Baking with Dutch process cocoa powder

Ganache dipped, Swiss meringue swirled cocoa cakes

Dutch process cocoa powder is one of my standby ingredients, always on hand and at the ready. I’ve been using it for years, not only for my standard brownies that are perennially available for the Steve-meister for his regular evening treat, but for MOST recipes calling for unsweetened cocoa powder. Such wonderful flavor.

NOTE: I say “most” because there are some guidelines for using natural vs Dutch processed that have to do with acid/alkali and using chemical leaveners (baking soda, baking powder). Here’s a great summary for you from Serious Eats (a great resource by the way!).

Dutch process you ask? It’s all thanks to Dutch chemist and chocolatier Conrad van Houten (1801-1887) who figured out how to alkalize the acids in cocoa powder to create a more mellow taste experience. I’ve been using Bensdorf high fat Dutch process cocoa powder for some years now (I am of Dutch heritage after all!) and find the end results so tasty. It’s available through a variety of sources which you can easily find online.

Many say that the decision to use natural cocoa powder vs Dutch process is purely personal and indeed a matter of taste. While the natural version may offer a more enhanced and complex chocolate flavor, the “dutched” version is smoother and, in my estimation, more delicious.

French Tarte “O”s

As I review the things I generally bake with cocoa powder (brownies, financier, shortbread, meringues, fudge cookies, flourless sponge and more), I realize that, at least in my current armamentarium, the only one that contains a chemical leavener is Bouchon’s version of that popular chocolate sandwich cookie lining grocery store shelves. I did a bit of research to try and figure out why one would add baking soda to a shortbread cookie since they don’t typically rise like, let’s say, a classic chocolate chip cookie. From the scientific standpoint, the alkaline baking soda seems to contribute to a more even bake, tenderness and even enhances color and flavor.

OK - enough science. Let’s look at some more ways to use Dutch process cocoa powder. along with a couple of straight forward recipes for you.

Cocoa cakes

This tasty babies are from Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh’s book “Sweet”. Not unlike financier, the batter is made with similar ingredients but doesn’t involve browning the butter which one would normally do for financier. They are a dream to put together and bake so nicely in individual silicone molds from very mini to larger “muffin” sizes, depending on your mood.

This Silikomart mold (SF022) is one of my favorite ones for simple small cakes - just the right size to enjoy a few bites without feeling you’ve overdone it. Remember - everything in moderations folks!

The wells each hold about 48 g/1.7 ounces (if full) - I get about 15 cakes out of the recipe below. You can easily double the recipe for more!

Heat the oven to 375ºF. If not using silicone molds, buttered mini or regular muffin tins work well. Yield will vary depending on the mold/pan you use.

Melt 140 g/5 ounces unsalted butter (I use a pyrex glass cup on medium power in the micro) and have it at the ready.

In a separate bowl, sift together 40 g all purpose flour, 40 g almond flour and 50 g Dutch process cocoa powder.

Place 120 g (4 large) egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment along with 160 g granulated cane sugar and beat on medium-high for a couple of minutes until thickened and glossy.

Continue on the same speed and drizzle the melted butter down the side of the bowl, beating until combined. Scrape down the sides.

On low speed blend in the dry ingredients. I usually take the bowl off the mixer and finish the blending by hand - you want to make sure none of the dry stuff is sitting on the bottom.

Fill molds about 3/4 full (you can scoop but I prefer piping for more equal portions and less muss) and bake about 15 minutes or until center looks set and springs back when touched. Baking time varies depending on mold size.

Let cool in molds about 10 minutes then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Once cooled I dipped the tops in ganache (seen above), popped them in the fridge to set the ganache, then gave them a nice swirl of dark chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. Yum. Steve loves these!

Next up - flourless walnut fudge cookies, a François Payard recipe from FOOD52’s “Genius Desserts”. This is an eye opener folks. Plus you can change up the nut choice as you wish - pistachio, pecan, macadamia and more. Nuts and chocolate are a marriage made in heaven if you ask me.

Heat your oven to 350ºF. Line two 1/2 sheet pans with parchment or silicone mats. Place 4 large egg whites in a bowl and allow to come to room temperature (place the bowl in a slightly larger bowl of warm water to speed it up).

Toast 275 g / ~2.75 cups walnuts or nuts of choice on a parchment lined sheet pan for about 10 minutes. You’ll smell the aroma and you’ll know. Let them cool, then chop ‘em up.

Mix together 350 g confectioners sugar, 70 g Dutch process cocoa powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and the chopped nuts in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle. Give a quick low speed mix to combine then add the egg whites and a tablespoon vanilla extract with the mixer running. Mix on medium about 3 minutes to thicken.

I prefer smaller cookies so I used my tablespoon scoop to portion the dough out. Place pans into the oven then reduce the temp to 325ºF and bake about 15 minutes until tops lightly crack. Rotate your pans half way through the bake.

Slide cookies with the parchment onto cooling racks. Remove from parchment once cooled (tip - if sticking, lift parchment up and gently peel it off cookies from the bottom OR brush a little water on the undersurface of the parchment and the moisture makes for easier release.)

Mmmmmm - what a delightful chew, wonderful nutty flavor and all around tasty experience. Thanks to François Payard and FOOD52!

To wrap it up, I want to share one more way I’ve used Dutch process cocoa in recent weeks. I often speak of twice baked croissant aux amandes, one of Steve’s and my favorite treats (and a lot of other people too, let me tell you).

I made a chocolate hazelnut version by replacing the almond flour in my basic crème d’amandes with hazelnut flour, left the all purpose flour out and added a hefty tablespoon of Dutch process you-know-what.

