Crème de Cacao

Crème de cacao is a sweet, chocolate-flavoured liqueur made by steeping roasted cacao (cocoa) beans in a neutral spirit, then sweetening it heavily and scenting it with vanilla. It comes in two closely related styles — a dark brown "brown" version coloured by the beans and caramel, and a clear "white" (crème de cacao blanc) version distilled off the colour so it will not muddy pale drinks; the white tends to taste a touch cleaner and more delicate, the brown a shade richer, but the difference is small — and is typically bottled at around 20 to 25 percent alcohol by volume. Despite the French name, it contains no cream or dairy: "crème" denotes only its syrupy sweetness. Intensely sweet, with a warm cocoa-and-vanilla flavour and gentle alcoholic lift, it is sipped as a digestif but lives chiefly in the cocktail cabinet — the chocolate backbone of the Grasshopper, the Brandy Alexander and the Golden Cadillac.