We learned ALL about chocolate a few posts back (see “All About Chocolate” if you missed it). In a perfect world, we would always use the correct, precise ingredient every single time.
But in my world (and probably yours), things happen. The store is out, we thought we had it in the cupboard, or it just plain isn’t available in your area.
Today, in Cooking 201, we’ll be covering substitutes for everything chocolate: cocoa powder, Dutch cocoa, Baker’s chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, & more.
(Note: this is part of an ongoing series of posts covering the fundamentals of baking. For more information, check out the ‘Ingredients,’ ‘Substitutes,’ ‘Cooking 101,’ and ‘Cooking 201’ pages.)
As we previously learned, the basic difference between various chocolate types is: 1) the amount of the cocoa butter (aka: fat) included -and- 2) additives, especially sugar. Thus, substitutions are actually not that hard.
Note that while bittersweet and semisweet are technically two different grades of chocolate (going from sweetest to un-sweetest, it would go: milk, semi-sweet, bittersweet, baker’s), below they are used interchangeably. If concerned about the slight different in sweetness, make the semisweet more like bittersweet by adding some unsweetened chocolate or cocoa powder.
Baker’s chocolate (aka: unsweetened chocolate):
1 oz. baker’s= 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa plus 1 Tbsp. butter (or shortening)
1 oz. baker’s= 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa plus 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 oz. baker’s= 3 Tbsp. Dutch cocoa plus 1 Tbsp. butter (or shortening)
Chocolate, dark:
Dark chocolate is rarely called for in recipes, but if for some reason you absolutely must: try using semi-sweet chocolate plus some cocoa powder (to give it more intense flavor and to balance out of the extra sugar)
Chocolate, milk:
1 oz. milk chocolate= 1 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate plus 1 Tbsp. granulated white sugar
1 oz. milk chocolate= 1 oz. sweet dark chocolate
1 oz. milk chocolate= 1 oz. white chocolate
Chocolate, semi-sweet & bittersweet:
1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate= 1 oz. baker’s chocolate plus 4 tsp. sugar (or 1/2 oz. baker’s chocolate plus 1 Tbsp. sugar)
1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate= 1 oz. semisweet chocolate chips plus 1 tsp. shortening
1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate= 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder plus 3 Tbsp. sugar plus 1 Tbsp. butter (or shortening)
Cocoa powder:
1/4 C. cocoa powder= 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3 Tbsp. cocoa powder= 3 Tbsp. Dutch cocoa plus 1/8 tsp. cream of tarter (or lemon juice or vinegar)
-or- 3 Tbsp. Dutch cocoa & leave out any baking soda called for in the recipe
3 Tbsp. cocoa powder= 1 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate (reduce fat in recipe by 1 Tbsp.)
3 Tbsp. cocoa powder= 3 Tbsp. carob powder
Cocoa powder, Dutch:
3 Tbsp. Dutch cocoa= 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder plus 1/8 tsp. baking soda
3 Tbsp. Dutch cocoa= 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate plus 1/8 tsp. baking soda (reduce fat in recipe by 1 Tbsp.)
3 Tbsp. Dutch cocoa= 3 Tbsp. carob powder
Mexican chocolate:
1 oz. Mexican chocolate= 1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate plus 1/2 tsp. Mexican cinnamon (or Ceylon cinnamon)
Sweet chocolate (aka: sweet dark chocolate, sweet baking chocolate):
1 oz. sweet chocolate= 1 oz. white chocolate
White chocolate:
1 oz. white chocolate= 1 oz. milk chocolate
1 oz. white chocolate= 1 oz. sweet dark chocolate
Lara says
I want to make red velvet cookies with white cocoa powder but it seems there is much more sugar in the white powder. Do you know how I can substitute without making the cookies too sugary? Is it just a matter of reducing the sugar in the recipe?
Jennie says
Sorry, I can’t help. I’ve never used white cocoa powder. But my gut instinct says “yes, just reduce the other sugar.”