Put your DIY skills to the test with a homemade Valentine’s Day — try these delicious chocolate recipes

If you’re thinking that 2023 could be the year you take a DIY approach to Valentine’s Day, we’re with you. Nothing shows your loved one – whether they’re a best friend, family member, or partner – just how much you care like handmade, personalised gifts.

To give you some inspiration this Valentine’s Day, here are some unique chocolate recipes that are guaranteed to bring out your creativity in the kitchen. We’ll be using our own Hotel Chocolat chocolates in these recipes, so make sure you stock up on our batons and slabs (aka, the perfect cooking chocolate).

Valentine’s Day chocolate recipes

In our eyes, Valentine’s Day is synonymous with chocolate, so we are putting this delectable treat front and centre of our Valentine’s baking. From homemade chocolate recipes to Valentine’s chocolate cakes and cupcakes, here are a few recipes to browse.

Whichever you choose for your Valentine’s Day baking session, we’re sure you’ll end up with some heavenly bakes and bites.

Chocolate hearts recipe

If you’re looking to try making your own chocolates this Valentine’s Day, we have a very quick and easy recipe for you.

While sourcing your own cacao and making your chocolate completely from scratch can be a little time-consuming (trust us, we have created an entire business devoted to the multi-faceted bean to bar process), this recipe will be just as satisfying.

By melting down our delectable batons and slabs, adding a few of your own ingredients, and moulding the chocolate into Valentine’s Day-themed heart shapes, you’ll still get to produce your very own creations.

How to make your chocolate hearts

You’ll need some standard kitchen equipment, like heat-proof bowls, spoons, and a baking tray. You’ll also need flexible heart-shaped chocolate moulds — or any other shape you’d prefer.

Now for your Valentine’s favourite type of chocolate. This could be creamy white, classic milk, or rich dark chocolate. If they like fruity chocolate, you could even go for our Raspberry White Chocolate Batons to give your chocolates an adorable pink hue.

If you’re feeling a little fancy, you can add some extra ingredients to your chocolate hearts like freeze-dried raspberries (perfect if you’re using the raspberry batons) or finely chopped nuts.

All you need to do is melt your chocolate down into a smooth, silky consistency using the microwave or the hob. Be careful not to burn it, as this will completely ruin the taste of your finished product. Take a look at our article on the best ways to melt chocolate for tips!

Fill your heart moulds with the melted chocolate, right up (but not spilling over) the top of each mould. If you’re adding extra ingredients, you can either mix these into your melted chocolate before filling the moulds (giving you an even distribution of your chosen ingredient) or you can choose the aesthetically pleasing option…

To make your hearts look extra pretty, add a sprinkling of nuts, tiny toffee pieces, or otherwise to your heart moulds before you add the chocolate. This will mean that when you take your finished chocolates out of their moulds, your ingredients will be on the top of your hearts acting as decoration.

Whichever option you choose, once you have filled your moulds with chocolate, leave them to set for at least 6 hours. Check they are completely solid before removing them from the moulds and wrapping up to give to your Valentine!

Valentine’s cupcakes

We love this Valentine’s Day cupcake recipe from BBC Good Food. The recipe calls for 8 white truffles – so we use our Simple White Truffles Selector, as well as 8 white chocolate hearts – which you can swap for our Pistachio Chocolate Hearts or Dark Chocolate Cashew Hearts.

Even those new to baking will find this recipe straightforward, and it takes around 40 minutes from the start to finish.

Hidden heart cake

This one is perfect for those who are up for a challenge. This Hidden heart cake from BBC Good Food puts a Valentine’s Day spin on a classic loaf cake. Your special person won’t know the difference until they cut it down the middle to reveal a red heart running through the core. It’s the perfect Valentine’s chocolate cake.

This recipe calls for 200g dark chocolate. When baking with chocolate, it’s always a good idea to opt for the highest quality possible. We recommend using our 70% Dark Chocolate Slabs or 70% Dark Chocolate Batons to achieve a rich, nuanced chocolate flavour. 

How do you present homemade chocolate?

Once you’ve made your chocolates, you might be wondering how to best present them. What will make them look as luxurious as they taste? Well, we have some ideas for you…

Make a homemade chocolate hamper

If you’re also gifting a few other bits and pieces to your loved one, add them to a hamper with your homemade chocolates. This will make your gift look lovingly compiled and all the more extravagant – which is never a bad thing.

Find a wicker basket and neatly arrange for presents inside it. To make sure your homemade chocolates or baked goods are safe, wrap them in parchment (baking paper) and tuck them inside a small gift box – you might already have one of these or a similar box around the house that you can repurpose.

Parchment and twine

Are you going to be gifting your chocolates on their own and in person? Then you could always make things simple and wrap them in brown parchment and twine. This is also a low-waste, environmentally-friendly option, as you won’t be using plastic or buying unnecessary layers of packaging from the shops. 

At Hotel Chocolat, we’re all about reducing waste in an effort to protect the environment. Read more about our ethics and planet pledge.

If you’re sending them in the post…

If you’re sending your chocolate treats in the post, you might be concerned about them getting squished. It’s best to err on the side of caution and send them in a well-sealed box. Find one that fits your chocolates or baked goods snug inside, so they won’t roll around and become damaged on their journey to your Valentine. 

Valentine’s chocolate gifts from Hotel Chocolat

If you don’t have time to make your Valentine a completely made-from-scratch present, you could always compile a homemade hamper of luxurious chocolates. Why not pair our Love Potions with a bottle of our cacao-infused tipple? Or create a bundle of treats with our Just Because Valentine’s Chocolate, our Velvetiser hot chocolate machine, and some of our exquisite hot chocolate flakes.

Browse our entire Valentine’s Day chocolate collection to find plenty of themed goodies that will make their heart sing. From our lovingly curated Made With Love chocolate box to our Dozen Chocolate Little Lovebirds, there’s something to make everyone swoon.

We hope you’ve enjoyed these chocolate recipes and are thinking of trying some out for yourself this February.