{"id":106370,"date":"2026-06-25T10:13:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:13:28","slug":"warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Warm up with Ballarat’s Hot Choc Showdown…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get ready to treat yourself this winter, with Ballarat’s Hot Choc Showdown returning for the 2026 Ballarat Winter Festival, inviting locals and visitors to sip, sample and vote their way through the city’s most indulgent creations.<\/p>\n

From June 27 to July 19 the Hot Choc Showdown runs throughout the winter school holidays.<\/p>\n

So, if you were looking for a family-friendly activity to rug up for, how about sampling more than 30 decadent hot chocolates in one epic chocolate trail?<\/p>\n

Featuring a deliciously sweet line-up of marshmallow-loaded options and boozy adults-only offerings highlights include:<\/p>\n

Hideaway Coffee Bar: A traditional style Paris hot chocolate served warm with a side of thick whipped cream and topped with shaved chocolate. It’s a viral Paris experience right in the middle of Ballarat.<\/p>\n

La Miette Patisserie: Their Grounded Pleasures hot chocolate infused with a house-made honeycomb and served with a fluffy honey marshmallow. Plus, a chunk of extra honeycomb for dipping into your drink.<\/p>\n

Maggie & Kate: A rich spiced orange hot chocolate served with whipped cream and warm, buttery orange madeleines. It’s comfort in a cup designed for dipping, sipping, and slowing down.<\/p>\n

The Shared Table: Decadent Dutch hot chocolate ‘affogato’ served over house-made vanilla ice cream with a chocolate tuille. Guests 18 and over may order a shot of ‘mischief’ on the side – a wattleseed infused vodka with dark cacao and cream liqueur.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Shared Table’s Decadent Dutch hot chocolate affogato. Photo: Meda Design.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cattelya Signature: A rich and velvety dark chocolate infused with classic Thai aromatics – lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, and ginger layered with coconut milk, pandan and palm sugar for smooth fragrant finish. Spiked with dark rum topped with light coconut pandan cream, it delivers warmth, depth and subtle hint of spice.<\/p>\n

For those who are game to take on the challenge can pick up a map of all the participating vendors and set off on a self-guided tasting tour.<\/p>\n

Cast your vote and you’ll not only help crown Ballarat’s champion hot chocolate, but you’ll go in the running to win a Winter Prize Pack, valued at $1,500.<\/p>\n

Once you’ve had your fill of hot chocolates, there’s plenty more to enjoy. The Ballarat Winter Festival features a jam-packed program of food events, gigs and performances and a huge market.<\/p>\n

Head to the pop-up ice-skating rink, get in line for fire-filled medieval action at Kryal Castle or wander through the glowing Winter Wonderlights at Sovereign Hill.<\/p>\n

For the third year in a row, locals and visitors can also take advantage of the Winter Festival hospitality offer: spend $25 at a participating business and receive 15 per cent off an ice rink ticket, making it easier to join in the fun.<\/p>\n

The full Ballarat Winter Festival program, including participating venues in Ballarat’s Hot Choc Showdown, can be explored at ballaratwinterfestival.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

\/\/SPONSORED CONTENT<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get ready to treat yourself this winter, with Ballarat’s Hot Choc Showdown returning for the 2026 Ballarat Winter Festival, inviting locals and visitors to sip, sample and vote their way through the city’s most indulgent creations. From June 27 to July 19 the Hot Choc Showdown runs throughout the winter school holidays. So, if you […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":106371,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-106370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWarm up with Ballarat's Hot Choc Showdown... - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Treat yourself at the Ballarat Hot Choc Showdown 2026, featuring more than 30 decadent hot chocolates during the Ballarat Winter Festival from June 27 to July 19.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Warm up with Ballarat's Hot Choc Showdown... - Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Treat yourself at the Ballarat Hot Choc Showdown 2026, featuring more than 30 decadent hot chocolates during the Ballarat Winter Festival from June 27 to July 19.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-25T00:13:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/06\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Times News Group\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Times News Group\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Times News Group\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c458b1ff60365992982bb7683264fe4b\"},\"headline\":\"Warm up with Ballarat’s Hot Choc Showdown…\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T00:13:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":491,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/\",\"name\":\"Warm up with Ballarat's Hot Choc Showdown... - Golden Plains Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T00:13:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"Treat yourself at the Ballarat Hot Choc Showdown 2026, featuring more than 30 decadent hot chocolates during the Ballarat Winter Festival from June 27 to July 19.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"La Miette Patisserie's Grounded Pleasures hot chocolate infused with a house-made honeycomb. Photo: Meda Design.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Warm up with Ballarat’s Hot Choc Showdown…\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\",\"name\":\"Golden Plains Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Golden Plains Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/GoldenPlainsNew.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/GoldenPlainsNew.png\",\"width\":3208,\"height\":336,\"caption\":\"Golden Plains Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c458b1ff60365992982bb7683264fe4b\",\"name\":\"Times News Group\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/author\\\/timesnewsgroup\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Warm up with Ballarat's Hot Choc Showdown... - Golden Plains Times","description":"Treat yourself at the Ballarat Hot Choc Showdown 2026, featuring more than 30 decadent hot chocolates during the Ballarat Winter Festival from June 27 to July 19.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Warm up with Ballarat's Hot Choc Showdown... - Golden Plains Times","og_description":"Treat yourself at the Ballarat Hot Choc Showdown 2026, featuring more than 30 decadent hot chocolates during the Ballarat Winter Festival from June 27 to July 19.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/","og_site_name":"Golden Plains Times","article_published_time":"2026-06-25T00:13:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/06\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Times News Group","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Times News Group","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/"},"author":{"name":"Times News Group","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/person\/c458b1ff60365992982bb7683264fe4b"},"headline":"Warm up with Ballarat’s Hot Choc Showdown…","datePublished":"2026-06-25T00:13:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/"},"wordCount":491,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/06\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/","name":"Warm up with Ballarat's Hot Choc Showdown... - Golden Plains Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/06\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-25T00:13:28+00:00","description":"Treat yourself at the Ballarat Hot Choc Showdown 2026, featuring more than 30 decadent hot chocolates during the Ballarat Winter Festival from June 27 to July 19.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/06\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/06\/Feature-Image-3-11.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"La Miette Patisserie's Grounded Pleasures hot chocolate infused with a house-made honeycomb. Photo: Meda Design."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/warm-up-with-ballarats-hot-choc-showdown\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Warm up with Ballarat’s Hot Choc Showdown…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/","name":"Golden Plains Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization","name":"Golden Plains Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/GoldenPlainsNew.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/GoldenPlainsNew.png","width":3208,"height":336,"caption":"Golden Plains Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/person\/c458b1ff60365992982bb7683264fe4b","name":"Times News Group","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/author\/timesnewsgroup\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106370"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=106370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}