Substitute for cocoa powder in cake

A warm welcome to your favorite baking and dessert blog, where we elevate every day into an unforgettable experience! Today’s blog post substitute for cocoa powder in cake is my holy grail when it comes to all the times I have found myself without any cocoa powder. I am sharing 10 substitutes of cocoa powder that will not only help you to bake cakes but anything that screams cocoa powder in the recipe.

Just like me, there might have been such instances with you too where you are preparing a cake for a surprise or special occasion without realizing you do not have any cocoa powder handy. In this panic situation rather than giving up on the idea of baking a cake let’s look at some of the substitutes you can use. Some of these are readily available in your pantry, so look no further and find out the 10 best substitutes of cocoa powder that you can make use of.

If you are in the middle of baking your cake and clicked on this post, I recommend you jump straight to the substitutes! But do come back because I packed loads of interesting stuff for you to read about.

What is cocoa powder?

Cocoa powder is the dried cocoa solids that remain after chocolate liquor is extracted from roasted cocoa beans squeezed and pressed under high pressure. Like us after an effing tough workday (relate much?).

The heat from this process builds and melts the cocoa butter from the roasted beans some of which drains and thus results in dried solids with some cocoa butter. This remaining press cake is finely ground and sold as natural cocoa powder.

The color of the natural cocoa ranges from light yellowish brown-tan to dark yellowish brown. The color depends heavily on the source of the beans and the amount of time for which they have been roasted. In natural cocoa powder, the beans are lightly roasted to bring out the chocolatey flavor.

Cocoa butter is more valuable than cocoa powder and is sold separately. Cocoa powder is less expensive than unsweetened chocolate. Naturally, the taste of cocoa powder is bitter and it is acidic in nature, having a pH typically between 5 and 6. This is why cocoa powder is used along with baking soda to produce small amounts of carbon dioxide for leavening. I’m planning to write a whole other blog for baking soda soon!

Since naturally available cocoa powder is bitter, there are sweetened cocoas available in the market which are great for making hot cocoa and other beverages. The sweetened cocoas are also sold in the name of hot cocoa mixes. Did you know that, I thought it was pretty cool when I got to know that.

Purpose of cocoa powder in baking

Cocoa powder is mainly used in baking sweet treats to deliver that rich chocolate flavor. It is also used as an ingredient that absorbs moisture. So if you are baking something sweet and the dish has liquid ingredients cocoa powder helps balance the moisture giving your baked goodies just the right texture.

It also acts as an acidic ingredient which when combined with baking soda helps in the leavening process. It imparts a lovely brown color to your dish and just like many other baking staples, cocoa powder is easily available and affordable making it a must-have essential in your pantry if you love baking.

Types of Cocoa powder

You need to know the different types of cocoa powder that are available and choose the right one for your baking and dietary needs. So let us check further the different types of cocoa powder that are available.

Natural Cocoa powder

Natural cocoa powder is the one that is a result of extracting the liquor from the roasted cocoa beans. It is the most natural form which is why it is also called raw cocoa powder.

Natural cocoa powder is rich in antioxidants making it a good choice for your smoothies and a nutrient-rich drink to start your morning with. Natural cocoa powder does not have any added sugar which is why it tastes bitter and is acidic in nature.

The pH level of natural cocoa powder is between 5 and 6. Its color ranges from tan to dark yellowish brown which depends upon the source of the beans as well as the roasting. The roasting brings out intense chocolate flavor thus making it a must-have addition in your baked goodies for that intense chocolate flavor.

This is the most natural form of cocoa powder which is untreated chemically. Natural cocoa is also known as non-alkalized or regular cocoa. As it is untreated chemically, natural cocoa powder is lighter in color than Dutch process cocoa powder.

Dutch process cocoa powder

This is more commonly used in bakeries than natural cocoa powder. Unlike natural cocoa powder, Dutch-processed cocoa powder is treated with a mild alkali to neutralize the acidic content in it and to increase its pH to 7. This process results in a mildly flavored and darker colored cocoa powder which is perfect for baking treats like bakery-style chocolate chunk muffin which feels like chocolatey heaven.

Potassium carbonate is often used as an alkali in Dutch-processed cocoa powder instead of sodium bicarbonate aka baking soda. For cocoa powder processed in this way, the ingredient label will read as cocoa processed with alkali. The cocoa may be called alkalized, Dutch, or European-style.

The alkalizing process darkens the color of cocoa, making it look richer and darker than natural cocoa. Dutch-processed cocoa varies in color from light reddish brown to dark brown or dark reddish brown.

It not only gives a darker hue but also intensifies the flavor of cocoa making it more smooth and mellow (use this word if you want to sound fancy, haha, basically means soft on your palate and not harsh overwhelming taste) than raw cocoa powder. It dissolves in water easily and is less sharply astringent and acidic.

