Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography

Food, photos & faraway places

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About me
    • Contact me
    • Work with me
    • Legal
      • Copyright notice & Disclaimer
      • Disclosure
      • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    • Press and media
    • Cooksister FAQs
  • RECIPES
    • Recipe Index – by course
    • Baking (savoury)
    • Braai/Barbecue
    • Breakfast & brunch
    • Christmas
    • Dessert
    • Drinks
    • Eggs
    • Fish
    • Gluten-free
    • Leftovers
    • Pasta & rice
    • Poultry
    • Pulses
    • Salads
    • Soup
    • South African
    • Starters & light meals
    • Vegan
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
  • RESTAURANTS
    • British Isles restaurants
    • Dubai restaurants
    • France restaurants
    • London restaurants
    • Montenegro restaurants
    • New York restaurants
    • Pop-ups and supperclubs
    • Serbia restaurants
    • Singapore restaurants
    • South Africa restaurants
    • Sweden restaurants
    • Switzerland restaurants
    • USA restaurants
  • TRAVEL
    • All my travel posts
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Canada
      • Dubai
      • Cruise ships
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Grenada
      • Hong Kong
      • Hotel reviews
      • Italy
      • Israel
      • Jersey
      • Mexico
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Singapore
      • Ski & snow
      • South Africa
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • UK
      • USA
      • Wales
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Freelance writing portfolio
    • Speaking and teaching
    • Photography portfolio
    • Buy my photos
You are here: Home / Recipes / Dessert / Best chocolate sauce in the world… ever!

Best chocolate sauce in the world… ever!

by Jeanne Horak on June 22, 2006 8 Comments in Dessert

Caribbean-hot-chocolate-sauce © J Horak-Druiff 2006

When I was living in South Africa in my beloved and much-missed little apartment and Nick was over here in London, people were worried that I might get lonely or spend my nights pining and crying into my pillow.  They also worried that because I was living on my own, I would stop cooking properly and subsist entirely on baked beans on toast or something, because “it’s no fun cooking for one”.

HAH!  Wrong on both counts.    Cooking for one is FANTASTIC, mainly because you can have… anything you want.  Every day! I found that I cooked far more adventurously when I cooked for one, partly because it was fun and I had endless time (no hungry husband hanging around wondering whether dinner will ever be finished); and partly because expensive ingredients for one are usually comparatively affordable 😉 The other huge bonus was that there were always leftovers, so I really only had to cook every second night: there was always a Tupperware full of leftovers in the fridge.  With Nick around, leftovers become a purely academic concept as his capacity for food always exceeds my expectations :o)

Anyway, so much for a singleton not cooking properly.  As for the “oooh, won’t you be lonely?” argument, nothing could be further from the truth.  For a start, my dear friend Bronwyn moved in two doors down from me and for 18 months we lived literally 30 feet apart.  This meant that at least half the nights of any given week, we popped round to each other’s and shared a dinner.  It became a standing joke – Monday night was “Supper Club”, and the first rule of Supper Club was…. you do not talk about Supper Club!  We spent many an evening gathered around the bar counter of my open-plan kitchen, or giggling at Whose line is it anyway? over dessert.  Anyway, apart from that standing dinner date, I also had my parents and brother around quite a lot.  In fact, when my mom went away on business (which was quite often), I always made a point of having my dad around for dinner.

Now my father is a very easy dinner guest.  If you settle him with a good coffee table book (or car magazine!) plus a gin & tonic  and some crisps when he arrives, he is quite happy until dinner is on the table.  After dinner, he is equally happy to watch something on TV while you prepare dessert.  In fact, it looks as if he pays no attention whatsoever to what you might be doing in the kitchen, and judging from his total concentration on the TV, it looks unlikely that he tastes what you serve for dessert ! 😉  So I was very surprised when, after one of these visits, my mom called me the day after she returned from her trip to ask “what on earth did you give your father for dessert the other night?”  I reached into the memory a bit and recalled that it was somewhat unremarkable-sounding ice cream & chocolate sauce.  “Why do you ask?”  “Well”, replied Mamma, “your father said that he was watching you in the kitchen while you were making it and you used two whole slabs of chocolate!!” He thought it was the most decadent thing he had ever tasted and he probably isn’t far off.

I’ve had the recipe for at least 7 years and by the look of it, it came from the trusty Sunday Times Magazine.  You can make loads of sauce and freeze it – or it keeps well in the fridge for up to a week.  Oh yes… and it’s sinfully divine!

“CARIBBEAN” HOT CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate

150g milk chocolate

1/2 cup raisins

60ml rum (I have also used brandy or sherry)

100g soft brown sugar

250ml cream

5ml instant coffee granules

Method:

Put the raisins into a shallow dish and soak in the sherry for as long as you can – at least overnight.

