Chocolate Vs Cocoa powder: what’s the difference?

Chocolate baked goods are often made with cocoa powder, but melted chocolate is also regularly used. In brownies, you can even find both chocolate as well as cocoa powder combined. Is there a reason for choosing chocolate or cocoa powder, or can you just do what you like?

I answer all your questions about baking with chocolate or cocoa powder. I will also explain the difference between Dutch processed cocoa, raw cocoa powder and natural cocoa powder.

Baking with cocoa powder

When I say cocoa powder, I mean unsweetened cocoa powder, not chocolate milk powder. In the Netherlands this is common knowledge, but in America ‘our’ unsweetened cocoa powder is called Dutch processed cocoa powder. Because this cocoa powder is unsweetened, it still needs something sweet in the recipe to make it taste good. Try some cocoa powder and you will see that it is very bitter and not very tasty.

I use cocoa powder myself in most of my baking. It’s very simple: you replace a few tablespoons or a certain number of grams of flour in any basic recipe with cocoa powder. That way, the proportions of dry ingredients in the recipe remain almost the same and you don’t suddenly get a very dry dough or batter.

For a cake, I usually replace 20 grams (0.7 oz) of flour with 20 grams (0.7 oz) of cocoa powder, which is about 2 tablespoons. If I want an even more intense chocolate flavor, I use (and substitute) twice as much. It is worth remembering that cocoa powder gives a more intense chocolate flavor than (melted) chocolate. To achieve the same effect, you need a lot more chocolate, which in turn affects the recipe.

Personally, I find cocoa powder the easiest option when I want to give a recipe a twist. You don’t really have to think about it and the chances of a good, tasty bake are high. It can also be used in any recipe, be it a batter or a dough.

Baking with chocolate

Sometimes melted chocolate is used to flavor a baked product. I myself once added a bar of melted chocolate to a vanilla cake batter. It turned out tasty, but I hadn’t really thought through the rest of the recipe, so it became a fairly compact cake and the chocolate flavor was not as intense as I had hoped. So it’s not impossible, but it does take a bit more thought to get a good result.

In other recipes it is actually better to go for melted chocolate. For example one of my favorite recipes is a simple chocolate mousse with whipped cream and chocolate. You cannot make this recipe with cocoa powder (as 1:1 replacement for the chocolate). The melted chocolate will solidify naturally which gives you the end result of a mousse-like texture. The cocoa powder would not have that effect.

Another recipe that uses only chocolate is lava cake. These are served hot straight from the oven while the chocolate is still soft. If you allow the cake to cool, the liquid centre will become harder and harder. So you cannot make these cakes with cocoa powder.

You can add melted chocolate to a batter, but not to a dough. So for a cookie dough, you really have to rely on cocoa powder.

Chocolate and cocoa powder

It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes you’ll see both chocolate and cocoa powder in a recipe. I do this myself in brownies, for example. The melted chocolate adds flavor and texture, and the addition of cocoa powder makes chocolate brownies even more intense. The combination makes brownies perfect 😉 .

What is Dutch processed cocoa powder?

So now that we got that sorted, there are still a few things to discuss. The difference between Dutch-process cocoa powder and regular cocoa powder has everything to do with the processing method and the acidity of the powder itself. Technically both cacao products are made from roasted cocoa beans. But the Dutch processed (also called alkalized cocoa) is treated with potassium carbonate during processing which results in a darker chocolate powder, smoother flavor and less acidity. The process removes most of the acidity from the cocoa powder.

The flavor is also a bit different. While regular cocoa powder has a more chocolately flavor, the dutch-processed is a bit milder and smoother due to the removal of the acidity.

Can you substitute one for the other?

Technically yes you can. But they do work different with other leavening agents like baking soda and baking powder. If you refer back to the article I wrote recently about the difference between baking soda and baking powder you will remember that baking soda needs some form of acidity to do it’s thing. So if you’re using regular cocoa powder you’re best of using baking soda. While with the Dutch version you can work best with baking powder as that already has the needed acidity.

If a recipe specifically calls for Dutch-processed cocoa powder you will need to pay attention to the rest of the recipe to see if you can substitute without issues.

How to substitute

If the recipe doesn’t have any leavening going on (pudding, brownies, sauce for instance) it would be safe to substitute 1 on 1 without too much risk. It becomes a different story if you want to change it in a recipe that also uses leavening agents.

If the recipe uses baking powder it would be fine to substitute as the acidity in the baking powder would react with both types of cocoa powder. If the recipe calls for baking soda swapping natural cocoa powder for Dutch processed would result in less rise. So you either have to add some baking powder or another acidic ingredient or the rise will be very different.

Also keep in mind that the flavor as well as the texture might be different.

What is raw cocoa powder?

Now the final type of cocoa powder is raw cocoa powder. This cocoa powder is reported to have lots of health benefits due to the fact that it is made from unroasted cocoa beans. While both the other types of cocoa powder are from roasted beans both raw cocoa powder as well as cacao nibs are from unroasted beans. The extraction process is also different

Raw cocoa powder has a more bitter taste and if you’re using it in baking you might have to adjust the sugar levels. Raw cocoa powder is used more in ‘healthy’ baking.

Since it is the same as regular cocoa powder in terms of acidity you can replace it 1:1 with regular but – as mentioned – you might need some added sugar.

I find raw cocoa powder works really well in savory dishes or things like smoothies.

So as you can tell there are quite a few differences between the different cocoa powder types. While substituting one for the other is not impossible it does require some thought about the rest of the recipe and some adjustments where needed.