What Distinguishes Chocolate from Almond Bark?

Imagine you are at the grocery store and you get the spontaneous idea to make picture-perfect chocolate-covered strawberries. After getting fresh strawberries, you swing by the baking aisle to pick the perfect chocolate and find yourself overwhelmed by the many options of popular chocolate bars in various flavors: white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. There, you also find the option of almond bark confectionary coating. It looks like chocolate, but you wonder if it is. 

Chocolate and almond bark are used interchangeably in many different ways. Both can be great as a sweet dip for other foods, such as strawberries, graham crackers, and pretzels. They can also serve as the base for making your own candy bars and seasonal confections, such as peppermint bark. That said, it is important to note that almond bark and chocolate bark are also names of confections that can be made using melting confectionary coating. 

Now, chocolate and almond bark have a few different qualities that set them apart in their taste and texture. Crucially, almond bark is not the same as chocolate. While it carries a sweet taste, like its counterpart, it typically is not made with cocoa solids or cocoa butter. However, it is possible to purchase chocolate-flavored almond bark, which contains cocoa powder.

Despite its name, almond bark does not contain any almonds. Almond bark, instead, shares its name with a confection made of almonds topped with chocolate or confectionary coating. Unlike chocolate, derived from cacao, almond bark is a mixture of fats and sugar. It can also contain flavors and coloring to mimic other coatings. For instance, there is chocolate-flavored almond bark and vanilla-flavored almond bark. The bark is typically sold as a thick, large bar with indents similar to a traditional chocolate bar. 

While it seems that almond bark is merely a copycat of chocolate, it has one great benefit. It does not need to be tempered to be used for dipping. And, like chocolate, almond bark can be melted in the microwave. You can use almond bark in recipes that require melting candy as it will give an effortless look for a fraction of the work. Examples include almond bark-dipped strawberries and pretzels, and custom candy bars. 

Here’s where things may get a little confusing: Chocolate-flavored almond bark contains cocoa powder, but that doesn’t mean it’s actual chocolate. Chocolate-flavored almond bark does not meet the standards set by the Food and Drug Administration to be considered chocolate, given that it contains processed cocoa powder and other natural flavors and not cocoa butter. As a result, it is labeled as a chocolate-flavored product, rather than chocolate. But because it contains cocoa powder, it will have a chocolate taste when used as a melting candy.

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans. The beans are harvested from cacao trees and then processed into cocoa powder or butter. From there, the product is turned into a variety of different goods, such as hot chocolate mix, chocolate chips, or chocolate bars.

Chocolate can take several final forms, from bittersweet to semisweet. It also comes in milk, dark, and white varieties. All three contain cocoa butter. However, milk and dark chocolate also have cocoa powder. Additionally, the three types contain different measurements of their ingredients. When discussing baking with chocolate, recipe creator Jessica Randhawa previously told Chowhound that it is best to know how each chocolate tastes when deciding which to use for recipes. “The best type of chocolate for baking really depends on the recipe and your personal taste preference,” she said. “But generally, high-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate is the best for all-around baking.”

It is best to reach for real chocolate — products that contain traces of cocoa butter — when making recipes that depend heavily on the chocolate taste. Examples of these recipes include chocolate chip cookies, chocolate mousse, and chocolate cake. But when it comes to dipping things in chocolate, there may be easier products to turn to as chocolate needs to be tempered to achieve a glossy, smooth finish when melting. The tempering, which can be easily done in the microwave if you keep an eye out to ensure it doesn’t start to seize, also helps stabilize the coating.

Now that the differences between almond bark, chocolate-flavored almond bark, and chocolate have been established, let’s address two more products. What are almond bark and chocolate bark confections? While they share the same names as the melting confectionary coating, they are not the same. You are likely to find almond bark and chocolate bark candy at a specialty candy shop or in the snack section of a grocery store.

The type of almond bark we are talking about is a candy made of chocolate and almonds. The confection is simple and can be customized. For instance, you can make almond bark with milk chocolate, white chocolate, or dark chocolate. You can also use chocolate-flavored almond bark for the recipe, although its chocolate flavor will be more subtle in the final result. Only have vanilla-flavored almond bark confectionary coating? That works, too, for a sweet, versatile candy with a rich vanilla taste. To make the bark, all you have to do is take the melted chocolate or candy coating, stir in almonds, spread the mixture into a thick layer, and let it sit in the refrigerator until it has hardened. 

Meanwhile, chocolate bark consists of chocolate with various mix-ins. The mix-ins can include almonds and other nuts, as well as pretzels and dried fruit. Then, it is prepared in the same way as the almond bark candy. One common recipe during the winter holidays includes crushed peppermint to make peppermint bark — there are nearly infinite possibilities for ways to customize this candy.