The Simple Step To Maximize Cocoa Flavor For Better Bakes

Whether you're making Texas-style chocolate sheet cake or you want to try out Martha Stewart's brownie hack, there's one simple step you may be missing that takes your chocolate dessert to new heights. To pull the best possible flavor out of your cocoa powder, a technique known as blooming can make all the difference.

The blooming procedure involves adding a hot liquid to powdered cocoa, which brings out depths of flavor that would otherwise remain within the powder's particles. From the gourmet cocoa powder Ina Garten likes best — the Italian brand Pernigotti — to the brands commonly found on supermarket shelves, any cocoa powder benefits from blooming before being incorporated into a baked good. The result is a richly intense chocolatey-ness that you'll find is well worth the small amount of extra effort.

Any hot liquid can be used to bloom cocoa, including hot water or a fat like oil. The best approach is to use a liquid already listed among the ingredients in the recipe you're following. For instance, if you're baking a cake that includes milk in the ingredients, you can heat the milk and use that to bloom your powdered cocoa.

The magic of blooming is due to the composition of cocoa beans. When cocoa powder is manufactured, the cocoa bean shell is removed, but a membrane can remain on the particles that traps the full flavor of the ingredient. The blooming process helps to pull away this membrane, yielding a more consistent texture in your cakes, cookies, and more and unlocking the powder's full intensity.

When blooming the cocoa, your liquid element should be heated to scalding but not quite boiling, and it should be removed from the heat before the cocoa is incorporated. When integrating the powder, mix it until it dissolves completely and there are no remaining lumps. You should then cool your bloomed cocoa mixture before incorporating it into the recipe, as adding it in hot can impact the other ingredients and prematurely cook them.

If the recipe you're following instructs that an ingredient should be specifically added in cold, then don't use that ingredient to bloom your cocoa — heating it may alter the finished baked good's texture. You should also avoid blooming with ingredients like buttermilk that may curdle when scalded. If your recipe doesn't include enough liquid ingredients to properly bloom and dissolve the cocoa, then don't attempt to bloom it. Bloomed cocoa powder (and cocoa powder in general) should also not be used to replace melted chocolate in any recipe.