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I Made Marie Antoinette’s 200-Year-Old Hot Chocolate Recipe | French Chocolat Chaud à l’Ancienne
Oct 26, 2025
Step back into the 18th century with me as I recreate Marie Antoinette’s favorite drink — rich, old-fashioned French hot chocolate, known as chocolat chaud à l’ancienne.
This indulgent recipe was once served at the court of Versailles, enjoyed by queens and nobles alike. In this video, we’ll explore the history of drinking chocolate in France, how it became a symbol of luxury, and why this centuries-old preparation is still one of the most delicious ways to enjoy cocoa today.
☕ You’ll learn:
The royal origins of hot chocolate in France, and the origins of cocoa with the Aztecs.
How 18th-century chefs prepared it by hand
A step-by-step recipe for thick, velvety chocolat chaud
📜 Mentioned in this video:
The French royal kitchen tradition
Historical recipe adaptations from early 1800s Parisian cafés
The chocolate houses as the Starbucks of their time
How chocolate was prescribed by physicians
and more!
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0:00
With the weather turning cooler, no
0:02
doubt many of us will have more mugs of
0:06
hot chocolate. Comforting, decadent, and
0:09
universally loved. But the drink we know
0:12
today has traveled centuries and
0:15
continents to reach our mugs.
0:18
Once a ceremonial elixir for ancient
0:21
empires, it became a European luxury and
0:25
eventually a cozy staple of cold
0:28
weather. Let's step back through time to
0:31
discover the story of this velvety,
0:34
delicious drink.
0:37
Welcome to Cooking 100-year-old Recipes.
0:40
I'm Stephanie. On this channel, I talk
0:43
food history and I make vintage and
0:46
retro recipes. If you like that sort of
0:48
thing, you're in the right place.
0:53
Our story begins thousands of years ago
0:56
in Central and South America. where the
0:59
cacao tree was considered sacred.
1:02
The Mayans and later the Aztecs prepared
1:06
a frothy bitter beverage called
1:08
shakolatto.
1:10
Made from ground cacao beans, chili,
1:13
water, and sometimes maze, this was no
1:18
sweet treat. It was a powerful ritual
1:21
drink believed to give energy, strength,
1:25
and even spiritual wisdom.
1:29
Cacao beans were so valued they were
1:31
used as currency. To drink chocolate was
1:34
to connect with the gods, a privilege
1:37
reserved for warriors and nobles.
1:46
When Spanish explorers brought cacao to
1:49
Europe in the 1500s, it was still dark
1:52
and bitter. But the Europeans had an
1:54
idea. add sugar. With the addition of
1:58
sweeteners, milk and spices like
2:01
cinnamon or vanilla, chocolate was
2:04
transformed from ritual to luxury.
2:08
By the 1600s, chocolate houses became
2:12
fashionable social hubs in England and
2:14
France, the Starbucks of their day.
2:18
Hot chocolate was an elite indulgence,
2:21
served in porcelain cups and even
2:23
prescribed as a medicine for melancholy.
2:27
The chocolate houses themselves were
2:29
hubs for men only. Women enjoyed sipping
2:32
chocolate in their homes. These
2:35
chocolate houses were dens of iniquity.
2:37
The men who visited them would have been
2:40
wealthy and influential, which lends
2:42
itself to gambling, gossip, and some
2:45
types of sedition. In fact, King Charles
2:48
II wanted these establishments closed
2:51
for this reason. In the 19th century,
2:55
everything changed when inventors
2:57
learned how to separate cocoa butter
3:00
from cocoa solids, making chocolate
3:03
smoother, less expensive, and much
3:06
easier to dissolve.
3:08
Soon, powdered cocoa and ready to mix
3:10
hot chocolate were within reach for
3:13
ordinary families. From Cadbury in
3:16
England to Hershey's in America,
3:19
chocolate became a comfort, not a
3:21
luxury.
3:25
Even today, hot chocolate takes on
3:27
different forms around the world. In
3:30
Spain, it's thick and rich, perfect for
3:33
dipping churros. In Mexico, it retains
3:36
its ancient roots with cinnamon and
3:39
chili, a nod to the Aztec drink that
3:42
started it all. And of course, why
3:45
you're here for the video in France.
3:47
It's elegant and creamy. And I'm going
3:49
to make it. It's called
3:53
chocolate sh meaning hot chocolate, but
3:56
it's not prepared the way we think of it
3:58
here in America. In modern times,
4:02
chocolate arrived in France in the early
4:05
1600s.
4:06
It was brought from Spain by Anne of
4:09
Austria who was the wife of Louis VII.
4:12
It became a courtly drink often served
4:15
at Versailles. A thick rich mixture of
4:18
grated chocolate, sugar, and warm milk
4:21
or water.
