Black cocoa powder is simply a cocoa powder that has been heavily dutched or alkalised, it has a smoother non-bitter taste but does not taste like chocolate as a normal dutch cocoa would.
As the name suggests, black cocoa powder is much darker in colour than natural cocoa powder is – it’s extremely black.
This super black colour is achieved by heavier alkalizing, and no food colours have been used to create it. This means that black cocoa powder is an amazing natural colouring agent. You’ll be able to achieve a deep black colour for Buttercream or Cake Batter, that wont stain your teeth unlike Gel colouring can.
When baking with Black cocoa powder, the main thing you need to remember is you can’t swap natural cocoa powder with black cocoa powder. Normal cocoa powder can be acidic (natural) or neutral (dutched), so always stick with the type of cocoa called for in that recipe. You can easily swap natural cocoa powder for black cocoa powder, but doing the other way around can result in a flat cake and sunken cupcakes. Black cocoa powder (as well as normal dutch cocoa powder) won’t react with baking soda to help your cake rise.