12 Types of Chocolate You Can Use in Your Creations

When walking down the chocolate aisle at a baking supply store, you may come across so many different types of chocolate that it might overwhelm you. But worry not! As the experts of chocolate, on this article we are going to make it simpler for you to differentiate the types of chocolate. 

How to Classify Types of Chocolate

The first thing we need to make clear is, that there are 3 main ways to classify types of chocolate:

1. Based on main ingredients
2. Based on flavor
3. Based on form

3 Types of Chocolate Based on Ingredients

Based on the main ingredients, chocolate can be classified into compound chocolate, real chocolate, and couverture chocolate.

1. Real chocolate

Real chocolate is any chocolate made of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. 

Cocoa solids, also called cocoa mass, is a thick paste made from cocoa beans that have been fermented, dried, roasted, and ground. Cocoa solids gives chocolate its flavor and color.

Meanwhile, cocoa butter is a fat naturally found in cocoa beans. It is the main contributor to the smooth mouthfeel of chocolate. In the market, it is sold at high prices due to its use in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.

According to FAO, for a product to be categorized as real chocolate, it has to contain a minimum of 35% total cocoa solids and 18% cocoa butter. 

Read more: What's the Difference Between Compound and Couverture Chocolate?

2. Couverture chocolate

Couverture chocolate is a type of real chocolate that has a higher amount of cocoa butter – at least 31 percent cocoa butter by FAO’s requirement. Thus, it has a higher fluidity, making it easy to work with for applications like coating, enrobing, molding, and decoration.

Due to its higher amount of cocoa butter, couverture chocolate is a more premium type of chocolate. For high-quality couverture chocolate, Embassy Chocolate is your best choice. Learn more about us here.

3. Compound chocolate

Compound chocolate is also called imitation chocolate or compound coating. Unlike real and couverture chocolate, compound chocolate is made from cocoa powder and vegetable fat.

Cocoa powder is used to replace cocoa solids. It is made from cocoa solids that has been processed further through drying and pressing.

Meanwhile, vegetable fat is used to replace cocoa butter. It can be derived from palm, shea, or a combination of vegetable oils.

Due to the different fat used, compound chocolate is more heat-stable and easier to use than real chocolate. However, it also gives it a waxy mouthfeel, and the use of cocoa powder instead of cocoa solids makes its chocolate flavor less prominent.

Read more: How to Fix Seized Chocolate

3 Types of Chocolate Based on Flavor

Flavor is probably the easiest way to distinguish chocolate. Here are the different types of chocolate based on flavor.

1. Dark chocolate

Dark chocolate is a type of chocolate with the highest amount of cocoa solids. Thus, it has a dark brown color and tend to taste more rich and bitter than other types of chocolate. Dark chocolate generally contains cocoa solids, cocoa butter, and sugar.

Embassy Chocolate has 3 dark chocolate products for any applications, ranging from 56 to 75% cocoa content. For more information, go to our products page.

2. Milk chocolate

Milk chocolate contains cocoa solids, cocoa butter, powdered milk and sugar. It is characterized by its creamy texture, a sweeter taste, and a lighter brown color.

3. White chocolate

White chocolate is the only type of chocolate that does not contain cocoa solids. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, powdered milk and sugar. It gets its ivory color from the cocoa butter. It has a sweet and mild flavor.

Read more: What Chocolate Melts the Fastest?

5 Types of Chocolate Based on Form

Chocolate can come in different forms. Here are some forms of chocolate that you can find in the market.

1. Block or bar

A block or a bar is probably the most common form of chocolate that you see in the baking supply store. Small 30 to 50 grams of chocolate bar is usually sold for snacking, while bigger 1 to 5 kilograms of chocolate blocks are used for baking.

2. Coin or button

Chocolate coins or buttons are usually used for baking. Its larger surface area makes this type of chocolate easier to melt, which is perfect for working with chocolate, as they are usually melted before using.

3. Paste

Chocolate paste are usually presented as a ready-to-use paste for filling in breads, cakes, and pastries.

4. Chips

Chocolate that are in the form of chips are usually a type of bake-stable chocolate. This means that they are made to hold their shape during baking. Chocolate chips are usually used for cookies, cakes, pastries, ice cream, and as a decoration.

Embassy Chocolate offers you the Embassy Torres Dark Chocolate Chips 51%. It has an intense but well-balanced bittersweet flavor, and keeps it shape well during baking.

5. Stick or baton

Chocolate sticks or batons are also usually a type of bake-stable chocolate. They usually come in a 8-12 centimeter length, making it suitable for viennoiserie like pain au chocolat and croissant.

The Embassy Rainforest Dark Chocolate Batons 52% provides a rich chocolate experience for your pastries. For more information about this product, visit our product page.

Now that you know the different types of chocolate, go ahead and make your best creation!

Embassy Chocolate is available on the Kiosk Cokelat Official Store in Tokopedia, Shopee, Blibli and kioskcokelat.com (Indonesia only). If you need a large volume or are outside Indonesia, please visit our Contact Us page here.