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Interactive Tool

The Chocolate Lab

Adjust ingredient percentages and batch size to see the weights. Enter your ingredient-fat assumptions to explore composition.

The composition bench

Dark · Two-Ingredient

1000 g
Cacao
Cacao Nibs700 g70%
Sugar
Sugar300 g30.0%
37.1%Estimated cocoa + milk fat
32.9%Estimated non-fat cacao solids

70.0% total cacao ingredients = nibs + cocoa butter. Sugar fills the remaining percentage.

Assumptions: nib fat 53%; milk-powder fat 26%; cocoa butter 100% fat. Only ingredients in the selected style contribute.

Fat estimates use the ingredient assumptions shown here; they exclude lecithin and any carrier oil. They do not measure flow, mouthfeel or temper, and are not a nutrition-label calculation.

Adjust your batch

Defaults of 53% nib fat and 26% milk-powder fat are examples. Use your supplier's analysis or product label; country names cannot set a batch's measured composition.

Sugar fills the balance30.0%

Ingredient weights update with the selected batch size. Presets and slider limits are examples, not tested recipes, legal product standards or machine capacity limits.

Ingredient weights and cacao percentage

Each ingredient weight is its percentage multiplied by the selected batch size. Sugar fills the balance so the selected percentages total 100. A 1 kg two-ingredient 70% example contains 700 g nibs and 300 g sugar before processing losses.

Added cocoa butter is also a cacao ingredient. An example with 65% nibs and 5% cocoa butter contains 70% total cacao ingredients. Moving a nib slider to 70% and then adding 5% butter produces 75% total cacao ingredients, not a 70% bar.

If starting with a fixed nib weight, a two-ingredient calculation is sugar = nib weight / cacao fraction - nib weight. With 650 g nibs and a target of 70%, sugar is approximately 278.57 g. This arithmetic does not account for material left in the machine or other losses.

What the fat estimate can tell you

The estimate adds fat from nibs, cocoa butter and milk powder using your stated composition assumptions. The default nib and milk values are examples. Lecithin and carrier oils are excluded, so the result is not a complete nutrition-label calculation.

Do not use fat percentage alone to diagnose fluidity, mouthfeel or temper. Original dark-chocolate research examined interactions among particle size, fat and lecithin. Callebaut's processing guidance also explains how excess crystals thicken chocolate at working temperature. Neither is captured by a composition-only calculation.

Use an appropriate recipe and equipment procedure, then evaluate the actual batch. The four presets are convenient starting compositions. Their names and slider limits do not certify a legal product category, an optimal emulsifier dose, machine capacity or a tested finished chocolate.

About This Tool

The Recipe Formulator scales selected ingredients and shows explicit composition estimates. Ingredient weights are displayed to a maximum of three decimal places to retain small additions; use a scale suitable for the quantity you need.

Fat inputs should come from the ingredients you actually use. Geographic origin, cacao percentage and total fat do not establish process performance. For the distinction between composition and measured flow, read our chocolate rheology guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much sugar goes in a 70% chocolate bar?
For two ingredients only, sugar equals nib weight divided by the target cacao fraction, minus nib weight. With 650 g nibs at 70%, that is about 278.57 g sugar. Added cocoa butter also counts toward total cacao percentage; milk and other ingredients change the remaining sugar.
Is there one ideal fat percentage for chocolate?
No. Flow and setting also depend on the particles, temperature, emulsifiers, processing and cocoa-butter crystallization. This tool estimates composition; it cannot determine whether chocolate is properly tempered or will pour and set as intended.
How do I enter nib and milk-powder fat?
Use your supplier analysis or product label. The starting values of 53% nib fat and 26% milk-powder fat are illustrative assumptions, not measurements or fixed values for an origin. Different milk powders can have very different fat contents.
Can the calculator tell me how much lecithin to add?
It scales the percentage you choose. It does not establish an optimal dose, a legal limit or a replacement ratio for cocoa butter. Account for emulsifier already present in your ingredients and test the actual formulation.
What cacao percentage should I choose?
Choose for the recipe and flavor you want to test. There is no universal quality optimum. The total shown here includes both nibs and added cocoa butter; the nib slider alone is not total cacao percentage when butter is added.
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