Have you ever made chocolate bark? Biting into a piece of chocolate bark with so many different flavors and textures is incredibly satisfying. The chocolate melts on your tongue while almonds and pumpkin seeds provide crunch, and dried cranberries add chewiness. This dark chocolate bark is vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), grain-free (gluten-free), soy-free, and refined sugar-free.
Along with natural peanut butter, dark chocolate is one of the things I crave frequently. This chocolate bark is irresistible! It tastes good. It smells good. And it feels good when it melts on the tongue. According to science, letting chocolate dissolve slowly in your mouth produces significant increases in brain activity and heart rate, similar to a passionate kiss, but the effects of chocolate last four times longer! No wonder it’s so darn hard to stop eating chocolate. But I digress.
If you’re not familiar with chocolate bark, it’s essentially a thin layer of chocolate filled with mix-ins like nuts, seeds, dried fruit, or pretzels broken into pieces. Almond bark and hazelnut bark are probably the most popular chocolate barks, but you can mix many different ingredients into the chocolate. What’s more important than the mix-ins is the chocolate. Read on.
Tips for Making Chocolate Bark
Ingredients
The best chocolate bark requires only a handful of ingredients:
- Chocolate: whenever I make chocolate bark, I use homemade dark chocolate made from cacao powder, cacao butter, and powdered coconut sugar. If you’d like to go that route, excellent! If not, you can use store-bought chocolate. Here are three factors to consider when buying chocolate:
- Quality: there are two types of chocolate – real chocolate and compound chocolate. Where real chocolate is made up of cacao butter, compound chocolate is made of oil (usually coconut, cottonseed, palm, or soybean). The oil in compound chocolate can either replace the cacao butter entirely or partially. Real chocolate may contain some vegetable oil, but not more than 5%. I highly recommend using real chocolate over compound chocolate. Real chocolate is far superior – it looks shiny on the surface, has a luxuriously smooth, melt-in-your-mouth texture, produces an audible snap when broken, and holds its shape at room temperature. However, unlike compound chocolate, real chocolate needs to be tempered, which is an extra step that can feel tedious. So, if you’d like to make chocolate bark without tempering the chocolate, compound chocolate, also known as confectionary coating, is the way to go.
- Form: chocolate comes in various shapes. Blocks, bars, discs/wafers, callets, and fèves are great for making chocolate bark. Avoid chocolate chips because they contain stabilizers to help them retain shape and not melt even at high temperatures.
- Type: the three most common types of chocolate are dark, milk, and white. This recipe is for dark chocolate bark, but you can use any chocolate you like. You can even use two different types of chocolate to create beautiful swirls in the chocolate bark.
- Mix-ins: nuts and seeds give the chocolate a wonderful, crunchy texture. Dried fruit and flaked coconut provide chewiness. Sea salt and spices add another layer of flavor. Use whatever you like or have on hand.
How to Make Chocolate Bark
Making chocolate bark is a breeze. Tempering chocolate is not.
I won’t be discussing tempering chocolate because I’ve written a guide on this topic. But in a nutshell, you cannot simply melt real chocolate and let it set. If you do, the chocolate will have a dull, streaky appearance, chalky, sometimes even grainy mouthfeel, and won’t harden at room temperature. The reason? Cacao butter.
Cacao butter contains crystals that stabilize at specific temperatures. When you temper chocolate, you must first heat it to a temperature where all the crystals (type I – type VI) break apart. Then, cool the chocolate to increase the amount of the right (type V) crystals. And finally, gently reheat the chocolate to get the crystals to form the correct crystal structure. Tempering chocolate doesn’t have to be hard, but it can take a bit of practice.
Here’s the thing, though – chocolate bars in the store are already tempered. So, as long as the crystals inside the cacao butter remain intact (aka the chocolate stays in temper), there is no need to temper the chocolate again. Here’s how to make tempered chocolate bark without actually tempering the chocolate:
- Chop the chocolate. Using a sharp knife, finely chop the chocolate.
- Gradually melt two-thirds of the chocolate. Add the chocolate to a stainless steel bowl and heat it gradually, stirring occasionally, until it’s about two-thirds melted. You can use a double boiler or a microwave to melt the chocolate.
- Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the chocolate from the heat and stir until it is completely melted and the temperature on a thermometer registers 89.6°F/32°C (for dark chocolate), 86°F/30°C (for milk chocolate), 84.2°F/29°C (for white chocolate). If the chocolate exceeds those temperatures, it will have to be tempered. If the chocolate has not melted completely and is still too cool, set it over the saucepan/put it in the microwave for a few more seconds.
- Add the mix-ins. Stir the almonds, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries, making sure all the mix-ins are coated in chocolate. Pour the chocolate onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and spread it into an even layer. The thickness will depend on the mix-ins you use. For example, pumpkin seeds and cherries may be close to ¼-inch thick chocolate bark, while almonds and dried cherries will produce about ½-inch thick chocolate bark.
- Freeze. Transfer the chocolate to the freeze to harden, for about 10 minutes. Once set, break the bark into desired pieces.
How to Store Chocolate Bark
- Storing at room temperature: transfer the chocolate bark to an airtight container and store it in a cool, ideally between 65-70°F/18.3-21.1°C, dry, dark place away from direct sunlight, moisture, and strong scents.
- Refrigerating: chocolate can get too warm at temperatures above 75°F/23.9°C. If your house is warmer than 75°F/23.9°C, store the chocolate in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Allow chilled chocolate to come to room temperature without opening the airtight container so that any condensation forms on the outside of the container and not on the chocolate. Always bring cold chocolate to room temperature before eating; cold chocolate doesn’t melt or disperse flavor as nicely.
More Chocolate Recipes
- Dark chocolate: have you ever wondered how to make chocolate at home? Raw (= from unroasted cacao beans), tempered (= shiny, smooth, with a snap when you bite into it), dark (75%) chocolate entirely from scratch. If you’d like to make your own dark chocolate, try this 3-ingredient recipe.
- Almond butter cups: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are so popular. However, whenever I tasted one, I thought, “The chocolate could be darker, and the peanut butter could be creamier.” So, here’s a healthy(-ish) twist on everyone’s favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup – almond butter cups with dark chocolate and creamy almond butter filling.
If you try any of these recipes, please leave a comment and rate the recipe below. It always means a lot when you do.
Dark Chocolate Bark
Ingredients
- 4 cups dark chocolate , chopped
- 1 cup almonds
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 cup cranberries
Instructions
- Gradually melt two-thirds of the chocolate (using a double boiler). Add the chocolate to a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan with a few inches of water. The bowl should create a seal with the bottom saucepan to trap the steam produced by the hot water. Make sure not to get any water into the chocolate since it will cause the chocolate to seize up! Also, the bottom of the bowl shouldn't be touching the water - this would cause the chocolate to get too hot. Bring the water to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Once the water is hot, turn the heat to the lowest setting. Slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally, until it's about two-thirds melted. Then, remove the chocolate from the heat.
- Gradually melt two-thirds of the chocolate (using a microwave). Add the chocolate to a stainless steel bowl and microwave for 20 seconds on high, then stir. Microwave for 20 seconds on high once again, then stir. Microwave for 15 seconds on high, then stir. As the chocolate begins to melt, microwave at 10-15 second increments at half power until the chocolate is about two-thirds melted.
- Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the chocolate from the heat and stir until it is completely melted and the temperature on the thermometer registers 89.6°F/32°C (for dark chocolate), 86°F/30°C (for milk chocolate), 84.2°F/29°C (for white chocolate). If the chocolate exceeds those temperatures, it will have to be tempered. If the chocolate has not melted completely and is still too cool, set it over the saucepan/put it in the microwave for a few more seconds.
- Add the mix-ins. Stir the almonds, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries into the melted chocolate, making sure all the mix-ins are entirely covered in chocolate. Pour the chocolate onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and spread it into an even layer.
- Freeze. Transfer the chocolate to the freezer to harden, for about 10 minutes. Once set, break the bark into desired pieces.
- Store. Leftover chocolate keeps well in an airtight container in a cool, ideally between 65-70°F/18.3-21.1°C, dry, dark place away from direct sunlight, moisture, and strong scents. If your house is warmer than 75°F/23.9°C, store the chocolate in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Allow chilled chocolate to come to room temperature without opening the airtight container so that any condensation forms on the outside of the container and not on the chocolate. Always bring cold chocolate to room temperature before eating; cold chocolate doesn't melt or disperse flavor as nicely.
