This is one of the easiest raw chocolate recipes to make, involving only three basic ingredients – cacao butter, cocoa powder and natural sweetener.
Whilst the recipe is simple and easy to make, the ingredients are not always easy to find. You need to visit your local health food shop to find them or explore the wonderful world of internet to get exactly what you need.
Why make this recipe?
- Using raw cocoa and other raw ingredients help to preserve more nutrition, vitamins and minerals
- All plant based recipe
- Great ‘base’ recipe for chocolate bars with different toppings and flavours
Ingredients & Possible substitutions
The taste and quality of the final chocolate bar depends on the quality of the ingredients you use. So, of course you could use non raw ingredients, such as normal baking cocoa powder substitute and swap the cacao butter for coconut oil or normal butter.
Pretty much anything goes, but if you want to make a raw chocolate, you have to start with pure raw ingredients as they are produced very differently to the normal cocoa powders and butters.
Raw cacao butter
Cacao butter is what helps to keep this chocolate together – the butter crystals (when tempered) create a firm texture ensuring that your chocolate bars won’t melt, will withstand higher temperatures and have a sharp snap when you break them.
Raw cocoa butter tastes a lot milder than regular cocoa butter, but other than that you won’t notice much difference in taste.
Raw cocoa powder
Since raw cocoa powder is made from non-roasted cocoa beans, the colour is much lighter and the taste is also less stronger than regular cocoa powder.
Raw cane sugar
Instead of raw cane sugar you can also use raw coconut sugar or raw natural sweetener finely grinded (or 3-4 teaspoon of raw sweetener (raw honey or other types of syrups)
It’s probably easier to get hold off liquid sweetener than powdered raw sugar, but bear in mind that once you introduce liquid into the chocolate mixture is starts to behave very different and it’s difficult to temper. But no matter, what you use, you’ll always end up with delicious version of your own chocolate!
Method
STEP 1 – Melt the cocoa butter
First of all, start with melting the cacao butter in a bowl, placed over saucepan with gently simmering water. Make sure that the mixture doesn’t go over 42 C to keep the chocolate pure raw!
STEP 2 – Add the cocoa powder and sugar
When the cocoa butter has melted remove from heat and whisk in the raw cacao powder and add raw sweetener until fully melted.
STEP 3 – Temper raw chocolate
Mix until the mixture slightly thickens. By stirring and constantly mixing the chocolate, you are sort of tempering the chocolate at the same time. I say ‘sort of’ because if you are using liquid sweetener you can’t temper your chocolate perfectly anyway, but something is better than nothing!
If you have the time (and you are using powdered raw sugar), temper your chocolate properly on marble to make sure that final chocolate is nicely strong and doesn’t bloom. A word of warning: unless you add the powdered raw sugar, this is not going to behave like your normal chocolate mixture which is easy to temper.
If you add a liquid element to the chocolate (the raw sweetener) the chocolate is always going to be slightly softer than traditional chocolate. The inner structure of both the cocoa powder and butter is also slightly different, but it’s still better to temper the chocolate than not.
STEP 3 – Pour chocolate into the moulds
Make sure that the chocolate is about 32C before you pour it to your mould. If this means that the chocolate slightly thickens and cools down as you temper it, bring it back to 32C by gently heating it over the saucepan with hot water (no need to boil the water).
To finish your chocolate, use simple moulds or pipe or spoon chocolate on to a tray lined with greaseproof paper or just spread it in a thin layer on to a tray to create a chocolate bark (like in the picture).
I always add in some delicious toppings (make sure they are raw if you are keeping all your chocolate treat as ‘raw) such as dried fruit, nuts, seeds, rose petals or herbs. Tap the tray with chocolate to make sure the toppings are slightly sunken and then place in fridge for 20 minutes or so.
Share with friends, bring to the next party or stash away to eat, whilst reading your favourite book!
Confectionery inspiration from my blog
Can I use something else than a cocoa butter?
