolate experience.

Another fine example of chilli and dark chocolate is our Chilli Chocolate Selector — soft hazelnut praline with a tingle of chilli sealed in sumptuous dark chocolate.

To use in cooking

Try adding one 85% Dark Baton to a warming pot of meat or vegetarian chilli. The chocolate will melt into the sweet tomato base. As it mingles with the herbs and chilli spice, it will create a fabulous depth of flavour.

Chocolate dessert with chilli

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a distinctive spice that adds an earthy sweetness to both sweet and savoury dishes.

We mentioned that cinnamon plays a key role in our Mayan Chilli & Cinnamon Hot Chocolate as it balances out the chilli. However, you can also add it to plain 70% Dark Hot Chocolate on its own for a more mellow experience.

Cinnamon can also work in milk chocolate creations, like our subtly spiced Carrot Cake Selector.

To use in baking

We recommend adding a teaspoon of cinnamon to any dark chocolate banana bread recipe for a slightly spiced loaf. You can also experiment with adding cinnamon and dark chocolate to your porridge for an indulgent breakfast treat. Take a look at our porridge ideas for some inspiration.

Ginger

If we had to choose just one spice to pair with dark chocolate, it would have to be ginger! Our selection of ginger and dark chocolate treats speaks for itself. We adore this zingy, uplifting spice.

Deep cacao flavours and warming ginger notes work in harmony to create sumptuous chocolates with a soft, gentle heat.

How have our chocolatiers used ginger and chocolate in the Hotel Chocolat kitchen? Just take a peek at some of our ginger and dark chocolate creations:

To use in baking and cooking

We love baking with ginger and chocolate. If you do too, look for ginger and chocolate cake, tiffin, and torte recipes. If you’re determined to use ginger and cacao in your savoury cooking, why not make a spicy marinade? You can experiment with different quantities of ingredients and see what works.

Milk chocolate and spice combinations

Our milk chocolate contains between 40% and 65% cacao, making it a great middle-ground base for pairing with lots of different spices.

Rose Petal

Still a relatively rare flavour addition in the confectionery world, natural rose adds a wonderfully fragrant and delicate aroma to any chocolate.

Conjuring nostalgic memories of summer days and English gardens, just the right amount of rose can transform an edible delight into a luxurious, aromatic morsel. This is why we added this lightly perfumed flower to our soft fondant Rose & Violet Cremes Selector.

To use in baking

Try making some rose and milk chocolate truffles at home — just be careful not to add too much rose (trust us, less is more).

Sea salt

Does sea salt count as a spice? We have to include it anyway. A criminally underrated ingredient in chocolate, coarse salt flakes provide a welcome contrast to sweeter chocolate ingredients — like caramel.

Salted caramel is now a popular chocolate flavour, but try it for yourself if you’re still sceptical. Our Salted Caramel Selector with soft caramel, sea salt, and milk chocolate will sort you out. If you’re feeling adventurous, our Salted Caramel & Butterscotch Selector is your next step up.

To use in baking

We adore baking rich chocolate and sea salt torte and sea salt truffles. This sweet-savoury chocolate, sea salt, olive oil and toast dessert also looks intriguing.

Sea salt and wooden spoon

White chocolate and spice combinations

Our creamy white chocolate made with lots of luxurious cocoa butter is so divine, we only pair it with subtle flavours. Anything too harsh will overpower its sumptuous, delicate base flavour.

Here are some of our favourite white chocolate and spice pairings:

Vanilla

Ah vanilla — subtly fragrant, floral, with a distant taste of caramel and jasmine. It’s no surprise that we’d pair this sweet, delicate spice with white chocolate. Our most decadent example of this combination is our Vanilla Macarons, inspired by the classic French dessert. Featuring beautiful vanilla whip sandwiched between smooth, white chocolate discs, it’s heaven in a bite.

Our Vanilla White Hot Chocolate with 36% cacao is also an irresistible example of this star duo.

To use in baking

Let these spices shine together by baking some vanilla and white chocolate chip cookies. Alternatively, a vanilla and white chocolate cake is a dessert fit for a grand occasion.

Coffee

At Hotel Chocolat, we’re experts in crafting exquisite chocolates and creating delectable coffee blends. As a result, we couldn’t resist combining cacao and coffee in some of our confectionery delights.

We think the rich, aromatic tones in coffee work beautifully with all chocolate grades, but it’s rare to find flavours that work so wonderfully with white chocolate. We think coffee paired with high-cacao white chocolate is something truly special.

Just set your eyes on our Caffe Latte Selector. Arabica coffee meets the creamiest, high-cocoa butter white chocolate to deliver sublime roasted tones and a fabulous depth of flavour.

Why not explore our entire coffee chocolate collection?

To use in a delicious beverage

We also have to recommend whipping up a homemade white chocolate mocha. Our Caffe Latte Sachets and Velvetiser can help with this. Once you’ve made your drink, top it with cream and some grated white chocolate — stunning.

Start with top-quality chocolate

Whichever spicy additions are your favourites, make sure you start with high-quality ingredients. At Hotel Chocolat, we pride ourselves on using only the finest ethically sourced cacao for our chocolate. So whether you go for milk, white, Supermilk, or dark chocolate for your spice pairings, you know you’re working with the best.