Perhaps Marie Antoinette didn't say those exact words, but I'm pretty sure she would have done had she thought of them. The queen of France loved chocolate so much that she employed a personal chocolatier to satisfy her daily cravings. Apparently on cold days, she would order cup after cup of hot chocolate to help banish those winter blues. She certainly seems to have nailed the perfect antidote to these rubbish February days we're having. And she doesn't seem to be the only fan…Time Out put us at the top of their list of where to find London's best drinking chocolate. Drinking hot chocolate goes back to chocolate's very birth. The Aztecs used to dry cocoa beans, crush them between stones and then mix the powder with water. This concoction was considered such an aphrodisiac and invigorating cocktail that it was only given to warriors and women were forbidden from drinking it. We women have certainly had our revenge on the chocolate front. Forget the right to vote, the right to chocolate consumption is one of our best achievements. You can exercise it in our Notting Hill boutique sitting under our plantation lamp, drinking an intense hot chocolate with a plate of our chocolates on the side.

Or why not have a go at making some for yourself at home? See my recipe below for luxury, homemade hot chocolate.  There are 3 main “tricks of the trade” to make a luxurious hot chocolate: use fine chocolate (doh!), emulsify the mix properly (like a mayonnaise) and let it rest (to thicken the hot chocolate). And the best news is that drinking hot chocolate does during Lent does not break the fast.

And if you're in the mood for something a little bit different, try experimenting with added flavours? Marie Antoinette liked to include some orange blossom water in her hot chocolate. If you come up with some fantastic, quirky recipe, add it to the comments bar at the end of this blog so everyone can benefit from your ingenuity!

Let them drink your chocolate…

Have a warm, velvety, chocolate kind of week

Miss Anne xxx