Chocolate Science

For several years now I’ve been cultivating a hypothesis that baking soda corrupts chocolate. I’ve noticed that brownies, cakes, and cookies made with baking soda or powder (which contains baking soda) have a bitter edge and less chocolate taste than those without. I’ve never liked chocolate layer cake (which uses baking soda to make it rise), though I adore chocolate torts (whose rising agent is egg whites), and in my mind Oreos are an abomination—chocolate in color only.

In keeping with the principles I learned in Mr. Freeman’s seventh-grade science class, I conducted an experiment. I made a batch of brownies from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts—her West Coast Brownies, as I am on the West Coast and it was the only brownie recipe that included baking soda. 

To avoid variances in ingredients, mixing, and baking times, I made a single batch of brownies up to the point of adding the flour. I divided the batter in two using a scale, and added flour, baking soda, and salt to one batch; flour and salt only to the other. I baked them in a single jelly roll pan, divided in the middle with aluminum foil. A green sticky note, which went from the mixing bowl to the pan to one side of the oven, noted which was the baking soda side. 

When I pulled the pan out of the oven, I saw that the baking soda batch was darker and riddled with pockmarks—which had me panicked that I had gotten the sides mixed up, as I figured the soda side would look nicer. But after I cut the cakes into individual brownies, it was obvious I hadn’t, as the soda brownies had risen higher. They also held together better than the soda-free brownies.

The taste test, conducted by family members present at baking time, determined that the baking soda brownies were more bitter and had an unpleasant baking soda aftertaste. The soda-free brownies were yummier, with a more prominent chocolate flavor.

My hypothesis about soda was correct: It does interfere with chocolate. But I think the amount of flour may play a larger role. My favorite chocolate brownies, which contain a third of the flour, are much better than either of the experiment batch.

One thing is certain: More research is needed.