4:25
Louis V 16th, Marian Twinette, and the
4:28
French aristocracy were obsessed with
4:30
drinking chocolate. In fact, Marian
4:33
Twuinette had her own personal chocolier
4:36
at court.
4:42
Typically when I make hot chocolate as
4:44
an American, I use a good quality cocoa
4:46
powder. I like this one. It's a William
4:48
Sonoma. It is pricey, but I think it's
4:52
worth it.
4:53
Uh just but any cocoa powder you like
4:56
works just fine. I just think this one
4:58
tastes the best of all that I've tried.
5:01
However, Maran Twinette's hot cocoa
5:03
would not be made like that. It would be
5:06
actual chocolate.
5:09
It's essentially to me a liquid candy
5:12
bar. So the proportions for this is
5:14
going to be about 3 oz per cup of whole
5:17
milk, a pinch of salt just to get the
5:21
flavor, you know, bring out the best,
5:24
and then brown sugar instead of a
5:27
regular white sugar or sweetener, which
5:30
I've never had brown sugar in hot
5:32
chocolate, so I'm just curious to see
5:34
how this tastes.
5:36
As you know, I like to do any chopping
5:39
of things that are going to be
5:40
transported to a pan on a mat. So,
5:44
that's what I'm doing because the
5:45
chocolate will be added to the warm milk
5:47
in the saucepan and then the sugar gets
5:51
added afterwards. So, I'm going to chop
5:52
it up pretty finely so that it melts
5:56
quickly and evenly.
5:58
Chocolate's very sensitive to heat, so
6:01
you don't want to be over overheating
6:03
it.
6:05
and milk
6:07
as well.
6:15
And then you want to use a bitter
6:17
chocolate, pretty high cocoa content, at
6:20
least 70%, I'm using 80% unsweetened,
6:24
but bittersweet is just fine. I don't
6:26
like overly sweet things.
7:11
going to have a little bit of steam
7:13
coming off of the milk. So, I'm going to
7:16
add in my chocolate now
7:19
so it can slowly start to melt.
7:26
And I've got a flat whisk here. And I'll
7:29
just
7:31
keep stirring it every I don't know 10
7:34
15 seconds until it's dissolved and it's
7:37
going to start thickening up apparently.
7:44
It's been about 3 minutes. I'm going to
7:46
take my spoon. I just want to see how
7:49
things are looking with regard to how
7:51
dissolved the chocolate is. It looks
7:54
like it's still not dissolved yet. I'm
7:56
going to give it another 30 seconds.
8:05
All right, that seems to be doing the
8:06
trick. So, I'm going to give it just a
8:07
little bit of salt
8:12
and then the brown sugar. So, it's one
8:15
to two tablespoons. I'm going to start
8:17
with oh, maybe one and a half since I've
8:20
used unsweetened chocolate and I don't
8:22
want it terribly sweet. Now, this, I'm
8:24
sure, is going to add almost a caramelly
8:27
depth of flavor
8:29
and replace that vanilla that we're used
8:32
to adding the depth to our chocolate.
8:37
It is getting thick.
8:39
Already see that?
8:49
All right. Now, it's been another
8:51
minute. I've turned the heat off.
8:53
And I've cleaned off my spoon to check
8:55
with so I can see how the dissolving is
8:58
looking.
9:01
It's better. It's It's not 100%. I don't
9:05
know if that's going to
9:07
dissolve further.
9:11
When I feel it, I don't think it will.
9:16
Look how how thick it's looking.
9:21
It's almost like a sauce now rather than
9:24
that more almost watery hot chocolate
9:27
that we're used to drinking in these
9:28
modern times.
9:32
Got my little French mug here. I think
9:35
it's too big for this amount, but I
9:37
don't know who could drink a whole mug
9:38
of something this rich. And of course,
9:42
we need some whipped cream.
9:47
All
9:58
right, let's have a taste.
10:06
Oh my goodness.
10:10
That really does taste decadent. It's so
10:13
velvety. It's thick.
10:16
and a like a luxurious
10:19
silky
10:21
kind of texture coats the tongue. I can
10:24
see why this was perceived as being
10:27
luxury. It's a I hate to say a liquid
10:30
candy bar, but that's what it is. It's
10:33
a dense chocolate, bittersweet,
10:36
dissolved into milk with a complex
10:39
sweetener. Oh my goodness. I don't think
10:42
I can drink this whole thing right now.
10:49
You don't miss the vanilla.
10:54
It Yes. Wow. That's very different than
10:59
the Americana style hot chocolate that
11:01
I'm so accustomed to for decades.
11:05
Delicious.
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