Hi Petra,
Thank you for this recipe!
I tried to make chocolate this way and it was not a success by me. I didn’t realize that the first step (melting) was going so fast. Even when I took the pan from the heat before 36 degrees Celsius, it continued heating up above 36 degrees Celsius (to 46 d.C) and not all cacao butter was melted. The second step (cooling) was going so slow. So I tried to put the pan on the ice cubs and it shocked the chocolate, so it turned up partly to a hard mess. And third step (heating) was going again to fast. It was really hard to control the temperature. Maybe you have some tips for me? And how can I reuse my messed chocolate? Thank you.
Ira.
Hi Ira – I can relate so much to your comment. All of this happened to me before as well. So here are my tips.
The first step is the trickiest – what happened to you is completely normal. Since the pot is hot, it keeps heating up the chocolate even when you take the chocolate off the heat. What I do is take the chocolate off the heat when the chocolate is at about 40 C, keep stirring it (so the heat from the pot gets distributed evenly throughout the chocolate), and measure the temperature constantly to monitor how fast it’s going up. If it doesn’t quite reach 46 C, I put the pot back on the stove for a few seconds (no heat), stir it, and measure the temperature again. I have to say that the more often I make tempered chocolate, the less I have to monitor the temperature because I have a feel for how long it needs to heat it up.
For the second step, I never ever use ice cubes. I simply wait till the chocolate cools down. I know it takes time, but I usually do other tasks and wait till it gets to the temperature I need it. Ice would definitely shock the chocolate. As I write in my “How to Temper Chocolate Guide“, chocolate doesn’t like to be shocked. Anything cold will make the chocolate grainy, and turn it instantly into a hard, solid lump.
I hate to say it, but tempering chocolate definitely does take practice. I know it’s annoying when you waste expensive ingredients (and chocolate ingredients are particularly expensive, I know!) but I promise – the more often you temper chocolate, the easier it will get because you’ll get a feel for it.
As far as recovering messed up chocolate goes, have you seen my guide on tempering chocolate? I have some tips for recovering chocolate there. It’s a very detailed guide so hopefully you find some more helpful tips for tempering and recovering chocolate there. If you have ANY questions, please, don’t hesitate to comment again. I will be more than happy to help! Thank you for reaching out 🙂
Hi Petra,
Thank you for your comment!.
I tried to make the chocolate again and it was a success! This time it was easy to control de temperature exactly as you told. The chocolate was hard and snappy at the end, but not shiny. It was mat. Maybe because I melted the cacao butter to 43 degrees Celsius because I wanted to keep it raw. What do you think?
Ira
Awesome! That’s so good to hear Ira! Did the chocolate have any bloom or was it just not shiny? I am asking because even properly tempered chocolate (that snaps and hardens) will have a slightly matte finish unless it was in contact with something that would make it shiny, like acetate. What did you use for the chocolate?
Hi Petra!
What do you mean by using acetate? In which step?
I used just ingredients you described in the recipe. I used also raw nuts as a stuffing.
By the way, sorry for my English. My English is not so good. 🙂
I forgot to say that there was no bloom on the chocolate. It was just mat. I expected it to be shiny like a silk as you can see at the chocolate shops. 🙂
Hi Ira – I am sorry, I should have been more clear. Acetate sheet is a thin plastic sheet perfect for making chocolate. You essentially need a shiny surface to spread the chocolate on to get a really shiny chocolate. The shine will ONLY occur when the chocolate hardens against a shiny surface. I should have included this info in the actual post. I just felt like it would be too much information but perhaps other people are wondering about the same thing. I hope this helps and as always – let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you so much, Petra! It’s very clear now.
Your blog is amazing and my favorite! 🙂
Aw, thank you so much Ira! You are so kind 🙂
Hi Petra,
I have a quick question. Have you ever tried using the chocolate for raw desserts? Could I pour this over a cold raw cheesecake or is it going to through off the chocolate’s chemistry?