Yes, you can swap the cocoa butter for coconut oil (or butter). Use the same quantities or slightly less to achieve similar finish. Please bear in mind that coconut oil is actually quite strong in flavour and your chocolate will taste (faintly) of coconut. Also coconut oil melts in a lower temperature, which means that your chocolate might get softer if you keep it in a very warm room.
I don’t have any chocolate moulds, can I still make this chocolate?
Yes, of course! Although chocolate moulds will give you lovely finish, you don’t need to use them. Have a look at what you have at home which can be used as a moulds. Ice cube trays, baking trays and baking moulds are all perfectly fine to be used a chocolate moulds. You can also just pour the chocolate on a baking tray lined with a greaseproof paper and leave to set.
Is it better to use a liquid sweetener or a firm one like raw sugar?
To get a really good sharp snap for your raw chocolate is best to use finely milled raw sugar. The problem is that most of us, at home, won’t have such a fine food processor that would produce finely milled sugar texture. So, for most of us, something like a raw honey or maple syrup is a good option, which you can buy in most health shops. If you add liquid into chocolate, it will became slightly soft, so that’s something to bear in mind when you are packaging and storing your chocolate.
How can I make this raw chocolate milk chocolate?
To make this recipe into a milk chocolate you would need to add powdered milk. This makes it a bit difficult as if you want to keep the chocolate truly raw, you might find it practically impossible to find a raw milk powder – whether it’s dairy or non-dairy based. Milk or plant-based powdered milks are processed with temperatures over 42-48 C as they are heated to kill off any harmful bacteria. If you are happy to break the rule, you can use any powdered milk to add to the recipe. Start with one or two teaspoons, mix it in, taste it and add more if needed. You might also need to increase the amount of sugar and butter, if you want to make your chocolate sweeter.
Why not stay in touch…
I hope you enjoy making this recipe and if you do, I’d love to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below or find me on Instagram or Facebook and add the hashtag #cocoaandheart so that I can see your post.
Or why not subscribe to my weekly newsletter with new recipes and baking tips straight to your mailbox.
Magdalena
More tips on how to make chocolate at home
- How to make chocolate at home using cocoa nibs >>
- How to temper chocolate with cocoa butter >>
- Vegan Milk Chocolate Recipe – Dairy & Gluten Free >>
Raw Chocolate Bar
Ingredients
- 125 grams raw cacao butter
- 75 grams raw cocoa powder
- 60 grams raw cane sugar raw coconut sugar or raw natural sweetener finely grinded (or 3-4 teaspoon of raw sweetener (raw honey or other types of syrups)
Instructions
- Melt the cacao butter in a bowl, placed over saucepan with gently simmering water. Make sure that the mixture doesn't go over 42 C to keep the chocolate pure raw!
- When the cocoa butter has melted remove from heat and whisk in the raw cacao powder and add raw sweetener until fully melted and until the mixture slightly thickens. By stiring and constantly mixing the chocolate, you are sort of tempering the chocolate at the same time. I say ‘sort of’ because if you are using liquid sweetener you can’t temper your chocolate perfectly anyway, but something is better than nothing!
- Make sure that the chocolate is about 32C before you pour it to your mould. If this means that the chocolate slightly thickens and cools down as you temper it, bring it back to 32C by gently heating it over the saucepan with hot water (no need to boil the water).
- To finish your chocolate, use simple moulds or pipe or spoon chocolate on to a tray lined with greaseproof paper or just spread it in a thin layer on to a tray to create a chocolate bark (like in the picture).
- Add toppings (make sure they are raw if you are keeping all your chocolate treat as 'raw) such as dried fruit, nuts, seeds, rose petals or herbs. Tap the tray with chocolate to make sure the toppings are slightly sunken and then place in fridge for 20 minutes or so.
- Tap the tray with chocolate to make sure the toppings are slightly sunken and then place in fridge for 20 minutes or so.
This recipe was originally written on 18 January 2018 and last tested and updated on 21 April 2023
I always wondered how raw chocolate tasted like, so it was great to try this recipe. My raw sugar wasn’t as fine as I’d like it to be, but it still made a good tasting chocolate. Next time I’m going to add some seeds, so thank you for sharing this recipe.