Place the whisk in the base of the jug. Pour 200ml of your preferred milk into the jug. Fix the lid and press the power button once to start the programme. After about one minute, remove the lid and add 8 teaspoons of Knoops chocolate flakes to the milk as it warms. Replace the lid and your Knoops hot chocolate will be ready in about two minutes, when the programme ends. Versatility: ★★★★☆. This is a milk frother that can handle hot and cold milks and can mix and froth milks for a wide range of coffee-based drinks. It can also make hot chocolate! Household Electricals Shop all Household Electricals Dry:Soon Heated Airers Heated Blankets & Mattress Protectors Irons & Clothes Steamers Air Purifiers John Lewis plc, registered office: 171 Victoria Street, London SW1E 5NN. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Register no. 724309) for the purpose of introducing the credit provided by Creation Consumer Finance Ltd, registered office: Wellington Buildings, 2-4 Wellington Street, Belfast BT1 6HT.

The Velvetiser takes just 2½ minutes to make a cup of hot chocolate. Fill it with milk or water to the line, add in the special Hotel Chocolat flakes, cover and switch on. You'll soon be treated to a creamy, frothy hot chocolate. This kitchen gadget heats drinks to the optimum temperature for flavour (that's between 68°C and 70°C), and it's relatively easy to clean afterwards. This was my favourite: an old-fashioned aluminium stove-top jug with a plunger lid to pump and froth and a protective silicone mat. The instructions are nicely loose and straight: you fill the pot up to just below the bottom of the handle, preferably with whole milk (semi or skimmed won’t froth so well) and gently heat on the burner (gas or electric) until the milk is bubbling around the edges, then add in your chocolate – the manual suggests a cocoa mix (I use Cadbury’s powdered hot chocolate) or a grated handful of real chocolate – quantities unspecified – and stir. The Velvetiser is an in-home barista-grade system for hot chocolate, as served in Hotel Chocolat cafes. Made in conjunction with Dualit, the Velvetiser is ready to use straight from the box. The Velvetiser launches next month and the marketing spiel is eye-roll-inducing – the machine is billed as an “in-home drinking chocolate system” and its name becomes a verb, promising “velvetised drinks” and “perfect velvetising” – but that drink, though. It made me smile, it made me dance, it made me velvetise. Yes, it is an expensive, space-gobbling, single-cup, single-use gadget, but it is a very pretty one – available in eminently millennial colours (copper, matt charcoal, white). And while Hotel Chocolat is keen for you to use its single-serve pouches, I tried other hand-grated chocs, cacaoand even honey. Pourable silken pile, one and all. Effortlessness: ★★★★☆. This manual kitchen gadget requires about 10 seconds of shaking. It's nowhere near as vigorous as I imagined when I read up about the product, but there's still movement required which may mean some people with arm and shoulder weaknesses or injuries might struggle with the motion.Our expert was impressed with the quality of the Velvetiser’s hot chocolate, describing the finished product as “creamy and velvety in texture.” They were pleasantly surprised to find it offers indulgent, frothy results even when plain hot water is used with the sachets instead of milk. When it comes to coffee, they loved the smooth chocolate-meets-latte results.

The manufacturer recommends a whopping 54g of chocolate to make a single 350ml drink, and 84g of chocolate when making two cups totalling 550ml. This might require a bit of trial and error as those feel a bit on the high side to me. The final important factor for me is cost, as I already own a saucepan and a microwave, so I need to justify the value of a new kitchen gadget. The Gourmet Gadgetry and Homgeek options are great value. At the other end of the spectrum are the gadgets by Hotel Chocolat, Nespresso, and KRUPS are the priciest options but also the best looking too. If you value style as much as function, these are the only options worth considering. We put this claim to the test to see how good they were at making tasty hot chocolate and whether they could rival the heavily advertised Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser.To replicate that same froth for oat milk, and all other plant-based milks, you have to buy the 'barista' version which has added stabilisers to mimic the fats found in cow's milk. Choose from four colours, including charcoal, copper, platinum and the stellar white. The Velvetiser has a great handle so whether you’re right or left handed, you can pour drinks easily. It’s extremely stylish and takes up minimal space in your kitchen. It can sit next to your kettle or you can tidy it away neatly and compactly. Versatility: ★★★★★. The hob, saucepan, and whisk can all be used to produce other wonderful things, like sauces and gravies, hot milk, custard, and oodles of other tasty treats. Having recently reviewed Hotel Chocolat's Velvetiser, I thought it was time to investigate the tech available to make creamy and frothy café-style hot chocolates. Rather than focus purely of the gadgets, I've also compared them against the de facto methods of making hot chocolate at home, to get a balanced assessment. Pros: Like the Dualit (above), it can heat milk or can froth it; can froth cold milk; and it can make hot chocolate.