Hi Marian – a great question! There are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, properly tempered chocolate sets rock hard so it’s not ideal for anything that is too large. However, it can make an excellent icing by stirring into the tempered chocolate up to 10% by weight of a neutral, tasteless oil. This is best added by very slowly pouring it in behind the baffle. A note: the oil can’t be cold (ideally around 30ºC). The chocolate “icing” will set with a tempered chocolate sheen, but with a softer texture.
Another thing you mentioned is cold cheesecake. I wouldn’t recommend using tempered chocolate for raw cheesecake because cheesecake needs to be stored in the fridge. As you guessed, the cake should be at a room temperature before being iced. Also, to protect the finish, the cake shouldn’t be stored below 10ºC/50ºF – a normal refrigerator is not suitable. If you need to store the finished cake below 10ºC/50ºF then I would transfer it to a cool place for an hour before exposing it to room temperature. If the difference between the cake and the environment is greater than 10ºC/18ºF, it’s likely that a condensation will form on the cold surface.
I know it’s a lot of information, but hopefully this helps 🙂 Let me know if you have any other questions. I am happy to help.
Hi Petra!
I tried this and pour it on a baking sheet, it looks amazingly shiny but doesn’t get harden, how long should I wait for it? Does it take a long time or should I be worried?
How did the chocolate turn out? The time depends on your room temperature. Same as with regular chocolate, if it’s too hot in your house, the chocolate might never harden. However, if your house is below 30 degrees C and the chocolate is in temper, it should harden within a few minutes. If it hasn’t hardened, it might have not been in temper. Let me know how it went and hopefully I can help troubleshooting if it hasn’t hardened 🙂
Hi Petra,
I want to add a full milk powder to make milk chocolate. But I don’t know how much it has to be. If I use 50 g cacao powder and 50 g coconut sugar, then how much do I have to add full milk powder?
I also want to make white chocolate. What do I have to do for that?
Thank you!
Ira
Hi Ira – I will have to disappoint you. I am currently working on a FREE cookbook for my subscribers where I will be sharing recipes (with instructional videos) for raw chocolate, pralines, bonbons, white chocolate, etc. All vegan (raw but tempered) recipes. I will make the cookbook available for download in March so I don’t wanna share those recipes until then. I am so sorry to disappoint you. But you are on the right track – for milk chocolate, you will just need to add milk powder (I use coconut milk powder for vegan chocolate). White chocolate is a little bit more complicated because coconut sugar doesn’t work here (unless you don’t mind caramel-colored “white” chocolate). I will have a list of possible sweeteners for white chocolate in the cookbook.
Hi Petra,
Amazing news! Can’t wait to buy your book!
Thank you!
Ira
Hello
I am afraid the cacao did not temper. It is still wet and a bit granular…
What do you think went wrong?
Thanks very much
Patty
Hi Patty – tempering is tricky, that’s for sure. I would love to help though. Can you give me a little bit more detail about what happened? The chocolate shouldn’t be granular. If it is granular, the sugar probably wasn’t finely powdered. Sugar doesn’t dissolve in fat. So if the sugar was a bit granular before you mixed in with the other ingredients, the chocolate would be granular as well. Is that what happened? Also, if the chocolate isn’t hardening at a room temperature, it means that it went out of temper. This happens when you heat the chocolate too much (either the first time or the second time). If it’s not tempered, you will have to re-temper it all over again. The chocolate isn’t ruined though; it just isn’t tempered. So that’s not the end of the world 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions. I am here to help!
I am just wondering whether I could use unrefined icing sugar in place of coconut sugar? I have a coconut allergy so that is not an option for me unfortunately but I would love to have a go at tempering chocolate to make bark. I currently make raw chocolate using maple syrup, but don’t temper it and hence tend to keep it in the fridge!
Hi Alythia – YES! As long as it’s a finely powdered sweetener, it will work just fine 🙂
Hello! Have read about your book here. That is so amazing news, but can it be sent to Russia I wonder. If yes, write a link please, where I can get it.. About chocolate – amazing tricks you have write in comments, thank u so much for the trick with sugar powder. I used Just sugar in crystals before))) sorry for my english, ok, hope you will understand me
Hi Nataly – no worries – your English is just fine 🙂 The interactive cookbook is digital so you can download it into your computer. Here is the link: https://nutritionrefined.com/cookbook
Let me know if you need further assistance!
