Cacao Daiquiri

We love chocolate. We love chocolate just as much (or close to it!) as we love cocktails, so we felt inspired to combine our two loves into a cocktail for Valentine’s Day. When you think of a chocolate cocktail, you probably picture a chocolate martini or some other ultra-creamy drink. Citrus and chocolate are always a great combination, whether you’re talking about lemon, orange or lime. Surprisingly, this makes citrus-heavy tiki drinks great candidates for a chocolate twist. You can’t use a cream-based chocolate liqueur because it will curdle the second you combine it with fresh citrus, but you can use a clear creme de cacao to bring in a chocolate note – and that is exactly how we put together this Cacao Daiquiri.

The cocktail is absolutely delicious, to put it mildly. It is made with a medium-bodied aged rum (we used Appleton XV, but Mount Gay or even an El Dorado 5 could work – nothing too dark), fresh lemon juice, honey and creme de cacao. The liqueur brings in this complex chocolate note without muddling the citrus note, leaving you with a cocktail that is incredibly smooth and flavorful. The chocolate note is so unexpected that you’ll find yourself drinking this very quickly as you try to pick out that “mystery” flavor in every sip.

We rimmed the glass with chocolate sauce and dipped it in sugar. The sugar helps to hold the chocolate sauce in place and gives the rim a pleasant, sparkly look. You can skip the sugar, but the chocolate rim really adds a nice extra chocolate touch to the cocktail.

Cacao Daiquiri
1 1/2 oz medium-bodied rum (we used Appleton X/V)
1 oz creme de cacao
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz honey syrup

Combine all ingredients in a shaker, fill with ice and shake until cold. Strain into a chocolate-rimmed glass filled with crushed ice.