Chocolate

Buy Baking Chocolate for Cakes, Cookies, Desserts, Confectionery, Patisserie, Molding, and Cooking

OliveNation's selection of top quality baking chocolate includes our superior house brand chocolate as well as offerings from some of the leading chocolate makers around the world. We provide the largest range of products possible to accommodate a full range of needs, from home bakers to master chocolatiers and everyone in between. Our professional-quality baking chocolates for commercial use come in a variety of sizes and include wholesale pricing for bulk quantities. Whether you are buying for foodservice or cottage bakery, institutional, manufacturing, or home, our top quality chocolate can help take your final product to the next level. From on-trend ingredients to classic flavors and options, our bulk chocolates, cocoa powders, and chocolate flavorings are ideal for any bakery, patisserie, chocolatier, restaurant, or home pantry.

What is Chocolate for Baking?

First, a bit of history... Chocolate originated in Meso-America with the Mayans and Aztecs, who used cacao beans as currency. They also believed cacao had magical properties and used the beans to make a hot drink for their sacred rituals. Spanish explorers took the chocolate drink back to Europe, where they sweetened the chocolate with sugar. By the 17th century, this exotic drink became fashionable all over Europe. In 1828, a Dutchman discovered how to make a powdered form of chocolate, known as Dutch cocoa. The first molded chocolate bar was created in 1847 and twenty years later, the Cadbury company began selling chocolate candies in England.

Today chocolate is one of the most popular flavors around the world, and wildly popular in baked goods, molded candy, confections, frozen desserts, creams, sauces, and more. Whether you’re a professional chef, chocolate connoisseur, or home cook, you want to use the right type and form of chocolate in your recipes.

What are the different forms of Chocolate?

Cocoa Nibs / Cacao Nibs

Cocoa nibs, also called cacao nibs, are basically crushed and roasted cocoa bean bits. Cocoa nibs are a good source of antioxidants, vitamins, as well as caffeine. Cocoa nibs add delicious chocolate taste as well as texture to dishes. Add them to custom trail mixes, use them as edible garnish, or mix them into shortbread and other cookies.

Cocoa Mass / Chocolate Liquor

Cocoa nibs, also called cacao nibs, are basically crushed and roasted cocoa bean bits. Cocoa nibs are a good source of antioxidants, vitamins, as well as caffeine. Cocoa nibs add delicious chocolate taste as well as texture to dishes. Add them to custom trail mixes, use them as edible garnish, or mix them into shortbread and other cookies.

Cocoa Powder

This powdered ingredient comes in two forms: Natural and Dutch Process. When most of the cocoa butter is removed from chocolate liquor, a dense cake forms. This is then ground into powder containing 10 to 22 percent cocoa butter that is called Natural Cocoa Powder. Dutched, or Dutch Processed, cocoa is cocoa powder treated with an alkalizing agent such as baking soda to make it darker, less bitter, and more soluble in liquids. Dutch-process cocoa powder is alkalized (processed with alkalizing agents such as baking soda), mellowing the flavor, darkening the color, and improving solubility in liquids. Unless a recipe specifies, you can use either type. OliveNation's selection includes both Dutch-processed and natural cocoa powder, as well as high-fat cocoa powder for richer baking. Both Natural cocoa powder and Dutch cocoa are often mixed with milk to make hot beverages and are used in baking and candy making.

Chocolate Chips and Chunks:

There's nothing like a brownie or a cookie with a luscious, melty pop of chocolate inside. From classic-shaped chocolates chips in a variety of sizes, to rough-chopped chunks, these chocolates are great for baking as they hold their shape.

Chocolate Sticks:

Bake to-die-for chocolate croissants and classic pain au chocolat with Cacao Barry's Dark Chocolate Sticks.

Chocolate Blocks / Bricks: Larger pieces of chocolate are perfect for people who use a lot of chocolate for baking. Bakeries and pastry chefs often use blocks of chocolate because they use it for different purposes. Larger blocks can be shaved, chunked, flaked, or chopped depending on the shape needed. Find Callebaut, Peter's Chocolate and Guittard Chocolate Blocks, as well as our own OliveNation brand.

Chocolate Baking Extracts:

Chocolate flavored extracts boosts the chocolate flavor in recipes for baked goods, beverages, desserts, and ice creams. These versatile liquid flavorings can add chocolate flavor to white or pale colored cakes, creams, and fillings without changing color as cocoa powder would. Find Organic Chocolate Extract, White Chocolate Flavor, Chocolate Malt Flavor, and Chocolate Extract in OliveNation's online store.

Colored Chocolates:

We carry several colors of wafers in both couverture and compound chocolate formats. Colored chocolate is fun for making themed treats, and colorful fruit chocolates can add surprising bursts of flavor as well as classic chocolate texture.

