• 100 g(3½ oz) best-quality dark (semi-sweet) chocolate, chopped
• 500 ml(17 fl oz/2 cups) milk
• 125 ml(4 fl oz/½ cup) whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon icing (confectioners’) sugar
• unsweetened cocoa powder or ground cinnamon, to serve

Heat the chocolate and milk in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon so it doesn’t catch. Bring it to just below boiling point and whisk with a wire whisk to make sure it is completely smooth.

Meanwhile, whisk together the cream and icing sugar until quite thick but not stiff — just dense enough to sit on top of the hot chocolate.

Pour the hot chocolate into cups and gently spoon the cream over the top, dropping it first onto the back of a spoon and letting it slide onto the top of the chocolate. Sieve a tiny amount of cocoa powder or cinnamon over the top and serve at once. This can be drunk as it is so the chocolate streams through the cream, or the cream can be stirred through first.