Page 34 - Chocolate Cake Doctor

16 C H O C O L A T E C A K E M I X 1 0 1

fore gives cakes a reddish-brown color. It humid climate and have no other choice.
was the ingredient behind the first devil’s • Wrap it well: Wrap the chocolate
food cake (see Chocolate Cake Glossary, first in foil, then in plastic wrap or a plas-
page 463). tic bag. Chocolate needs to be on its own,
• Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa: away from foods with strong odors, as it
This cocoa is treated with an alkaline solu - will pick up those odors like a sponge.
tion that darkens the color and mellows • Bloom: I was dismayed to find
the flavor. Dutch-process cocoa is easier that the chocolate I had been storing in a
to dissolve in liquids. Use this type of cocoa, cupboard for less than a month had gray-
which can be found in many supermar- ish-white blotches and streaks all over it.
kets, in cakes and frost- This was fat bloom, a sign that the choco-
ings where you want late had been stored in too warm a place.
a deep, dark color. Then I figured out why. The fluorescent
lights that lit my counters so well
Breakfast cocoa, which is were mounted at the base of the
richer and contains more cocoa butter, is overhead cabinets. If I left them on a
used in chocolate milk powders. It and great deal, which I was doing as a night-
other sweet ened cocoas can be sifted on light, the bottom cabinet shelf, where my
top of cakes for a pretty effect. chocolate was stored, became warm to
the touch. I quickly remedied this by
STORING CHOCOLATE switching the chocolate to another cabi-
Chocolate is not the sort of friend you’d net. Rest assured, fat bloom will dis -
want to take on a beach vacation. While appear when the chocolate is melted. It
you were preparing for the outdoors, for just doesn’t look nice. There is another
some fresh air and sunshine, chocolate bloom, called sugar bloom, which occurs
would be wrapping itself up in foil, finding when chocolate is stored in too damp
the nearest cold, dark pantry, and se ques - conditions. This leaves the chocolate feel-
tering itself in a corner so as not to mix ing rough, and if it forms, the chocolate
and mingle with the other ingredients. should be discarded.
• A cool, dark place: Choose a cool • Shelf life: Under good conditions
(65°F) room temperature and a dark place at home, semisweet chocolate and
with good air circulation. Chocolate unsweetened chocolate will last up to a
shouldn’t be stored in the refrigerator year, and milk and white chocolate will
unless you happen to live in a hot and last 7 to 8 months.