02
Apr
Natual cocoa vs Dutch-process cocoa
I lose. So there was this really great looking cake that I was hoping I could have for my birthday. Â We went to the store (New Leaf) and picked up all the ingredients we were missing except there was no dutch-process cocoa. No problem, we can get it at another store later. Savemart didn’t have it, surely the gigantic Safeway will have it… nope. Shopper’s corner must have it, no but they have a wider variety of natural cocoa. Deluxe Foods in Aptos has a huge selection let’s check there! Another strike. The New Leaf downtown carries different things than the one on 41st, they might have it… no. Cost Plus it turns out is dutch-process cocoa minus.
We can’t just use natural cocoa and expect the same result because dutch-processed cocoa is pH neutral. We could try a work-around by adding baking powder to natural cocoa but that probably won’t come out the same. When did it become so hard to get dutch-processed cocoa? We purchased some without difficulty a few years ago for the first death by chocolate trials. My theory is that since natural cocoa retains the anti-oxidants in chocolate while dutch-processed cocoa destroys them, people are demanding their healthier cocoa and not considering the desserts! I could order it on-line, but it’s not something I thought I would have to order on-line or be able to get on short notice in this area.