I am looking at the recipe in Rose’s Heavenly Cakes for the cocoa syrup (for the moist chocolate raspberry genoise) and also the lacquer glaze. Both call for alkalized cocoa. I have a jar of Ghiradelli “natural” unsweetened cocoa at home, which means non-alkalized, and I was unable to find alkalized (or Dutched) cocoa at Safeway today. I was wondering if non-alkalized cocoa can be used in these recipes for the same results. They’re just glazes and syrups after all. According to what I understand, the only thing that would be different is the flavor. The acidity of non-alkalized vs. alkalized cocoa shouldn’t matter, since I’m not using it in a cake recipe that requires the right balance of acid and base for leavening.

Am I correct, or must I use alkalized cocoa? Also, if the only difference is flavor, how would the flavor change with non-alkalized cocoa? I’ve never really cooked with cocoa powder before.

I wouldn’t hesitate to use natural cocoa, if that’s what I had.  Dutched supposedly dissolves in liquid better, but it’s probably not a big issue.

Thanks Charles! I will go ahead with the natural cocoa then.

Just remember, if it doesn’t work, it’s Julie’s fault.

Just remember, if it doesn’t work, it’s Julie’s fault.

Charles, Julie, who is away for a short bit, will regret having missed the opportunity to chuckle—or perhaps even guffaw—at this.

I think that it would be an excellent idea if we all made this a default tag line to each of our profiles.

—ak (who, Julie, is laughing WITH you ...)

The natural cocoa worked fine, as I suspected. It did taste a little acidic, but that’s ok. The glaze is nice and shiny. I like it!

Nice to see you all having a bit of fun, even if it is at my expense!