Thursday, January 24, 2008
subsituting cocoas
Now that we have the difference between Dutched and regular cocoa down, what do you do if you only have one and you need the other? Because isn’t that always how it happens? If a recipe calls for Dutch-process cocoa and you only have regular, this site says you can add a smidge of baking soda to it–about 1/8 tsp. to 3 tbsp. cocoa powder to substitute. If you only have Dutch-process and you need regular, it suggests that you just leave out any baking soda in the recipe. Now go forth and make some Oreos!
Hm. I tried a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen for “emergency chocolate cake” and while the cake was lovely and moist, it had a disgustingly bitter taste. Maybe because I used Dutch-processed cocoa without leaving out the baking soda. But the recipe specifically called for Dutch-processed cocoa and baking soda. This does not compute. America’s Test Kitchen is usually so reliable…
what does baking cocoa mean. Is regular powder cocoa the same thing?
I don’t see the term baking cocoa… can you clarify? I was hoping to explain how you could create a Dutch-process substitute with a smidge of baking soda and non-Dutch cocoa (such as Hersheys).