Hello,
I was wondering if i could change the ratios of the ingredients bij using more cacao powder and/or less sugar. Or will this cause the chocolate to not be able to set properly? Thank you!
Hi Hadassa – so sorry for the late reply! You can add cacao powder and sugar without consequence. Obviously not like 100’s of grams of each, but you can definitely tweak the recipe. 🙂
Hello Petra,
although I m not vegan, I love your blog and your YouTube Chanel. Your Videos are very relaxing 🙂
Today I ve tried your Flaxseed Wraps and the Chocolate Bark.
The Wraps turned out well, but a little bit small. I like the taste.
In Germany we have a brand, which make Pizzadough out of Flaxseed and it taste very similar to the Wraps 🙂
But I m really proud of my Chocolate! It is great. I ve read your comments very carefully and the chocolate is shiny and taste really good. Unfortunately my processor is not good enough to mix the coconut sugar so fine like yours. But its ok, for the first time, I m very happy!
( Unfortunately I cant´t attach a photo 🙂
I will definitely try more of your recipes!
Thanks a lot!
( And thank you for the metric messurements! That is a lot easier for me! )
Greetings from Germany,
Anna
Hi Anna – thank you so much for your kind words! Your comment means more than you know ❤ I am so happy you like my recipes. That’s so awesome that the chocolate turned out so well. If it was your first time tempering, wow! That’s amazing! I definitely failed the first time I attempted to temper chocolate (but fortunately, I had great instructors who guided me through it 😉 The metric measurements – I should have had them on my blog right when I started posting recipes. I just never thought about it (since I always use cups and spoons here in Canada (unless I’m working with chocolate, lol). I am glad they are helpful 🙂 Thank you once again for your comment, Anna!
Petra,
you are amazing. I tried your recipe, super easy – couldn’t believe that I have tempered chocolate.
That’s so awesome, Daniel! So happy the recipe and instructions were helpful 🙂
Hello Petra,
Thank you very much for the recipe, I made my first batch of tempered chocolate with this recipe last night, and it went well, and has made a good hard shiny chocolate! Im making another batch now and waiting for it to cool, my only issue is that it’s going completely hard as soon as I put the coconut sugar and cacao powder in. It’s at 34 degrees right now and is completely solid. Last night I managed to spread it but works out looks a bit messy. Could this by any chance be the conversion? Just thinking that you mentioned your using imperial and I’m using metric, and that the conversion given is from volume to weight? I’m just hoping that once it’s cooled and I heat it again that I will be able to pour it at 31 degrees if I’m careful !
Hi Finlay, I don’t think the conversion is an issue. Are you using the metric measurements from my blog? (I assume you are, but just checking). I actually always use metric measurements when making chocolate because it’s more precise than using cups. You know, I am actually thinking that for some reason your chocolate seizes. The reason I say that is that when chocolate seizes, it gets really hard (seized chocolate becomes rock hard as it sets). Are you by any chance introducing any water into the chocolate (using wet utensils or mixing bowls, steam getting into contact with the ingredients from melting cacao butter, etc.)? Or are you adding ant liquid ingredients directly into the chocolate (extracts, liquid sweeteners, etc.)? Perhaps you could email me a photo of the chocolate – I think I would be able to tell right away if it’s seized or not.
Dear Petra, I made the temperd dark chocolate and it was OF COURSE wonderful!
Actually it wasn’t my first time to make this kind of chocolate but your recipe is accurate and fully-featured !
I made it with nuts like you and the taste was mmmmmm – difficult to discribe! Amazing!!
I also made the white chocolate from your book with recipes but instead of xylitol I added honey so the result was good but think I’m more admirer of dark chocolate :))
Thank you! :-*
I completely missed this comment! Thank you so much for the feedback, Evgenia!! I can totally relate – I LOVE LOVE dark chocolate. In fact, when I buy chocolate in the store, I usually go for 85%. So good! 🙂
Can you tempere raw chocolate without loosing nutritional value?
