Black cocoa vs Dutch-process cocoa

Black cocoa is Dutch-process taken much further. It is a colour ingredient first and a flavour ingredient second.

Side by side

	Black cocoa	Dutch-process cocoa	Why it matters
Degree of alkalisation	Heavy.	Moderate.	Heavier alkalisation strips more of the flavour compounds along with the acidity, which is why black cocoa tastes flat and slightly ashy rather than rich.
Colour	Near-black.	Reddish to deep brown.	Black cocoa is the reason cream-filled sandwich biscuits are the colour they are. Nothing else gets there.
Fat content	Typically very low, around 10%.	Usually 20–24%.	A straight one-for-one swap removes fat and dries the crumb. Most bakers blend the two rather than using black cocoa alone.
Leavening interaction	Alkaline. Needs baking powder, not soda alone.	Alkaline. Same requirement.	Neither will react with baking soda the way natural cocoa does.

When the colour is the objective. Blend it at roughly a quarter to a third of the total cocoa rather than using it alone.

For everything where flavour matters more than colour, which is most baking.

Black cocoaSet against Dutch-process cocoa, with the practical consequence of each difference.
Dutch-process cocoaSet against Black cocoa, with the practical consequence of each difference.

ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)
The Science of Chocolate — Royal Society of Chemistry(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)