Know Your Coco: A Beginner’s Guide To Baking With Chocolate

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The Mayans and Aztecs both treasured it, the Europeans fell in love with it and crafted it to perfection, while the people towards the East and West made it their life’s mission to not go long without eating it. In short, chocolate is cherished throughout the world.

So, whether you are making cupcakes, cakes, tarts or puddings, you cannot go wrong with adding chocolate to your menu. However, choosing your chocolate is a significant step itself; you need to know your milk chocolate from your couverture chocolate.

Cocoa Matters

You already know that chocolate and cocoa powder starts out with harvested cocoa pods, the beans inside which are extracted and fermented. The process gives these beans the rich flavor and aroma we’ve all come to know and love in our favorite chocolate bars.

Fast forward a few stops along the road, passing cocoa nibs and cocoa liquor, and you get your cocoa solids, including cocoa butter, the base ingredient of edible chocolates you seek out for baking.

Let’s take breakdown the chocolate to see which type suits your desserts:

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MILK CHOCOLATE

Creamy with varying levels of sweetness, and the nicest member of the cocoa family, the milk chocolate is perfect for eating as it is.  It can be used in many baking applications of baking, reserved primarily for filling and topping purposes. Milk chocolates typically contain 50 percent cocoa solids.

DARK CHOCOLATE

A moodier sibling of the milk chocolate variety, dark chocolate is also a very sophisticated treat, with the potential to be matched perfectly with a variety of tangy, fruity flavors.

It is ideal for making ganache and mousses, as well as other baked goods. Dark chocolate has substantially high cocoa content, typically containing 70 percent and more cocoa solids.

WHITE CHOCOLATE

Meet the creamiest sweetest member of the chocolate family. White chocolate contains zero amount of the cocoa liquor that goes into both milk and dark chocolate varieties. The blend is a combination of cocoa butter and sugar, and has the tendency to melt quickly.

COOKING CHOCOLATE

Cooking chocolate is used in both cooking and baking, typically available in chips, nibs and bars. It can be either sweetened or unsweetened, giving chefs and bakers the choice to adjust the flavor exactly to what the recipe calls for.

COUVERTURE CHOCOLATE

A high-quality chocolate with additional cocoa butter—typically ranging between 32–39%—couverture chocolate is richer and creamier than conventional cooking/baking chocolate. With proper tempering, couverture chocolate has a glossy sheen and firmer, more satisfying ‘snap’.

So, whether you want to whip up that next batch of chocolate brownies, or just dabble with a new flavor of chocolate cake, Divine Specialties has got you covered.

We offer a comprehensive range imported chocolates gifts and ingredients at our online cakes supplies store. Head on over to our chocolates and chocolate decorations collection to fulfill all your cocoa needs!

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