Black cocoa powder

I am planning on making the chefs step ultimate chocolate cake this weekend. I have black cocoa powder which is deeply dutched. Since I don't have regular Dutch cocoa powder on hand I was going to blend the black cocoa powder with Ghirardelli natural so I get the intense darkness of the black and the smoothness while having some true cocoa notes. When I asked the social media team of chefs steps Facebook they had no idea what I was speaking of... first I thought I was trying to add chocolate instead of cocoa and then they were telling me that I needed to use dutched after I told them repeatedly black cocoa is heavily dutched. I even sent this picture but apparently they did not look at it.

. I figured the community might be a better place to ask what would be a good ratio if any of you have ever worked with black cocoa powder before. Any input would be greatly appreciated

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Comments

tshewman

The black dutched suggests it is more alkaline that traditional dutched cocoa powder (pH of ~8 instead of 7ish). Enough to make a difference taste wise? Not sure. Since non alkaline is ~1 lower than hypothetically you could use 50:50, however the pH means it may react differently between baking soda and powder (so something to consider). If it were me, I would simply use what you have and go from there. Next time (if you don't like it) try a blend. Jmho

fisher23

I would use a 50/50 mix. The black cocoa will give you a great looking dark chocolate color but as there is almost no cocoa butter left things tend to be dryer.

Amos_Schorr_168815

50/50 should work. Just chuck in an extra sprinkle or two of baking powder and it'll turn out just fine. I know that's not as scientifically rigorous as CS tends to be, but it works.

Greg_Tomkiel_300857

Thanks for your input guys! That's what I was figuring using a 50/50 mix. There is baking powder and baking soda in the recipe as well as buttermilk which is acidic to react with the baking soda so I think I'll leave the Chemical leaveners alone. The cake does call for a sugar syrup wash so I'm hoping that will keep it moist. My whole concern was the chocolate flavor which natural cocoa provides while getting the darkness out of the black cocoa powder. I will be sure to take pictures and report back