Part 2: Choosing the Right Chocolate - Types of Chocolate

This week, we are looking into the basic of choosing the right type of chocolate for desserts.

When choosing chocolate as an ingredient in your dessert, it is important to note that the chocolate used should match and compliment other ingredients.Generally, there are 3 types of Chocolate: Dark, Milk and White; each category gives a different and unique touch to your desserts.

Dark Chocolate

Dark Chocolate primarily contains cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar. The amount of cocoa mass and butter decides the cocoa percentage of the chocolate and its origins contributes to its complex flavour profiles. Generally, a higher percentage chocolate has less sugar and more intense flavour profiles.

It is kind of tricky to choose the perfect dark chocolates for your dessert due to its vast and complex taste profiles. First and foremost, you need to taste the chocolates (duh~) after which then you can decide what other ingredients can complement it. Or it can be another way round, which you decide on the ingredients first before deciding on the chocolate. No matter what is your trains of thoughts, a sharp taste sensory and a little imagination doesn’t harm!

For example, our Artisan Dark Couverture 73 has a robust cocoa note that can potentially overpower other flavours in your dessert. However, if applied and paired properly, all flavours can be harmonised and brought out together.

Milk Chocolate

Milk Chocolate primarily consists of cocoa mass, cocoa butter, milk and sugar. Different chocolates have different composition but generally, milk chocolate contains a higher percentage of milk than cocoa content.

In milk chocolate, what we are focusing on is its creamy texture and milky notes. Milk aren’t just milk! The origins do affect the flavour profiles.

It is simpler when it comes to choosing milk chocolate for your dessert as it can be the star ingredient of the dessert itself or an ingredient to add creaminess to your dessert’s texture. Milk chocolate also matches well with most nuts, tea and coffee.

White Chocolate

Do you know? White chocolate is not exactly real chocolate as it is primarily made up of only cocoa butter, milk and sugar. They have no cocoa note due to the lack of cocoa mass but have a strong milky flavour, appealing more to people with a sweet tooth.

The milk flavours in white chocolates are more distinct and noticeable compared to milk chocolate. White chocolate is well loved by the industry not only because of the flavours but also of its flexibility. Different flavours, food dyes and colourings can be added to create your own distinct glaze or decorations.

In summary, different chocolates has its own unique characteristics and taste profiles. Depending on the dessert creations, I am sure our Pâtissier range of products can cater and match your needs.

Next week, we will go in-depth on choosing the perfect dark chocolate based on their cocoa percentage.

Cheers,

Chef Jacques Poulain.