baking chocolate cake - substituting dark with milk chocolate

[mousymouse]

baking the bbc chocolate cake for a birthday, found it a bit bitter last time, so will do half milk and half dark chocolate.
do I need to reduce the sugar?
if yes by how much?

Milk chocolate does have more sugar in so yes reduce it.

However, have you thought about just using less of the dark chocolate instead of mixing in milk chocolate? The bitterness is really caused by the amount of cocoa solids - so I would rather just put less dark chocolate in rather than dilute it with lower grade milk chocolate.

I'm doing this recipe my main worry is the ganache, tastewise.

Ah right, I see the problem. I think you can do what I said above for the body of the cake (ie just put less chocolate in if you find it too bitter).

I think to reduce the ganache bitterness you might be better to use a lower quality chocolate (ie less cocoa solids) but not a milk chocolate. A milk chocolate is really a different product and the ganache might not work.

If you really do want to use milk chocolate you will have to read the percentage sugar of the pack and multiply it by the weight of the bar to work out how much sugar (ie grams) is in the bar - then reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe by that amount. It is a complicated solution though.

By the way, what kind of chocolate are you using?

I've got green&blacks that I got in a sale. 70% and milk.
should I get baking chocolate?

You may have an issue with the proportion of fat in it too. Milk chocolate has much more fat in it than dark chocolate and using too much will change the consistency of the cake to be very greasy and it is likely to rise and then collapse as it cools.

If it's just the ganache you want to use it in then you should be fine just to use it on its own or a mix of the two. I know I have a recipe for milk chocolate ganache somewhere if you want me to check the quantities.

No, don't use baking chocolate!

G&B's is more than fine.

Agreed. Do not use baking chocolate but G&B 70% is a bit higher % cocoa solids than the recipe recommends and hence you are finding it a little bit too bitter.

using milk and dark chocolate but single cream instead of double cream might work for the ganache?

single cream instead of double cream won't work - single will never go thick enough to spread. looking up alternatives now..

Make the ganache as per the recipe, leave out the sugar and use your milk chocolate, it will be fine, just a bit less dark.
probably too late now - how did it go? :)

I'm doing it on friday for a party on sat.

thanks for the tips! much appreciated

I do that cake all the time! and I've made the ganache with milk chocolate. You need slightly less cream or it goes too runny. I wouldn't use anything less than what the recipe recommends for the cake though otherwise it will effect the consistency.

I made the cake with half dark and half milk chocolate. worked well and was delicious.