Hi everyone,

i'm going to try another cupcake recipe, and i'd like some advice as to whether i can use dutch process cocoa in it. It doesn't specify but there is buttermilk in the recipe as well as baking soda and baking powder. Do you think it would be ok to use dutch cocoa as the buttermilk will hopefuly react with baking soda??

Any thoughts would be fabalisious!

ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1½ cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. baking powder
1¼ tsp. salt
3 large eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
1½ cups buttermilk
¾ tsp. vanilla extract

Cream,
I would not use Dutch processed cocoa in this recipe. Dutch processed cocoa is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acid. It should only be used in recipes with baking powder.

The baking soda reacts with the natural cocoa in this recipe to leaven the cake. You may want to look for a recipe that calls for baking powder only. Hope this helps. Liz..

Just throwing this out there:

America's Test Kitchens did a study and subbed DPCP in recipes calling for regular cocoa powder. In every case, the recipe did not fail, in fact, it did not damage the product at all. In the taste test, 100% chose the DPCP product over the exact same recipe with regular cocoa powder.

They did not advocate subbing regular where DPCP was listed.