Why Use Cocoa Butter in Your Cooking and Baking?

Cocoa butter is the natural fat of the cocoa bean. Solid at room temperature, it melts at around 34 to 36 °C, just below body temperature. It is what gives chocolate its snap and its melt-in-the-mouth texture. Our cocoa butter is natural: it keeps a light cocoa aroma.

What cocoa butter brings to your recipes

• Structure: it sets as it cools, which firms up ganache, glazes and coatings.
• Shine: well tempered, it gives chocolate a smooth, glossy finish.
• A delicate flavour: it enriches a recipe without masking other flavours.
• A plant-based option: it is a 100% plant fat, useful in dairy-free recipes.

5 ways to use it

• Thinning and tempering chocolate: a few grams of melted cocoa butter make couverture chocolate more fluid, for thinner coatings.
• Firmer ganache and glazes: a small amount of cocoa butter gives a cleaner, glossier texture.
• Homemade white chocolate: made with cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder.
• Plant-based baking: it replaces part of the butter in vegan cookies, pie crusts or shortbread.
• No-bake bites and homemade bars: once cooled, it binds nuts, dates and oats.

How to melt it

Melt it gently over a double boiler, or in the microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring in between. Avoid overheating it: it would lose its aroma. Grated or chopped, it melts faster and more evenly.

How to choose and store it

Choose a 100% pure, food-grade cocoa butter with no additives. Natural cocoa butter keeps the taste of cocoa; deodorized cocoa butter is neutral, for recipes where you want no chocolate flavour at all. Store it between 16 and 18 °C, in a dry place, away from light and strong odours, in a tightly closed container.

Our natural cocoa butter is pressed from selected beans and processed in Montreal. For chocolate making, see also our cocoa mass and 80% couverture chocolate. A question about using it? Contact us.