Good Quality Cocoa

Okay, it's time to let people know that they no longer have to rely on Cadbury's cocoa for their chocolate-y needs. Perhaps it was my time in Germany, where they use the real stuff, or my Dutch heritage, but I cannot buy anything other than German or Dutch cocoa now. It is as dark as real chocolate, is smooth, smells divine and is almost oily, from the amount of cocoa solids in it. Any other cocoa powder is a pale imitation!

There are a number of brands you can try. The latest one I bought was Blooker (Dutch I think)from IGA Milton, for $5.99, but the deli at Cat and Fiddle was selling a different one, same number of grams, for $16.00. You work it out. Schmidt (German) is awesome and The Rosalie Deli used to sell it but doesn't seem to anymore. Jocelyn's Provision's at New Farm was selling 1kg bags of cocoa, the quality looked pretty good, but I couldn't find a price.

The best thing about this cocoa is the results you get from using it. The Sunday Afternoon Chocolate Cake is just a melt and mix recipe I learnt at school, but using good quality cocoa means you don't have to put real chocolate in the mix and it still comes out rich as anything. Also this sort of cocoa makes a lovely rich hot chocolate - give up on those fake 'hot chocolate' drinks and try the real stuff.

Jules