Despite the sharp contrast between both natural and Dutch-processed cocoa powders, they can be substituted for each other. Natural cocoa powder is acidic while Dutch-processed is alkaline, so some chefs adjust the amount of baking soda in different baking preparations accordingly.

Pastry chefs mostly prefer Dutch-processed cocoa for all applications because of its rich color and smooth flavor and truly deciding which one to use is mostly a personal preference.

10 substitutes of cocoa powder

[Note: Please note that the ratios given are approximations, and I cannot guarantee that the cake will taste absolutely the same as any other cake made with cocoa powder. But this is me trying my best as per my current level of knowledge about baking ingredients.]

Hot Chocolate Mix:

This is the most common and closest substitute that you can find for cocoa powder. Hot chocolate powder has cocoa powder as the ingredient along with sugar and milk solids. You can go ahead and add hot chocolate powder to your cake in case you’ve run out of cocoa powder and are wondering what could be done.

The addition of milk solids and sugar will not alter the taste of your cake much you just have to balance all those ingredients in the cake that are already present in the hot chocolate mix.

You should be careful of the ratio in which you’re substituting, you cannot substitute it in the ratio of 1:1. If the recipe asks you to use 100 grams of cocoa powder, you cannot add 100 grams of hot chocolate mix

Read the ingredient label to identify exactly how much cocoa powder is there in the hot chocolate mix and add it accordingly. If the ingredient label reads cocoa powder 50 % then you can substitute the hot chocolate mix in the ratio of 1:1.

Chocolate Protein Powder:

Chocolate Protein powder is a healthy substitute for cocoa powder as it will also have whey protein along with cocoa powder as an ingredient. This is a great substitute if you or anybody in your house is a health freak, chances are you will find chocolate protein powder in your pantry for sure.

Chocolate protein powder is flavored with cocoa powder and sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners. It can add a protein boost and a chocolate flavor to baked goods, making it a popular choice for health-conscious bakers or athletes.

Make sure you check the quantity of cocoa powder or chocolate flavoring used in your protein powder and go ahead and use it accordingly in your cake. I suggest you go for a 1:1 substitution here and reduce the sugar and fat by 10%. We are reducing sugar to compensate for the sweetened protein powders. We are reducing fat to compensate for any milk solids if present in the protein powder.

Nutella or other chocolate spreads:

Nutella and other similar chocolate spreads are made using cocoa powder, hazelnuts, sugar, and oil. They give a rich and creamy chocolate flavor to baked goods, and might also increase the sweetness and fat content of the recipe.

Everybody loves Nutella, there is no denying that. It is a delicious hazelnut spread with chocolate and is apt as a substitute because it is commonly available in households. There are a variety of ways you can use Nutella and this is one of them.

Nutella has a lot of fat and oil because chocolate and hazelnut both have fat content. Cocoa powder does not contain a lot of fat and since it is in powder form and due to its characteristic it absorbs moisture. So while using Nutella as a cocoa powder substitute we reduce the amount of butter and the cocoa powder.

If a recipe uses 100 grams of butter and 100 grams of cocoa powder. When substituting with Nutella reduce butter to 50 grams each and add 150 grams of nutella or your choice of chocolate spread. You will get a balanced flavor and a rich-tasting cake since Nutella has intense butter and chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Syrup:

Chocolate syrup is made from cocoa powder, sugar, and water. Its consistency is thick like liquid chocolate. It can be used as a substitute for cocoa powder by making necessary adjustments in sugar and liquid content.

You can use store-bought chocolate syrup and use them as a substitute. Just remember that they have a lot of additives. It will also have more water since it is thinner than chocolate spread. You will have to reduce the moisture and water content in your recipe accordingly.

Egg, egg whites, and sugar all contribute to moisture or act as a humectant. Ahem, a humectant is basically something that retains moisture in a product. If your recipe uses any of these along with liquid ingredients like water or milk make sure you strike a balance.

If your recipe uses 2 eggs use 1 egg and 1 yolk. Yolk does not have as much water content as the egg white, also reduce the sugar because chocolate syrup already has sugar in it. Also, sugar is hygroscopic in nature. It will absorb moisture from other ingredients and get wet. You can reduce the amount of moisture available to sugar by creating a balance in all the ingredients.

Cacao Powder:

Cacao powder is made during the process of extracting the cacao butter from raw cacao beans. When the beans are cold-pressed to extract the butter, they leave behind solids which are ground into fine powder. It is not as easily available as other substitutes.

It gives a rich and intense chocolate flavor with fruity and floral notes. Because it is cold-pressed it retains the bean’s natural nutrients making it a hit with health-conscious bakers. It is an ideal substitute for cocoa powder and can be used in a 1:1 ratio.

