Recipe for romance: hot chocolate

I discovered the secret formula for romance at the bottom of a mug.

Well, actually I found the perfect cup of hot chocolate, a concoction so rich that it practically guarantees you'll share some with your valentine. No one should finish a whole cup on his or her own.

Forget what you know about hot cocoa. No pale powder and shriveled marshmallows poured out of a packet here. Not a drop of water in sight.

Instead, the City Bakery in Manhattan serves up a smooth blend of milk, cream, and melted chocolate that tastes like a liquid candy bar.

"I hope I don't combust," my companion said after a few sips. And we didn't even get to taste the bakery's "Love Potion" topped with a puddle of hot fudge that's served only on Valentine's Day.

City Bakery's owner, Maury Rubin, and a handful of other chocolatiers have reinvented hot chocolate over the past decade, giving the drink the same creative attention usually reserved for artisanal pastries or perhaps gourmet coffee.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, City Bakery hosts a hot-chocolate festival every February featuring a dozen different flavors such as chili pepper, ginger, vanilla bean, and banana peel.

All those options sound confusing? That might be why in Philadelphia, the Ritz Carlton hotel employs a "hot chocolate sommelier" to help customers design their ideal version of the drink.

With guidance from Caesar Bradley, guests choose from among five types of chocolate and 10 toppings - including pralines, raspberry, and freshly made marshmallows. Children typically gravitate toward the "Liquid S'more" made with milk chocolate, whipped cream, and marshmallows and served in a mug rimmed with crumbled graham crackers.

"Hot chocolate combines the best of both worlds," Mr. Bradley says. "It's the ultimate comfort drink ... and it also has a real romance to it."

Perhaps that's why the film "Serendipity" featured stars John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale sharing a soup-bowl-size serving of the famous "frrrozen hot chocolate" from the New York restaurant that bears the film's name.

This specialty (shown in the photo below) has become so sought-after that the Manhattan eatery now sells a kit for making it at home, including the bowl, on its website (www.serendipity3.com).

Hot chocolate is also a draw for real-life romantics at L.A. Burdick, an intimate chocolate shop in Cambridge Mass., where whirring espresso machines constantly churn out fresh batches. Couples sip the signature brew from oversized mugs, each of which is delivered to the table with a miniature whisk.

This luxury doesn't come cheap, though. Prices range from $3 at City Bakery to $7 at the Ritz Carlton. But even without an espresso machine, you can make your own liquid valentine at home.

Chocolatiers disagree whether the key ingredient is the liquid or the chocolate. But definitely use less cocoa powder (which, unlike chocolate, doesn't contain cocoa butter) than real chocolate, and choose some combination of milk and cream over water.

Blend together heavy cream and milk, use half-and-half, or just use milk alone depending on how thick - and fattening - a recipe you'd like. At home, Larry Burdick says he uses 1 percent milk.

It's key to choose the right chocolate. Bittersweet chocolate provides ample sweetness, but you might prefer white or even milk chocolate.

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