Crème de Cacao (dark) — tasting notes & food pairings

Crème de Cacao (dark)

Dark crème de cacao is the deep brown expression of the sweet, chocolate-flavoured liqueur made by steeping roasted cacao (cocoa) beans in a neutral spirit, then sweetening it heavily and scenting it with vanilla. Where the clear "white" (blanc) version is distilled off its colour to keep pale drinks bright, the dark version keeps the bean solids and is deepened further with caramel, giving it a mahogany-brown hue and a shade more richness, roast and body. It 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, a roasted edge and a gentle alcoholic lift, it is sipped as a digestif but lives chiefly in the cocktail cabinet — the chocolate backbone of the Brandy Alexander, the Chocolate Martini and countless dessert drinks, and a workhorse in the pastry kitchen.

Sweet22.5% ABV

Deep mahogany-brown and intensely sweet, dark crème de cacao leads with a warm cocoa-and-vanilla aroma — the roasted-bean pyrazines lending a toasted, faintly coffee-like edge that reads a shade fuller than in the white version — over a rounded caramel warmth. The body is syrupy and rich, the alcohol gentle at around a fifth to a quarter ABV, and the finish lingers sweet with a soft, faintly cocoa-bitter tail.