How to substitute unsweetened baker's chocolate for powdered cocoa in cake recipe

How to substitute unsweetened baker's chocolate for powdered cocoa in cake recipe - From above crop anonymous woman arranging macaroons on top of cake with chocolate drips while working in pastry store

My friend would like to make a chocolate cake using this recipe: HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake.

The ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

The directions:

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
  2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
  3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
  4. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. Makes 12 servings.

They'd like to use baker's chocolate squares in place of the powdered cocoa.

Is this possible?



Best Answer

It's just a really basic (plain-vanilla, if you will ;) chocolate cake recipe. You'd be better off just finding a basic chocolate cake recipe that calls for unsweetened chocolate in the first place, especially if you're new-ish to chocolate cake.

Otherwise the substitution that Sobachatina suggests above requires some fancy recipe-adjusting work on your part. Cocoa & fat (melted butter, usually) can be substituted for whole chocolate, but it's not really such an exact science, so I don't think the reverse substitution will give you the results you're looking for.




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How to substitute unsweetened baker's chocolate for powdered cocoa in cake recipe - Appetizing sweet dark chocolate cake served on white plate and decorated with ripe black and red blackberries



Quick Answer about "How to substitute unsweetened baker's chocolate for powdered cocoa in cake recipe"

Substituting Unsweetened Baking Chocolate for Natural Cocoa Powder. Swap 1 ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate for 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. Then omit 1 tablespoon of butter, oil, or shortening from the recipe to account for the higher fat content in the baking chocolate.

Can I use chocolate instead of cocoa powder in chocolate cake?

If you want to use dark chocolate to make a chocolate cake, you can replace cocoa powder in cake with melted dark chocolate in most baking recipes, but consider the following: quality of chocolate: you will need to choose your chocolate wisely.

How much chocolate do I substitute for cocoa powder?

In general, a 1-ounce piece of unsweetened chocolate can replace 3 Tbsp. cocoa. Though because your chocolate piece will have oil in it, you might want to try leaving out some of the oil; take out 1 Tbsp. of called-for oil for each ounce of chocolate substituted.

How much cocoa powder equals a square of unsweetened chocolate?

To replace one ounce of unsweetened chocolate, use 3 tablespoons cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon butter, shortening or oil. Dissolve the cocoa in liquid that is already used in the recipe.



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More answers regarding how to substitute unsweetened baker's chocolate for powdered cocoa in cake recipe

Answer 2

Baker's chocolate is essentially cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Usually a little lecithin is added to make it smooth and sometimes it has some sugar.

Substitution tables suggest that the unsweetened chocolate can be replaced with 3 parts cocoa and one part butter.

This means that one cup of melted baker's chocolate could be used in place of the 3/4 cup of cocoa and 1/4 cup of the fat in the cake recipe. Obviously it would have to be added with the wet ingredients instead of the dry as the cocoa is.

If the baker's chocolate is bittersweet or semisweet instead of unsweetened then the sugar in the cake would need to be reduced accordingly.

The lecithin in the baking chocolate will actually improve the consistency of the cake.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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