Take Your Chocolate Cake To The Next Level With A Powdered Drink Mix

In typical chocolate cake recipes, cocoa powder is behind the rich chocolatey flavor. However, hot chocolate mix is the powdered drink mix that you can use to take your chocolate cake to new heights. Consisting of cocoa powder, milk solids, and sugar, hot cocoa mix isn't as intense as unsweetened cocoa powder. The milk and sugar provide a subtler milk chocolate flavor to a chocolate cake recipe. You can use it along with unsweetened cocoa powder or as a replacement for chocolate cake or brownie batter.

It's a powdered ingredient that'll blend, dissolve, and disperse into a foundation of butter, sugar, and eggs just as effectively as cocoa powder. However, the powdered milk and sugar in hot cocoa mix might prompt adjustments to the proportion of sugar in your chocolate cake recipe. Try reducing the sugar by 25% in a standard chocolate cake recipe.

If you're replacing cocoa powder with hot cocoa mix, you'll want to use twice as much hot cocoa mix than cocoa powder. You can also replace a portion of the cocoa powder with hot cocoa mix for a more balanced chocolate flavor.

Another way to complement the sweeter milk chocolate of hot cocoa mix in a cake or brownie recipe is to stir some dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate chips into the batter. A teaspoon or two of espresso powder will also bring a bitter finish to enhance the chocolate notes in chocolate cake made with hot cocoa mix.

If you'd rather not mess with your favorite chocolate cake recipe, try using hot cocoa powder instead of powdered sugar in icings, glazes, or whipped cream you'll spread, drizzle, or dollop over chocolate cake. Mix a few tablespoons of heavy cream with hot cocoa mix for a simple yet decadent glaze to drizzle over this flourless chocolate torte recipe. Add a larger proportion of heavy cream to hot cocoa mix, using an electric mixer to transform it into chocolate-flavored whipped cream. Adapt our chocolate frosting recipe by using hot cocoa mix and cocoa powder with butter, milk, and vanilla extract.

Chocolate cake and frosting offer creative ways to use hot cocoa mix, but you can make hot cocoa mix the central theme in chocolate cake with complementary garnishes or mix-ins. For example, since we often top hot cocoa with marshmallows, you can dollop marshmallow fluff over hot cocoa-infused brownies. Or, adorn a hot cocoa cake or frosting with crushed candy canes for a Christmas-themed hot chocolate cake. Churros are the classic accompaniment for hot chocolate in Mexico and Spain, so you could even decorate a hot cocoa cake with churro bites.