I have been thinking about brownies a lot this week and will address them at length in my next post. But before we can talk about brownies, we’re going to have to discuss chocolate.
There are countless online treatises on chocolate that can give you any amount of detail you might want on the subject. My review here will focus primarily on the contents of commercially available baking chocolate products. Below, I’ll examine seven bars and bags and canisters of chocolate products designed for baking purposes in an attempt to help you understand chocolate through its labels.
Chocolate is made from the beans of the cacao plant that have been fermented, dried, roasted, de-shelled, and ground. The ground processed beans form a pasty liquid cocoa mass that is usually referred to as chocolate liquor – this chocolate liquor is comprised of cocoa butter (fat) and cocoa solids (flavor). The cocoa butter and solids are typically separated-out from the chocolate liquor and then recombined with other ingredients like sugar, vanilla, and occasionally emulsifiers or stabilizers to make most commercially available chocolate products.
Cacao is NOT the same thing as chocolate – technically, cacao always refers to the components of chocolate that have been derived from chocolate liquor. And it is important to note that although chocolate liquor contains around 53% cocoa butter and 47% cocoa solids, the cacao portion of actual chocolate products rarely contains cocoa butter and solids in these exact percentages.
So, whenever you see “% Cacao” on chocolate, it will always mean the percentage, by combined weight, of the cocoa butter and cocoa solids from chocolate liquor in a chocolate product – but the ratios of these components may vary considerably from product to product. In the examples below, please note that the unsweetened cocoa powder and the unsweetened baking chocolate are both “100% Cacao” – which means that both contain ONLY cocoa butter and cocoa solids – but the cocoa powder contains very little cocoa butter, while the baking chocolate is half cocoa butter.
Note – When baking, it is useful to think of chocolate as consisting of three working parts (by weight): (1) fat in the form of cocoa butter, (2) sugar, & (3) everything else (most of which will be the cocoa solids – the “flavor” of the chocolate – there might be other ingredients or flavors in small amounts here but the cocoa solids will be providing most of the flavor bang for the chocolate buck).
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Part 1 – Powders and Chips:
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Note – Cocoa powder is essentially chocolate liquor from which nearly all of the cocoa butter has been removed. Cocoa powder is mostly just cocoa solids – just a little bit of fat – no sugar.
Hershey’s Cocoa – 100% Cacao – Natural Unsweetened
Serving Size – 5g
Total Fat – .5g – .5g/5g = 10%
Sugars – 0g – 0g/5g = 0%
Total Fat and Sugars: 10% + 0% = 10%
That leaves: 100% – 10% = 90% Cocoa Solids
Summary: Fat 10%, Sugar 0%, Solids 90%
Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
Note – Chocolate chips are usually made with flavor additives (like vanilla) and texture additives (like milk solids and fats, emulsifiers, and stabilizers) – they are used, primarily, in cookies and other sweets where they remain whole. Chocolate chips are rarely suitable for use in chocolate-flavored baked goods.
Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Bittersweet Chips
Serving Size – 15g
Total Fat – 4.5g – 4.5g/15g = 30% (mostly from cocoa butter)
Sugars – 7g – 7g/15g = 47%
Total Fat and Sugars: 30% + 47% = 77%
That leaves: 100% – 77% = 23% Cocoa Solids (and trivial amounts of other stuff like vanilla and emulsifiers)
Summary: Fat 30%, Sugar 47%, Solids 23%
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Nestle’s Toll-House Semi-Sweet Morsels
Serving Size – 14g
Total Fat – 4g – 4g/14g = 29% (mostly from cocoa butter)
Sugars – 8g – 8g/14g = 57%
Total Fat and Sugars: 29% + 57% = 86%
That leaves: 100% – 86% = 14% Chocolate Solids (and trivial amounts of other stuff like vanilla and emulsifiers)
Summary: Fat 29%, Sugar 57%, Solids 14%
White “Chocolate” Morsels/Chips
Products labeled as White Chocolate (meaning the words “White Chocolate” appears on the label) typically get their fat from cocoa butter. Most products like the Morsels/Chips in this example have 0% cocoa butter – more specifically, there is nothing in them that is derived from cacao beans. I included this package to illustrate that point. Neither the front nor the back of this package contains the word “Chocolate” – but still these morsels, almost universally, continue to be referred-to as “White Chocolate Chips.”
Nestle’s Toll-House Premier White Morsels
Serving Size – 14g
Total Fat – 4g – 4g/14g = 29% (none of this fat is from cocoa butter)
Sugars – 9g – 9g/14g = 64%
Total Fat and Sugars: 29% + 57% = 93%
That leaves: 100% – 93% = 7% Other Stuff (in this case there are NO chocolate solids in these morsels)
Summary: Contains NO cocoa butter or cocoa solids – cannot be considered “Chocolate”
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Part 2 – Baking Chocolate Bars
Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate Bar – All Natural – 100% Cacao
Serving Size – 14g
Total Fat – 7g – 7g/14g = 50%
Sugars – 0g – 0g/14g = 0%
Total Fat and Sugars: 50% + 0% = 50%
That leaves: 100% – 50% = 50% Chocolate Solids
% Cacao = % Not Sugar = 100% – 0% = 100%
Summary: Fat 50%, Sugar 0%, Solids 50%
Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
Baker’s Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate Bar – All Natural; 56% Cacao
Serving Size – 14g
Total Fat – 5g – 5g/14g = 35%
Sugars – 6g – 6g/14g = 43%
Total Fat and Sugars: 35% + 43% = 78%
That leaves: 100% – 78% = 22% Chocolate Solids
% Cacao = % Not Sugar = 100% – 43% = 57% (bar claims 56% – we can expect a little difference due to rounding errors in measurement)
Summary: Fat 35%, Sugar 43%, Solids 22%
German Baking Chocolate
Note – Here, “German” has no meaning – this bar is included as another example driven by the words “% Cacao” on the label.
Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar – All Natural; 48% Cacao
Serving Size – 14g
Total Fat – 4.5g – 4.5g/14g = 32%
Sugars – 7g – 7g/14g = 50%
Total Fat and Sugars: 32% + 50% = 82%
That leaves: 100% – 82% = 18% Chocolate Solids
% Cacao = % Not Sugar = 100% – 50% = 50% (bar claims 48% – we can expect a little difference due to rounding errors in measurement)
Summary: Fat 32%, Sugar 50%, Solids 18%
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Conclusion: Whenever you are trying to analyze baked goods made with chocolate, it is often important to understand the relative percentages of the primary components in the chocolate: fat (cocoa butter), sugar, and flavor (primarily cocoa solids – maybe with some other stuff if you’re using chips).
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