anika

India. Moved here a year ago. In my current city, cocoa is available only from bakery supply shops, not at the grocery/supermarket. And the supply store carries only "imported" (usually Malaysian) dutch/alkalized cocoa. I recently ordered "natural unalkalized" from a local grower&producer, but was incorrectly sent "premium low-fat alkalized" ... bah! Have you been in Ecuador for long?

Hi Chef Peon, I really like chiffon too, especially its softness even after chilling. I've always wondered though: is it absolutely necessary to cool them upside down? because particularly in a bakeshop setting, with such a large number of cakes, do you professionals invert them? Or is it dependent on the formula? (by the way, did you ever post your chiffon base? ) Thanks in advance! anika

>>>That comes from a particular reaction of untreated cacao, which is mildly acidic and which behaves very differently in recipes. Thanks a lot Elizabeth and Society Donor (Terry?)!　Ｔｈａｔ　ｅｘａｃｔｌｙ　ａｎｓｗｅｒｓ　ｍｙ　ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ。 Ｉ　ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ　ｈａｖｅ　ｂｅｅｎ　ｕｓｉｎｇ　Ｄｕｔｃｈｅｄ／ａｌｋａｌｉｚｅｄ　ｉｎ　ａｌｌ　ｍｙ　ｃｈｏｃｏｌａｔｅ　ｃａｋｅｓ　ｓｉｎｃｅ　Ｉ　ｍｏｖｅｄ　ｈｅｒｅ but haven't achieved that red-brown color... what I've been doing is ｋｅｅｐｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅ　ｂａｋｉｎｇ　ｓｏｄａ　ｖｓ　ｂａｋｉｎｇ　ｐｏｗｄｅｒ　ｒａｔｉｏ　ｔｈｅ　ｓａｍｅ　as originally with natural cocoa ａｎｄ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｕｓｉｎｇ　ｓｏｕｒed／ｂｕｔｔｅｒｍｉｌｋ　ａｎｄ　ａｄｄｉｎｇ　the tiniest　ｂｉｔ　ｏｆ　ｄｉｓｓｏｌｖｅｄ　ｃｉｔｒｉｃ　ａｃｉｄ　（about the same acidity as lemon, but without the ｌｅｍｏｎｙ　ｆｌａｖｏｒ）。　　Ｔｈｅ　ｔｅｘｔｕｒｅ　ｃｏｍｅｓ　ｏｕｔ　ｐｒｅｔｔｙ　ｗｅｌｌ, but I've been settling for a dark brownie-brown color...

Hi! I've been reading a lot of threads on eGullet and have learned a lot from everyone. Thanks a lot! Finally signed up for an account to be able to post. In Devil's Food cake, the reddish brown tint is supposed to be from the reaction of baking soda. And most DF cakes use soda and natural/unalkalized cocoa for the reaction. Now, my question is: is the color from the reaction of soda with the acidity of the natural cocoa specifically or would any acid reacting with soda in the presence of cocoa (natural or dutched) produce that color? More practically speaking, if dutched cocoa replaced natural in a DF cake, can the same reddish color be achieved by adding extra acid for the soda? I'd do a side-by-side comparison, but the whole question comes because natural cocoa is difficult to find where I live! So if anyone has experience or a theoretical answer, I'd really appreciate it!