Break the chocolate into squares and melt it in a bowl over hot water (or in the microwave).

Stir in the cream, sugar and coffee and mix well (you may need to return it briefly to the microwave/heat to keep it at a stirable consistency until all the sugar has dissolved.

Stir in the raisins and any sherry left in the dish, mix well.  Serve warm poured over good vanilla ice-cream.

More deliciousness for you!

  • Brandy and Coke glazed gammon for a South African Christmas feastBrandy and Coke glazed gammon for a South African Christmas feast
  • Caramelised nectarines and cherriesCaramelised nectarines and cherries
  • Rhubarb and ginger clafoutisRhubarb and ginger clafoutis
  • Dark chocolate and orange potsDark chocolate and orange pots

Never miss a Cooksister post

If you enjoyed this post, enter your e-mail address here to receive a FREE e-mail update when a new post appears on Cooksister

I love comments almost as much as I love cheese - so if you can't leave me any cheese, please leave me a comment instead!

« Boerewors, Peppadew & halloumi skewers
EoMEoTE#16 roundup – seek the Eggy Grail »

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. ilingc says

    June 23, 2006 at 4:59 am

    hi. sounds yummy! will give this a try this weekend. thanks for sharing. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Jeanne says

    June 23, 2006 at 10:34 am

    Hi Ilingc
    Thanks for visiting – and yes, yes! DO try the sauce – you won’t regret it! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Anna says

    June 23, 2006 at 10:16 pm

    This is a portion for one person, right? ; )

    Reply
  4. Misty says

    June 24, 2006 at 5:51 pm

    ha! This is my most favuorite chocolate sauce recipe. I actually just made it this past week. Sometimes I would use the raspberry flavoured dark chocolate from Lindt for some extra kick. Bloody divine!

    Reply
  5. sam says

    June 27, 2006 at 12:23 am

    heya darlin.
    it’s getting near the end of the month.
    I have a post waiting in the wings that could possibly be used for EOMEOTE.
    And I was wondering if you had a theme of any sort up your sleeve?
    xx
    sam

    Reply
  6. grace says

    June 27, 2006 at 7:29 am

    hi,
    this is interesting. will try to make it for my family.

    Reply
  7. David L says

    June 28, 2006 at 9:00 pm

    hmmmm…chocolate…

    Reply
  8. Jeanne says

    July 14, 2006 at 2:40 pm

    Hi Anna
    But of course! That and a 1 litre tub of good vanilla ice cream…! :o)
    Hi Misty
    Oh my! Do you also have a dog-eard clipping from the Sunday Times Magazine? 😉 I have often thought of making it with Green & Black’s ginger chocolate, so I imagine the raspberry flavour works a treat!
    Hi Sam
    As we’ve discussed, there’s no EoMEoTE at the end of June (too much other stuff going on!!), but it’s back at the end of July with “tabloid headlines” as the theme. Hope you can join us!
    Hi Grace
    I can’t recommend it highly enough – plus it freezes well!
    Hi David
    Yes, even savoury-toothed me eventually has to blog about chocolate… it has a sort of gravitational pull about it. I suspect the Earth’s molten core is just a lot of gloopy chocolate :o)

    Reply
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never miss a Cooksister post!

Get my latest recipes delivered by e-mail!

Search over 500 recipes

Recently on Cooksister

  • Perfect broccoli and Stilton soup [keto, low carb, GF]
  • Masalchi by Atul Kochhar – Indian street food in Wembley
  • Barbecued salmon with blood oranges and capers
  • Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta, pomegranate and pine nuts [GF, V]
  • Love Yourself healthy meal delivery [Review]
  • Antillean
  • Festive roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
  • Rustic blood orange and pistachio galettes

Archives by month

Archives by category

Popular posts

Oxtail and red wine potjie
Peppermint Crisp fridge tart - a South African treat
Nigella's Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off
Gem squash 101: how to find them, how to grow them, how to eat them!
My big, fat South African potato bake
Roosterkoek - a South African braai essential

Featured on

Also available on

Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need to get down to @canarywharflondon between now and Saturday 28 Jan to catch the free Winter Lights 2023 event, back for the seventh year.

My favourites include @lukejerramartist ‘s Floating Earth; Tom Lambert’s Out of the Dark; Fluorescent Firs; Toroid by This is Loop; and the surreal and mesmerising Anima by MEATS - a tunnel filled with hundreds of thin optical fibre lights that change colour and move in the breeze 😍 

Have you been to Winter Lights? What was your favourite?
“When we look down at the Earth from space, we s “When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile.” - International Space Station astronaut Ron Garamond

To experience the “overview effect” (a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing the earth from space), head down to Canary Wharf in the London docklands this week where you can see @lukejerramartist ‘s beautiful Floating Earth installation as part of the Winter Lights event. 