Melting Chocolate:

OliveNation stocks a range of melting chocolate. Chocolate wafers are so convenient because you don't have to chop chocolate. We have easy to melt compound dipping chocolate that's perfect for dipping fruit such as strawberries, or adding a beautiful finishing touch to confections and frosted desserts. Couverture wafers come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are ideal for premium candy making and confectionery. While compound chocolate is fast and easy to work with, pure chocolate couverture requires the extra step of tempering to give final products the perfect snap and shine.

Chocolate Toppings: Find chocolate sprinkles including the fantastic Callebaut Vermicelli and Callebaut Milk Chocolate Crispearls. OliveNation also sells Ghirardelli Chocolate Sauces. They're so good drizzled on ice cream and desserts.

Where does chocolate come from?

Cacao (cocoa) tree produces beans that are the base of chocolate. Cacao trees are grown in tropical areas, like Mexico, South America, West Africa and the Philippines. Each bean contains a rich nib and a thin shell called a husk. The cacao beans are transformed by a fermentation process and dried before processing.

Types of Chocolate:

Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate is a generic term for chocolate with no added milk solids (sugar can however be added). Dark chocolate can contain anywhere from 35% to 80% cacao, different percentages creating the semisweet, bittersweet, and unsweetened varieties. Dark chocolate can be used in almost any of your recipes, including cakes, brownies, cookies, frosting and enrobing truffles. OliveNation is proud to carry premium brands of dark chocolate for baking such as Valrhona and Callebaut, as well as our own European-style dark couvertures. Choose from different percentages of cacao and various forms of dark chocolate such as blocks, chips, Valrhona Feves, and wafers.

Unsweetened Chocolate

Best for cooking and baking, baking chocolate is also known as bitter or unsweetened chocolate and contains 50 to 58 percent cocoa butter by weight. Made simply of hardened cocoa solids and cocoa butter with no added sugar, baking chocolate has an astringent flavor and is used primarily as an ingredient that allows bakers to control the amount of sweetness desired in recipes.

Bittersweet Chocolate

Bittersweet chocolate is the darkest of all eating chocolates. It must contain at least 35 percent chocolate liquor. Bittersweet chocolate has a more pronounced chocolate taste because of its higher concentration of chocolate liquor and less sugar. Some premium bittersweet chocolate can have a cocoa butter and cocoa solid content of 70 percent or higher. It can be used in cooking and baking, as well as eaten for a treat.

Semi Sweet & Sweet Chocolate

Semi sweet (sometimes called "semisweet"), demi-sweet, and sweet chocolate are similar to bittersweet but have a higher percentage of sugar and thus a sweeter taste. Their required chocolate liquor content is lower, averaging between 15 to 35 percent. These chocolates can also be used for baking and cooking, as well as eaten as candy. Semi sweet chocolate can usually be interchanged with bittersweet chocolate, and are often all referred to simply as dark chocolates.

Milk Chocolate

This is the sweet, mellow chocolate most Americans are familiar with from candy bars and trail mixes. Milk solids are added to sweeten both the flavor profile and mouthfeel. Milk chocolate contains at least 12 percent dry milk solids and 10 percent chocolate liquor along with sugar and added cocoa butter. Milk chocolate is generally not used in baking or cooking, as its delicate flavor is easily overwhelmed by other ingredients. Milk chocolate is the favorite chocolate of most Americans and is preferred over dark or semisweet varieties two to one.

White Chocolate

This variety is not "true" chocolate, since it contains no chocolate solids. However, premium white chocolate offers fabulous creamy flavor from cocoa butter, the fat that gives couverture chocolate its snap and luscious mouthfeel. When cocoa butter is replaced with other, less expensive fats, it's no longer called white chocolate, but is known as confectioner's coating or almond bark (which is not to be confused with actual chocolate bark candy made with almonds). OliveNation has a range of white chocolate couvertures as well as economical white compound chocolates that are easy to color for dipping and drizzles.

The terms cacao and cocoa can be used interchangeably, but generally cocoa is used to describe processed cacao products.

OliveNation Chocolate FAQs

What is the difference between bittersweet and semisweet chocolate?

According to the FDA, there is no difference, providing the chocolate contains at least 35% cocoa solids. Functionally, however, the difference between bittersweet chocolate and semisweet chocolate is the percentage of sugar. Semisweet chocolate (also called demi sweet) generally has a higher percentage of sugar, usually between 40 and 50 percent.

Is White Chocolate real chocolate?

While white chocolate contains no chocolate solids, premium quality white chocolate is made using cocoa butter rather than vegetable fats such as coconut oil. So white chocolate couverture, like all couverture, will require tempering to achieve a crisp snap and glossy finish.

What is the difference between couverture and Compound chocolate?

Compound chocolate contains cocoa solids (cocoa powder), but does not contain cocoa butter. Made using other fats, this easy to melt ingredient does not require tempering but will have a less pronounced shine and snap than properly tempered couvertures.