Homemade Chocolate Sauce Recipe - Perfect for Ice Cream! (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between chocolate syrup and chocolate sauce? ›

Chocolate Syrup: made with just water – no additional fat like cream or butter. It's thinner in consistency than sauces and easily mixes into drinks. Chocolate Sauce: usually made with the addition of milk, cream, or butter. It's thicker in consistency.

Cornstarch – helps thicken the mixture into a thick hot chocolate sauce. Water – loosens up the sugar, cocoa, and cornstarch into a sauce. Butter – adds flavor and helps create a silky texture. Vanilla – sweetens and deepens the chocolate flavor.

The best you can do is to keep it longer in the freezer (try at least 24 hours) and with some luck, you will get a very hard paste, similar to frozen butter (but not to frozen water). There is no guarantee though, as the mixture you have might happen to stay soft to temperatures lower than what you get in your freezer.

Per CNET, an open bottle of chocolate syrup lasts for about six months in the refrigerator. So to play things safe, you can alternatively stick to the best-by date etched into the bottle. Just like anything else, chocolate syrup can go bad, and eating spoiled food is never worth the risk.

Do not substitute chocolate syrup for melted chocolate in any recipe. (Plus, let's be honest, the flavor of some of these ice cream toppings—especially those made mostly with high fructose corn syrup or corn syrup—isn't as rich.) The consistency is different and the results will be less than optimal.

Hershey's Chocolate Syrup

So the fact that this is our choice for the best chocolate syrup for making chocolate milk isn't surprising, really. The recipe? Simply stir a tablespoon of the good stuff (or just add to taste) into an 8-ounce glass of cold milk.

Vegetable Oil or Canola Oil: A few drops of a neutral, flavourless oil can help to thin out your chocolate. Be cautious when using oil, as adding too much can make the chocolate oily. Shortening: A little shortening mixed in with your chocolate can also make it thinner.

Fixing Seized Chocolate

This may seem counterintuitive, but the way to fix seized chocolate is to add 1 teaspoon of boiling water at a time, then mix vigorously until it becomes smooth once again. This is ideal when planning to use the chocolate for a drizzle or a sauce since the chocolate will be somewhat diluted.

If the sauce is too thick (and possibly looks slightly lumpy or oily) then it is likely that the sauce was over heated. This will cause the chocolate to seize and can make the sauce look thick and grainy and as you stir it may also start to look oily.

Keep the liquid lukewarm until ready to pour over the ice cream. Chocolate will harden into a shell within a few seconds when spooned over ice cream.

Why can't you refrigerate chocolate syrup? ›

It's safe to store chocolate syrup in the pantry for two to three years. After it's opened, however, move the chocolate syrup to the refrigerator, where it should remain safe to consume for up to six months. Visible mold or separation or a rancid smell are all indicators of chocolate syrup that has spoiled.

Store-bought chocolate syrup, like Hershey's chocolate syrup, tends to freeze well because of its high sugar content and the presence of high fructose corn syrup. These ingredients prevent the syrup from freezing solid, meaning it maintains a tar-like consistency even when frozen.

Once a bottle of chocolate syrup has been opened, it will typically stay good for about six months, when tightly sealed and stored in the refrigerator.

You should store chocolate sauce in the same way as you would dairy products, to account for the butter and cream. Keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days, and always check it thoroughly before reheating and using. You can also freeze chocolate sauce for up to one month.

Sauce is made from mashed fruit but uses less pectin than jam and is less jelled. Syrup is made from either mashed fruit or just the juice of the fruit, but uses even less pectin than sauce so it is slightly jelled and pourable.

Sauces include dark caramel, white mocha, pistachio, mocha, and caramel drizzle. Syrups include vanilla, sf vanilla, caramel, hazelnut, dolce, raspberry, classic, liquid cane, brown sugar, toffee nut, etc! I like to generalize it as sauces are thick and creamy. Syrups are thinner, sticky, and are used for flavor.

Coffee syrups vastly outperform sauces in cold applications. You can add syrups to already chilled beverages, and still achieve flavor osmosis. This is in contrast to adding sugar or coffee sauce, which both clump on the bottom.

The main difference is the texture. Hot fudge is thicker and more rich while chocolate sauce is thinner and more pourable. Chocolate sauce stays sauce in the refrigerator, while hot fudge gets cold and thick…like fudge.