It goes like this: take croissants a day or two old; slice them as though you’re going to make a sandwich; dip the whole thing in vanilla simple syrup to moisten and give it a squeeze (don’t worry, it’s great fun!) to get rid of excess.

Now open the croissant, pipe a line of hazelnut-cocoa cream, throw a few chunks of chopped chocolate (something in the 60-ish % ballpark) on the cream, then close the sandwich and pipe another line of cream on top. You can add a sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts too.

I usually assemble my twice baked croissants and hold them in the freezer until baking. Heat the oven to 325ºF (I use convection) and put them in right outta the freezer. Bake about 20-25 minutes - you want the cream nicely golden and set. Cool and enjoy. A nice dusting of confectioners sugar gives them that certain je ne sais quoi.

Our taste test was so enjoyable! The inside had just the right amount of chocolate to accompany the hazelnut cream. Of course we tried one while still slightly warm which only enhanced the experience. Yum. Yum. Yum. And just as good the next day. Yes!

Have fun creating your own chocolate goodies. Until next time - stay safe, stay healthy and get vaccinated when you can!

Petits gâteaux part one - sesame crunch gâteau de Pâques

For our recent Easter dinner at cousin Jennifer's lovely home in the woods on Clear Bottom Lake, I created a couple of bite size gâteaux for the occasion. I've been on a sesame kick lately, having discovered a terrific way to create sesame brittle, compliments of Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh. More about that in a bit.

Rather than cramming a lot of recipe info into one post, I'm doing a two-parter, one part for each little cake.

First up is gateau de Pâques, a classic chocolate biscuit for Easter that I've made a number of times and have never found wanting.

The French word biscuit generally refers to a cake in the sponge family that's made with eggs that are first separated, then the yolks and whites are beaten separately before combining various components at the end to make a light and tasty cake.  On the other hand, biscuit sec usually refers to a cookie.

In English the word biscuit has a completely different connotation. While the Brits call cookies biscuits (as the French do biscuit sec), we Americans think of shortcake à la buttermilk biscuits or biscuits and gravy. Language is so cool and fun to figure out, don't you think?!

For this fun little cake I used one of my favorite square savarin fleximolds from Silikomart, which allows me to fill the "dent" with something good before garnishing with a swirl of another something good.

And then adding another something even better!

That sesame brittle is oh-so addicting - just ask Steve.

Let's do the recipes!

First the sesame brittle, so you'll have it ready to go for the garnish. And it keeps for a number of days.

Sesame brittle (makes plenty!)

The beauty of this brittle method is you don't have to use a candy thermometer or worry about reaching a certain temperature. I LOVE that!

1.  Toast 125 g sesame seeds (mix of 1/3 black and 2/3 white or all white like I did) either in the oven at 325ºF for about 10 minutes until nicely brown, stirring occasionally, or in a skillet on medium-low on the stove top. Do what you're most comfortable with. Set aside. Increase the oven temp to 350ºF.

2. Have two half sheet pans and four pieces of parchment at the ready. 

3. In a medium saucepan put 100 g granulated sugar, 100 g light corn syrup, 50 g unsalted butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stirring constantly on high heat, blend the mixture and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the toasted sesame seeds.

4. Put two pieces of parchment (or Silpat!) on a heat proof surface (I used two overturned half sheet pans) and pour half of the sesame mixture on each. Cover with the other parchment pieces and roll with a rolling pin until about 1/8 inch thick. 

5. Slide the paper with the sesame caramel onto half sheet pans and remove the top layer of parchment. Peel it back gently and push down any caramel that might stick. Bake for about 20 minutes until nicely browned. Remove from oven, cool and break into shards.

6. Stores nicely in single layers between pieces of parchment or waxed paper in a well sealed container. The first batch I made lasted a couple of weeks and served as garnish for a number of goodies!

Gateau de Pâques (for one 8-9" cake or multiple small cakes) - find recipe PDF here

1. Heat your oven to 350ºF and have your molds of choice at the ready. Butter and flour a 8-9" cake or springform pan OR you can use any shape multi-well silicone flexi-mold (no butter/flour needed) or mini-muffin tins lined with decorative papers. You decide.

2. Melt 200 g dark chocolate (I used 61%) and 200 g unsalted butter gently over a bain marie. I like to do this over very low heat and once the melting has begun, I turn the heat off and let the residual warmth finish the melting process. Stir the mixture every once in awhile as it melts.

3. Once you have that going, separate 4 cold eggs. NOTE: Eggs separate best when cold so do that at the beginning of your prep. The whites will be beaten separately and whip best when warm so it's all part of planning ahead!!

4. In a large bowl whisk the 4 yolks with 150 g sugar until thickened and more pale. Blend in the melted chocolate/butter mixture.

5. Blend in 100 g all purpose flour.

6. In a clean bowl beat the 4 egg whites with a pinch of salt to soft peaks. Gently fold the whites into the the above mixture.

7.  Pipe or scoop the mixture into your chosen molds and bake. Your baking time will vary depending on the size of your molds. An 8" cake may take about 30 minutes, whereas mini cakes may take about 10. Look for a more dry appearance to the surface of the batter without gooey centers. 

8. Let cool and unmold. Garnish with ganache or whatever you'd like! I made a basic 1:1 dark chocolate ganache to fill the wells, then piped a swirl of whipped white chocolate ganache (1:1 cream to chocolate, chilled then whipped) on top and added some shards of sesame brittle. Whew!

The texture of these cakes is light and oh so smooth. And the whipped white chocolate ganache and sesame brittle finished 'em off so deliciously. You gotta try these, I'm telling you now.

Stay tuned for Part 2: toasted coconut lime cakes!