Espresso Powder: A baker’s secret ingredient for rich chocolate flavor

Now available in the Spice aisle, you can find King Arthur Baking Company’s most coveted test kitchen ingredients for better baked good: Espresso Powder, Vietnamese Cinnamon, Cheese Powder, Everything Bagel Topping, Pizza Seasoning, and Malted Milk Powder.

Imagine a secret ingredient that could make chocolate taste more like chocolate. Too good to be true, you’re thinking, but such a miracle exists: espresso powder.

A pinch of espresso powder greatly enhances and intensifies the chocolate flavor in brownies, cakes, and more — without transitioning your treat to mocha-flavored. Think of it as a supporting actor that helps the star ingredient shine, much like a pinch of salt takes the flavor of cookies from flat to robust, without adding any savory flavor.

Espresso powder is not the same as instant coffee. Espresso powder is made from darkly roasted coffee beans that have been ground, brewed, dried, and then ground to a very fine powder. It’s much more concentrated than instant coffee, which means you only need a teaspoon or so in your chocolate recipe to do the trick.

Don’t let the name fool you; in small amounts, espresso powder doesn’t add any coffee flavor to your baked goods. It merely makes chocolate tastes more intense and rich.

Try baking your favorite brownie recipe, any one you like, without espresso powder and with it. You’ll notice a subtle difference. The batch made with espresso powder will have a more complex, deep chocolate flavor. This is a particularly useful baker’s trick for enhancing less fancy chocolate: If you don’t want to spring for expensive cocoa powder or chocolate, adding espresso powder can help “dress up” the chocolate flavor.

Here are some favorite recipes: