Easy, breezy, and beautiful, this double chocolate cashew bark is like the covergirl of chocolate desserts. Seriously, I think this is the shortest ingredient list I’ve ever put into a recipe here on the blog, and the whole thing only takes a few minutes to make. But I won’t tell anyone if you don’t, because you could totally pass this off as a fancy gift or put it out at a party and let everyone be impressed with your chocolate skills. The swirls of white chocolate are gorgeous, the cashews peaking out of the top hint at the salty goodness to come, and the whole thing looks like it could be on display at a high end chocolate shop. So go grab some chocolate and let’s get cooking!
The inspiration for this recipe came from a visit to Zingerman’s Candy, which I happen to live a few minutes from and which is generous with their samples. I got a taste of their chocolate cashew bark a few months ago, and I’ve been thinking of it off and on pretty much ever since. They used a chocolate that I’m sure was of a quality several orders of magnitude higher than the one I used, but the idea was the same. Take rich dark chocolate, add salted cashews, and let the magic happen. I decided to add the white chocolate swirls both because they’re beautiful, and because I thought it’s sweetness would play well off of the rich chocolate and salty cashews. The end result is both lovely and really, really addicting.
Recipe tips:
- I used a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water to melt the chocolate. You could also use the microwave, pulsing in 30-second bursts and stirring in between. Or if you have a double boiler, you can definitely use that.
- I used a 9″ by 13″ pan to spread out and swirl the chocolate. I didn’t take it all the way to the long edges of the pan, so the bark would be thick enough to have some heft to it. You can judge as you pour the chocolate how thick it will be and how far you want to spread it out.
- A toothpick or skewer works well to swirl the white chocolate into the bittersweet chocolate.
- 12 oz bittersweet chocolate
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup salted cashews, roughly chopped
- Roughly chop the bittersweet chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl that fits snugly over a small saucepan. Fill the saucepan with water and heat it to a boil, then reduce the heat and bring it to a simmer. Place the bowl over the saucepan and let the chocolate melt, occasionally stirring it with a rubber spatula. When the chocolate is completely melted, remove it from the heat. Stir in roughly half of the cashews.
- Place the white chocolate chips In another heatproof bowl and repeat the melting process.
- Line a an 9” by 13” baking pan with parchment paper, and pour the bittersweet chocolate and cashew mixture over the parchment, smoothing it with the spatula. Depending on how thick you’d like your bark, you can spread it all the way to the edges, or keep it several inches from the sides.
- Drizzle the melted white chocolate over the top, then use a toothpick or skewer to create swirl patterns. Sprinkle the rest of the cashews over the top, then set the pan in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight.
- Chop the hardened bark into whatever size(s) you’d like. The bark will keep for at least a week in the refrigerator.
