This easy chocolate sauce recipe has only 3 ingredients! It’s wonderful drizzled over many desserts including cakes, brownies and ice cream.
There’s nothing quite like melted chocolate drizzled over a brownie or a slice of homemade cake. And it’s incredibly easy to make a basic chocolate sauce at home with only a few ingredients. The best part about making it from scratch? You get to control the flavor. This easy chocolate sauce recipe can be made using bittersweet, semi-sweet or milk chocolate. It has just three ingredients: chocolate, heavy cream and vanilla extract.
Think of this recipe as a base. Once you get comfortable making it you can get a little bit creative! For a boozy twist, try swapping out the vanilla for red wine, Grand Marnier or Kahlua. I think any liqueur would work really well so experiment with what you have on hand.
I’ve offered two methods for preparing the sauce below. I often use the double boiler method out of habit but the microwave will also work well.
It’s worth noting that tempered chocolate can break or seize up so take care not to overheat it. If using a double boiler, keep the water gently simmering. If using a microwave keep the heat at 50% power.  Here’s a great article that goes into a bit more detail.
Easy Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
To prepare with a double boiler (preferred method):
- Heat a medium saucepan with approximately 2-3 inches of water over medium high heat. Place a metal bowl on top of the saucepan and add the chocolate, heavy cream and vanilla extract.
- As the water simmers and turns to steam, gently stir the ingredients together as they melt. If it looks like the sauce is getting too hot, remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the sauce to continue melting over the residual steam. They key is to melt the chocolate slowly.
- Serve immediately.
To prepare in the microwave:
- Place the chocolate, heavy cream and vanilla in a microwave safe dish.
- Microwave for 1 minute on medium (50%) power. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
Kate@Diethood says
Whoa! That’s so pretty!! I’d like to gulp it all down, at once! How fun would that be!? :-)
Tutti Dolci says
Yes please, I agree with Kate – totally drinkable!
Gather & Dine says
Just spent a few moments looking around your lovely blog. Such beautiful photography! I love it!