Working on a recipe that calls for German’s sweet baking chocolate? If you don’t have any, or need a chocolate-free alternative, check out these substitutes.

German’s Sweet Baking Chocolate Substitutes

Contrary to what the name suggests, German’s sweet baking chocolate isn’t German at all. It’s gets its name from the man who developed it, Samuel German. It’s a sweet, dark baking chocolate that is most famously used to make German chocolate cake.

One bar of sweet baking chocolate contains four ounces. Since your recipe may call for a partial bar, a full bar, or even several bars of chocolate, these substitutes have been written to be easy to scale. Each substitution makes the equivalent of one ounce of sweet baking chocolate. Just double, triple or quadruple the ingredients to make as much as you need.

Bittersweet or Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Replace the sweet baking chocolate called for with an equal amount of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate. If your recipe calls for melting the sweet chocolate, add one teaspoons of granulated sugar to the melted chocolate; otherwise, just leaves it out. There’s a smidge more sugar in sweet baking chocolate. Aside from that, the three types of chocolate are very similar.

Unsweetened Baking Chocolate

Combine one ounce of melted unsweetened baking chocolate and four teaspoons of granulated sugar. Then, use in place of one ounce of German’s sweet chocolate. This will give you that signature sweetness that the recipe is built around.

Cocoa Powder

Whip up a quick sweet chocolate substitute by combining one Tablespoon of cocoa powder, four teaspoons of sugar and two teaspoons of butter (or your favorite cooking oil). This will maintain the proper chocolate flavor, sweetness and fat into your recipe. It should be noted that while this substitute works well in baked goods, it does not work well for candy making.

Carob Powder

If you’re allergic to chocolate, suffer from migraines or looking to eliminate caffeine from your diet, you can make a chocolate-free substitute for sweet chocolate by combining three Tablespoons of carob powder and one Tablespoon of your favorite cooking oil. Carob powder is plenty sweet on its own, so there’s no need to add any additional sugar. This substitute works in baked goods and candy recipes, too.