The Difference Between Milk, White & Dark Chocolate

17/01/2023
Posted by Linda

Seeing as we are about all things chocolate here at Choc Affair; we thought it would be helpful to explain the differences between milk, white and dark chocolate.

From the image above, you can see that sugar and cocoa butter are present in all three types of chocolate. The ingredients that do differ are the milk and cocoa powder.

What is milk chocolate made of?

Well – milk chocolate is the only chocolate type from the three above that contains a bit of everything. Of course, cocoa percentage can vary in different chocolate bars, and some may even call a milk chocolate with a higher cocoa percentage a ‘dark’ milk. But the main thing is, is that milk chocolate contains sugar, milk, cocoa butter and cocoa powder.

What is dark chocolate made of?

So; what is the difference between dark and milk chocolate? Well; dark chocolate doesn’t contain milk. That’s why a lot of the time, vegans can eat dark chocolate (you can check out our vegan chocolate range here). Dark chocolate is simply made from sugar, cocoa powder and cocoa butter; however, if you have a 100% dark chocolate, that means that it only contains cocoa solids. The higher the percentage, the less there is of the other ingredients (sugar and cocoa butter).

What is white chocolate made of?

White chocolate is rather the opposite of dark chocolate, as it contains no cocoa powder at all, and it’s three ingredients are sugar, cocoa butter and milk. Some actually argue whether white chocolate can even be classed as chocolate, seeing as it doesn’t contain cocoa solids.

So; it’s actually the ingredients within the chocolate itself that classifies it as milk, white or dark. Often there is also Soya lecithin in the 3 chocolates, to help make it easier to work with for the chocolatiers, and a touch of vanilla to help bring out the flavours.