Hi Greg – the tempering temperature doesn’t exceed 115°F (46°C), which is still considered raw (and safe in terms of losing nutrients). However, your concern is valid. Whenever you heat food – even if it’s just slightly (or even when you expose food to light, oxygen, or a certain degree of acidity – also called pH), you do lose nutrients. It’s inevitable. Fortunately, the amount you lose is rather insignificant.
Hey Petra, this is my favourite chocolate recipe I’ve come across and cannot stop combining it with your paleo vegan brownie recipe! But I was wondering what the calorie count is for the chocolate on its own, and it combined with the brownie. Do you have any idea or ball park number? Thanks so much for sharing your recipes online, can’t wait to try more!
Hi Britt – the entire chocolate bark (just the chocolate – not the add-ins) has 1376.8 calories. The brownies have 3.940.9 calories (the count is for the entire recipe). Hope it helps. Please, let me know if you have any questions 🙂
YOU ARE AWESOME ! 🙂
You are awesome! 🙂
Thanks!!
Aw, thank you so much, Yanik! You’re too kind ❤️
Hi! Thank you for your video, I want to know if I can use another powdered sweetener like xilitol or erithritol, thank u!
Hi Leah – yes, definitely! Any powdered sweetener will work.
Hi Petra, I would like to use honey in this recipe but I’m concerned about the chocolate seizing. When would be the right time to add honey during this process? Also what about adding vanilla extract which is a liquid can this be added?
Hi Letitia – great questions! I don’t recommend using honey (in any stage of tempering chocolate). You’re absolutely right – the chocolate will seize! You can use vanilla extract, but it has to be oil-based (specifically designed for chocolate making). Another option is to use a vanilla bean. Please, let me know if you have any other questions 🙂
Thanks Petra for your reply and such detail on making homemade chocolate.
Hi Petra, this is an amazing recipe. I’m wondering, how many grams of chocolate in total does the 1 serving size make? Also, how much of nectre agave should i use instead of the coconut sugar?
First time making chocolate didn’t know cacao butter heats up so fast probably went to 50* C but then maintained the temperatures turned out be pretty good …… average snap sound shiny towards the rims matter towards the centre but tastes divine . Thank you for the recipe . Will try to be at exact temp next time and see how it comes out .
That’s a huge success if it’s your first time! Tempering can definitely be tricky, so good job, James! Thank you so much for the feedback and rating.
Hi Petra, is it possible to temper chocolate without a thermometer? Or that is if you’re really really good at it 😀
Also, I love your cookbook, but the measurements are in cups, is there another version of it in metric? Thanks!
Hi Maggie – I am working on an updated version of the free cookbook, in which I will have also metric measurements. So, stay tuned. If you’re a beginner and tempering chocolate from scratch, I wouldn’t recommend tempering without a thermometer. You can look up the seeding method for tempering chocolate (that type of tempering is done without a thermometer), but it’s not entirely from scratch (since you would be adding already tempered chocolate to melted, untempered chocolate).
Hi Petra,
I have tried yesterday, but I have a problem with the weather here in Indonesia.
The room temperature today is approximately 30 degrees Centigrade.
The chocolate bars is easily melt outside the refrigerator. Is there any suggestions?
Or should I eat inside the refrigerator? Ha5x
Thank you for the recipe. It’s licking delicious.
Budi
Hi Budi – that makes perfect sense. Chocolate typically starts melting at 30 degrees C (tempered or not). So, even though your chocolate is tempered, you will need to keep it in the refrigerator.
Hello from Greece!
I whould like to ask you if coconut sugar is considered raw… Thank you.
Hi Mati – yes. Coconut sugar is just dehydrated coconut sap, so it’s considered a raw food.
Hello!
Do you think this chocolate recipe would be suitable to make truffles or individual chocolates with a mould?
thank you 🙂
Hi Katie – Yes, definitely! If tempered properly, it will behave just like regular chocolate.
What is the total weight of the dark chocolate made by your recipe? (I’m not making the chocolate bark with the nuts, but want to use your dark chocolate recipe to make pecan-caramel turtles. Knowing what weight of dark chocolate your recipe results in would let me adapt it to my recipe …)
If I add up the weight of cacao butter, cocoa powder, and coconut sugar only, it is 230 g.