the 6 best iced chocolate recipe for drinks to cool off with this summer

If you’ve been around the shop this week, you’ll have seen me with an iced drink practically glued to my hand in my trusty Stojo. I’m a huge fan of my winter hot chocolate - but in the summer it’s iced coffees, mochas and chocolate all the way. 

After a good bit of research and trying many recipes, I have come up with my favourite tipple - an iced coffee chocolate combo that uses ice cubes made from chocolate so the drink gets richer as they melt. It's the best iced chocolate recipe I've ever found

And because I love to share the things I enjoy, this blog is a lovely little list of my top 6 favourite iced drinks for the summer. You are very welcome!

Regardless of the recipe, the key to any really good drink is good quality ingredients. 

There are some fabulous Irish coffee brands out there (we love 3fe, Bear Market and Badger and Dodo - but there are lots of other brilliant brands out there). When it comes to your chocolate, whether you use powder, chocolate shavings, nibs or broken down bars, be sure to use something around the 70% mark as this will give you the richness and flavour you need. We are very biased and think The Proper Chocolate Company are the bees knees.

Once you’ve selected the perfect ingredients, it’s down to taste. For an extra lift, I love a bit of salt to my chocolate especially in combination with a little drizzle of honey or caramel. There are some amazing salted chocolate bars that will bring this salty sweet goodness to your drink.

The Base:

The key to the best iced chocolate recipe , be it coffee based or not is to use a good chocolate syrup. This recipe suggests cocoa powder, but lightly melted 70% chocolate shavings makes it taste so much better.

The Frappachino:

Thanks to one particular American Coffee House, most associate iced drinks with the Frappachino. This milkshake for grown ups is a real guilty pleasure for many, and can be made with or without coffee. But they can be prone to being a bit too sugar heavy. This first recipe takes the Frappachino and breaks the recipe down the components, letting you tailor how sweet it will be. Depending on your mood you can make it sweeter and more milkshake-y, or darker and richer, throwing in some rich expresso coffee or dark salted chocolate and caramel. Mmmm lovely!

The Iced Chocolate Delight:

If you’re less interested in your drink looking like a sundae, and would rather focus on a great chocolatey taste that stays cool, this Iced chocolate with chocolate ice cubes recipe is a little bit genius. It replaces ice cubes with frozen chocolate cubes, meaning as they melt in your drink it doesn’t dilute, keeping it cool and rich throughout. These cubes works equally well with coffee, or, if you're making an alcohol infused drink, I totally recommend baileys ice cubes. A total game changer in my book. 

Chocolate Lassi:

For those who like the idea of a chocolate drink but aren’t so into chocolate milk, this Chocolate Lassi is a really refreshing drink. Unlike a traditional milkshake style drink, it’s much lighter and the mix of sweet and sour makes it a brilliant drink.

Cold Brew:

For those who love their coffee, it would be remiss of me not to include a good cold brew recipe. Cool, a little bit grown up, and full of kick, by adding a good dash of homemade chocolate syrup to this cold brew Cappuccino recipe you get one very tasty mocha that’s hard to put down.

Affogato:

And while we are looking at twists to classics, this Chocolate Affogato recipe is a real treat. It’s not quite a drink, but it still checks all the boxes. And if I do say so, the chocolate addition to this coffee based dessert makes it the perfect indulgence on a hot day. They look particularly good in these cocktail style glasses.

Liqueur it up:

For a very adult twist, adding some whiskey, baileys  or a good shot of this very scrumptious Chocolate liqueur to any of these drinks will liven it up no end (I particularly love a whiskey Affogato, nom).