For iPad · Join the early access list

Make your best bar.

More time making chocolate. Less time wrestling with the math.

Try a new ingredient, adjust your recipe, or scale your next batch—and see the numbers change as you go. Join the early access list for a chance to try Craft Cacao free during the iPad beta.

The Craft Cacao recipe editor on iPad, showing a Raspberry milk recipe at 47.5% cocoa and 40.3% fat, marked Balanced
35–55%
Balanced Fat Range Dark chocolate. 40–55% with milk.
3–5 hrs
Average Time Lost Per failed batch

Check the numbers before the melanger does

Push the fat too low and makers report batches that are harder to refine and come out gritty. Craft Cacao shows cocoa and fat as a share of the finished recipe with every change, so you know where you sit against the usual range before the nibs go in.

These ranges are rules of thumb drawn from published chocolate-making experience — a starting point for your own testing, not a guarantee about any batch or machine.

Everything you need to create confidently

See cocoa and fat as you go

Cocoa and fat update as a share of the finished recipe with every change. No spreadsheet, no calculator.

Drag to set your ratios

Drag a divider to trade between the two ingredients beside it. Everything else stays put, and the total stays locked at 100%.

Ingredients that know their numbers

Every ingredient carries its fat and non-fat cocoa, so nibs, cocoa butter and milk powders all count the way they should.

Any batch size, same ratios

Scale from 50 g tests to 50 kg runs in grams, kilos, ounces or pounds. The ratios stay exactly the same.

How Craft Cacao Works

  1. 1

    Add your ingredients

    Nibs, cocoa butter, sugars, milk powders, inclusions. Each one with its fat and non-fat cocoa.

  2. 2

    Set your ratios

    Drag the dividers or tap plus and minus. The total stays locked at 100%, and undo is always there.

  3. 3

    Check cocoa and fat

    See both as a share of the finished recipe, updating as you work.

  4. 4

    Pick a batch size and export

    Choose 500 g, 1 kg, 2.5 kg or 5 kg, or slide anywhere from 50 g to 50 kg. Then export it for the bench.

The Craft Cacao ingredient library on iPad, adding starter ingredients to a new recipe

Starting on iPad. Following you everywhere.

We're building for the device that lives on the bench first. iPhone and desktop come next, so the same recipes are with you at the melanger, at the supplier and at your desk.

1
Beta testing

iPad

The full recipe editor, ingredient library and formulation guidance. Where testing starts.

2
Next

iPhone

Your recipes and library in your pocket, for checking a batch or a supplier quote away from the bench.

3
Later

Desktop

A desktop app for longer sessions: planning production runs and working through a big library.

John Nanci, founding alchemist of Chocolate Alchemy
Built with Chocolate Alchemy

From the spreadsheet formulator to your iPad

Craft Cacao is developed with input from John Nanci at Chocolate Alchemy. If you've used his formulator, the ratios will feel familiar. If you're starting fresh, you get the same thinking without the formulas.

Early Access Pricing

Early Access
Free During beta
  • Full access on iPad
  • Create unlimited recipes*
  • Build your ingredient library
  • Scale recipes from 50 g to 50 kg
  • Help shape the product
Get Early Access Free for makers selected for a round of beta testing. Limited spots.*
Future: Maker
TBD After beta
  • Up to TBD recipes
  • Core formulation guidance
  • Recipe scaling
  • Email support
  • Batch notes and tracking
Join Waitlist After early access*
Backer: 3 year plan
$300 Once, for 3 years
  • Every feature, every device
  • Invite to our private Slack
  • Priority support
  • API access
  • First access to new features
Join Waitlist After early access*

* Plans, limits and prices after early access are still being set and may change before launch. We'll tell the early access list first.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • iPad first. Testing starts on iPad. iPhone comes next, then a desktop app. Your account and recipes carry across as each one arrives.

  • Join the early access list and fill out our short questionnaire. Your answers help us match people to suitable rounds of testing. We'll email you if you're selected. Signing up doesn't guarantee an invitation.

  • Absolutely. Start with a recipe you like, then drag the ratios around. Cocoa and fat update with every change, so you see exactly what you're doing to your chocolate.

  • No formulas to break, no cells to accidentally overwrite. The total stays locked at 100%, so changing one ingredient never quietly breaks the rest. We handle the math, you focus on the chocolate.

  • You'll see cocoa and fat for the finished recipe as you work, in plain English, alongside the range most published recipes sit in — around 35–55% total fat for dark, 40–55% once there's milk in it. Craft Cacao tells you where your recipe lands against that range and what to adjust. It's a starting point drawn from published chocolate-making experience, not a promise about your batch or your equipment.

  • It tells you where your recipe sits against the ranges most published recipes use, and what to change to move it. Low-fat batches have been reported as harder to refine and gritty. We're passing on chocolate-making experience, not certifying your batch or your machine — your own test batches are still the real answer.

  • Yes. Pick a preset or slide anywhere from 50 g to 50 kg, in grams, kilos, ounces or pounds. The ratios stay exactly the same.

  • Yes. Craft Cacao is developed with input from John Nanci at Chocolate Alchemy, whether you've used his spreadsheet formulator or are starting fresh.

Early access · Rounds of testing

Help us build the tool makers deserve

Join the early access list to follow along as we build. We invite makers in rounds of testing and email those selected with the details. Testers get the app free during the beta and a direct line to us.

  • Updates as we build, straight to your inbox
  • A chance to be selected for the iPad beta
  • Free for the whole beta if you are