Carob Powder:

Just like cacao powder, carob powder is also hard to find. It is similar in appearance to cocoa powder but is not a cacao product. Carob powder or flour is sometimes used in place of cocoa powder in confections, baked goods, and beverages. It was also a cheaper alternative to cocoa when the prices of cacao products were high.

It is made from locust bean (carob) pods that are roasted, and then ground. Some people consider it a healthy alternative to cocoa powder as it is low in fat and does not contain any caffeine-like stimulants. However, some carob products like carob chips can be high in fat. Btw, this is what you can use while making treats for your furry friends!

Dark couverture chocolate:

Couverture is the French word for coating. Couverture chocolate is an intense dark chocolate with a minimum of 31 percent cocoa butter. They are high-quality chocolate products with high levels of cocoa butter which adds to its cost and makes it expensive.

It can also be used interchangeably with regular chocolate products in preparation for creams, mousses, ganache, and icings. You can swap dark couverture chocolate with cocoa powder as and when you need it.

They are mainly used for chocolate garnishes and decorations, and also as a dipping and coating for cakes, cookies, and pralines. Here’s a recipe in which I used dark chocolate instead of cocoa powder, which is what most brownie recipes use- Fudge brownies with Peanut Butter.

When substituting cocoa powder with dark couverture chocolate, make sure that you are using less moisture. Cocoa powder dries the ingredients by absorbing moisture.

Couverture chocolate also has a high-fat percentage- 31%. Reducing the amount of butter will also lead to a balanced rich chocolate flavor.

Dark Compound Chocolate

You can call it a cheaper cousin of Dark Couverture Chocolate, it also makes for an ideal substitute for cocoa powder. You can use dark compound chocolate to make brownies instead of cake and they will turn out great too, here’s one recipe you can try now Super Fudgy brownies recipe from scratch.

Unlike Dark Couverture Chocolate, it has vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter and cocoa powder instead of chocolate liquor. You can swap it for cocoa powder in your cake in a similar way to couverture chocolate and still get that intense chocolate taste. Understand these are not your regular milk chocolate bars which usually have high sugar content. These are mildly sweet and more chocolatey.

Chocolate Extract

Chocolate Extract is made from cocoa beans or cocoa liquor. Just like vanilla extract it has a concentrated chocolate flavor and is very cheap. Use it to enhance the chocolate flavor in baked goods. It may not give off the same depth of flavor and color as cocoa powder. Please use it with a combination of other ingredients to bring out flavor and color.

It is tough for me to recommend this. If you have nothing else handy and only have chocolate extract then use it. You will miss out on the color and only get the flavor out of it, which is why I am adding this as an option as well.

Cocoa Nibs

If you think of cocoa beans as nuts then consider cocoa nibs also called cacao nibs as chopped nuts. You can purchase it as a specialty ingredient.

Cocoa nibs have more cocoa butter and an equal amount of cocoa solids nonfat. Just like cocoa powder, these do not have sugar. They have a strong bitter chocolate taste. They leave an instant chocolate taste in confections and baked goods similar to that of coffee beans.

Use them sparsely and in recipes that do not require much chocolate. They turn out to be a great substitute for cocoa powder.

Chocolate Chips

Chocolate chips are small cute cut pieces of chocolate and are available for milk, dark, and white chocolate. You can use them in recipes which can do with a hint of the chocolate flavor and sweetness making it an ideal cocoa powder substitute in recipes for cookies, and muffins.

Chocolate chips are processed in a way that makes them stable and prevents them from melting in the oven like chocolate chunks.

Depending on which chocolate chip you are using from milk, dark or white you can adjust the quantity and strike a balance. Here’s a great recipe where blended flavors of chocolate chip and coffee leave you spellbound Brown Butter Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies.

BTW, I used chocolate chunks in this cookie recipe but you can totally go ahead with chocolate chips.

Linking a few of my chocolate chip recipes that I love making again and again!

Best brown butter eggless chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate chip mug cake recipe

And finally, unsweetened chocolate and chocolate liquor are good substitutes too but I doubt they hardly qualify as substitutes. It is not a regular household purchase, not something easily available, and is expensive.

So here is my final list of 10 substitutes for cocoa powder you can go for when in need. Use them in a balanced and calculated way and do not shy away from making a marvellous chocolate cake.

Check out these crowd-pleaser chocolate recipes below:

Gluten free chocolate cake

Choco Lava Cake Eggless Recipe

Iced chocolate recipe easy

Here’s my most recent recipe

Black rice pudding with coconut milk

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I hope you found my post “Substitute for cocoa powder in cake” helpful. If you have any queries, feel free to post them in the comments below.

Thank You.

Table of contents:

What is cocoa powder?

Purpose of cocoa powder in baking