Chocolate might be one of the most loved flavors on the planet. It is not just a candy, a flavoring. Chocolate is a substance that has  power over people. It can turn a bad mood in minutes, soothe irritable tempers, and encourage romance. Although  it is a native to the Central and South Americas, the Cacao tree is now found all around the equator. It is the fruit of the tree that has a whitish flesh and purple hued seeds which, when dried, becomes what we know as the cocoa bean.

All forms of bar chocolate are a mixture of cocoa powder, fat, and unless you are making unsweetened baking chocolate, sugar. Many varieties also contain a quantity of milk.. If you have ever left a bar of chocolate on the counter and then put it in the fridge to harden back up, you may have noticed that there appears to be a gray-white film on it. That  film is actually the fat that has come to the surface. The bar is still perfectly good to eat or use in cooking. The practice of substituting cocoa powder for bar forms of chocolate, therefore, is not only perfectly acceptable, it is often desirable.

Cocoa powder is often a better choice for certain applications. Making hot cocoa for example, in cakes without butter like angel food, or often when making a chocolate variety of cookie. Bar varieties like bakers chocolate are better suited to use in butter based cakes, sauces and puddings such as chocolate mouse.

TO SUBSTITUTE COCOA POWDER FOR BAKING CHOCOLATE

In a recipe calling for baking chocolate you can substitute 3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon of fat for every one ounce of baking chocolate.

This fat is usually going to be butter for the best flavor, but margarine and vegetable shortening also produce good results. So for a recipe calling for 3 ounces of bakers chocolate, for example,  you can safely substitute 9 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of butter or other fat. You should sift the cocoa powder with the other dry ingredients and add the fat with the other fats in the recipe. You don’t have to melt the fat and mix with the cocoa powder unless the recipe calls for melted chocolate, like a brownie. The only reason for this is that it helps make the mixture more moist where straight coco tends to make a mix that is a little more dry.

TO SUBSTITUTE BAKING CHOCOLATE FOR COCOA POWDER

For every three tablespoons of cocoa powder called for in your recipe, use one ounce baking chocolate and eliminate one tablespoon of fat from the recipe.

For example, if you are baking a cake that calls for 1 cup of cocoa powder and 2 sticks of butter, you can use 5 1/3 ounces of baking chocolate, melted, and leave out 5  1/3 tablespoons of the butter which is a little over 1/2 of a stick.

Using chocolate interchangeably in baking is one of those things any good cook should be able to do automatically.  Once you understand the ratio between cocoa and cocoa butter you can make a substitution quickly and easily.  So, keep a can of cocoa in the pantry and a box of baker’s chocolate nearby and turn those baked goods into something special by adding a bit of chocolate.

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