The Kitchen Tool You Need For A Velvety Smooth Mocha Sauce

Mocha sauce is simply a chocolate-y syrup used to flavor coffees, like hot mocha lattes and easy iced mochas. It's surprisingly easy to prepare with pantry staples and a dash of hot water, however, you do need to make sure you blend it well to lend it a velvety smooth texture that seamlessly blends into your caffeinated beverage. Luckily, you can make breezy work of whipping up a mocha sauce with a common kitchen tool: a handheld milk frother.

To get started, combine a good quality cocoa powder with white sugar in a small jug. Then add some hot water and use your milk frother to combine the three ingredients together until you're left with a lump-free super-smooth sauce. The hot water will help the sugar to melt into the mixture but the rotating action of the whisk will encourage it to dissolve further. Moreover, its swirling motion will incorporate air into the syrup, lending it heaps of body and volume while breaking up clumps of cocoa.

The awesome thing about this recipe is that it's very forgiving and customizable; simply add more cocoa for a sauce that's intensely chocolate-y or decrease the sugar if you don't want it to be ultra sweet (if it's too thick once cooled, add a dash of hot water to loosen it). Better yet, it's dairy-free and suitable for vegans.

As it's portable, slimline, and lightweight, a milk frother can be lowered into small containers and jugs with ease to create a silky, glossy syrup that can be stored in the fridge for a longer period than a chocolate sauce that contains dairy. The secret to making a richer mocha sauce is to use Dutch processed cocoa powder. Unlike natural cocoa powder, this variety of cocoa is washed with an alkaline solution to neutralize its inherent acidity, which lends it a smoother quality, mellow flavor, and darker color. While Dutch cocoa is more expensive than other types of cocoa, it's worth investing in for its earthy, complex flavor that will imbue your mocha with a richer chocolatey vibe. To give your mocha an even deeper, caramel like note, consider subbing the white sugar for soft brown sugar. The molasses in the brown sugar will imbue it with a toffee-like taste and any leftovers can be poured over ice cream sundaes, drizzled over pancakes, or combined into cake frosting.

Whatever you do, never try to make a mocha sauce in an electric milk frother machine, like an Nespresso Aerrocino. While you may be tempted to, seeing as these nifty appliances have a frother attachment inside, the sugar in your syrup recipe will burn on the base as the appliance heats up, causing an unwanted odor.