Tips for Better Baking: Always Sift Cocoa Powder (#38)
Cocoa powder is notoriously clumpy. If you add it straight to a recipe, it can be nearly impossible to break up the clumps and you’ll end up with dry spots in your finished product. In order to avoid this frustration, I always sift cocoa powder (at least once, sometimes twice!) before using it in a recipe. I find it’s easiest to sift onto a piece of parchment paper but into a bowl works well too.
Tip for Better Baking: Always sift cocoa powder. Measure the required amount, pass it through a fine mesh strainer onto a sheet of parchment, and then use it in the recipe as called for.
If you have an old-fashioned flour sifter you can use that but I prefer to use a fine mesh strainer
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Great tip. It sucks to have raw cocoa pockets in a cake.
Hi there! Yes it does – and I’ve made the mistake for forgetting to sift and then fighting with the cocoa powder once it is mixed with other ingredients. Always best to do it on the front end!!