This giant 10m diameter installation is created using high resolution NASA images to create a floating scale model of the Earth, lit from within so that it glows from its current home on the Middle Dock, surrounded by the headquarters of international banking and finance corporations.

The artist hopes that viewed in this context, the installation will make visitors and the bankers working in surrounding buildings question how their money in savings and pensions is invested, and whether investments can be greener.

Aside from being a thought provoking piece, it is also mesmerising and surreally beautiful, so make sure you visit the free Winter Lights event before ends on Saturday 28 Jan.
Happy lunar new year! [Invited] To celebrate the Happy lunar new year! 

[Invited] To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, why not head over to @mamachensdumplings currently doing a residence at the @thegantrylondon in #stratford where you can feast on prawn & chive dumplings; pork, Chinese cabbage and shiitake mushroom dumplings; pork & prawn wontons with Mama Chen’s chilli oil; vegetable dumplings; smacked cucumber salad; and spicy noodles coated in garlic and Szechuan pepper oil.

And afterwards, make sure you head up to the @unionsocialoc bar for a cocktail - I loved the Moreish Fashion with bourbon, PX sherry, chestnuts and mandarin orange bitters!
Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Chr Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Christmas? Turn it into this super simple and super indulgent broccoli and Stilton soup! So easy to make and soooo delicious to eat - and it is low carb and GF. What more could you want?! Click the link in my bio for the full recipe. What’s your favourite soup?
CELEBRATE. So the fireworks are over, the champag CELEBRATE.

So the fireworks are over, the champagne is finished and the leftovers are all eaten. We are one week into 2023 and I have had some time to think about what my intent is for the year. 

In 2022 my brother had a life saving kidney transplant. Since the operation, he has had a Peanuts cartoon as his WhatsApp profile pic, where Charlie Brown and Snoopy are sitting on a pier talking. Charlie says “Some day, we all die Snoopy.” And Snoopy replies: “Yes - but every other day, we will live.”

Waking up in the morning is a gift, every day, and it is so easy to forget this. The last few years have been difficult for so many people and the coming year promises its own challenges. But every day that we don’t die is a day to live, to celebrate life in some small way.

So my intention in 2023 is to celebrate. Celebrate our achievements however small. Celebrate our friends and family. Celebrate small things. Celebrate life.

Did you make any resolutions or goals for 2023? I would love to hear them in the comments! Wishing you all the very best for 2023 🥂
Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes fro Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes from last night with friends in Deptford. My deconstructed avocado ritz; @twinkleparkstephen ‘s bobitie; Giles’ Ottolenghi tomato salad; and Jean’s clementine trifle - and the London night sky ablaze with fireworks!  How did you spend your evening? 🥂🎇🎆
Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope your day was merry and bright, filled with family, friends and love 🎄🥂. Mine was spent alone at home - my choice and the result of a combination of Covid (not mine!) and rail strikes 🤦‍♀️ but very relaxing and indulgent!
Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter y Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter you can make ahead? Look no further than my individual smoked salmon terrine! Hot smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives wrapped in cold smoked salmon in a ramekin. Still one of the most popular Christmas recipes in my blog, it looks cheffy but is soooo simple to make - and will save you time and effort on the day! Get the recipe by clicking on the link in my bio.

How is your Christmas meal prep going? Are you entertaining at home or going to friends or family? 🎄🥂🎄🥂🎄
Looking for a brilliant biryani near Marble Arch? Looking for a brilliant biryani near Marble Arch? I recently enjoyed a feast at Biryani Kebab Chai @bkc.restaurant on Edgeware Road, including wonderful sweet, spicy and crunchy papri chaat; smoky burrah lamb kebab; galouti lamb patties; juicy chaap chicken thigh kebab; spicy chapli chicken patties; and the surprising vegetarian dahi ke patties made of yoghurt! We also tried the chicken and soya biryanis, both with incredibly fluffy and delicately spiced rice. You can get their biryanis as a 1kg takeaway, served in a beautiful branded clay pot that serves 3-4 people, for about £30. Bargain! We also took home a sample of their desserts, including a fragrant and delicious kheer rice pudding. If you are in the Marble Arch area, get yourself to BKC!  #invited #bkcrestaurants
Load More... Follow me on Instagram

Follow Jeanne Horak-Druiff's board Recipes by Cooksister on Pinterest.

Cooksister

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Bowls of broccoli and Stilton soup
Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli

SITEMAP

Home

Contact

About me

Recipe Index

Restaurant Index

Copyright & Disclaimer

Cookies & privacy policy




blog counter

© 2004 - 2023 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

Copyright © 2023 · Cooksister on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cooksister cookie consent
We use cookies to ensure you receive the best experience on our site. If you continue to use this site, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT