Guittard Cocoa Rouge Cocoa Powder, reviewed

There is very little chance that Guittard‘s Cocoa Rouge cocoa powder will be mistaken for any other brand. The powder is a rich mahogany color that sound stand out amidst a sea of other cocoas, which tend to be more on the brownish side of the spectrum. It delivers a very rich chocolate flavor and, although it looks red coming out of the can, doesn’t really contribute any red coloring to baked goods it is included in.

Cocoa Rouge is dutched cocoa powder. While regular cocoa powder is acidic, dutched cocoa powder has been alkalized to make it neutral (pH 7.0) or slightly alkaline. Technical terms aside, this means that dutched cocoa powder does not react to leavening agents like baking soda in the same way that non-alkalized cocoa powders do. Most recipes will not be effected if you substitute one for the other, but there is a chance that the finished product might not get quite the same rise with dutched as with regular cocoa.

The advantage to using dutched cocoa is that it can have a deeper flavor – as well as a deeper color, like the Cocoa Rouge. Dutching seems to cut some of the sharpness of plain cocoa powder, so the finished product should have a slightly mellower feel, and potentially a richer flavor. This is definitely the case with this cocoa powder and it’s a great dutched powder to have on hand in the kitchen. I’ve used it in cookies and cakes (mostly recipes that don’t specify dutched or regular) with great results.