A dairy-free milk-style chocolate made with coconut, from Lovechock in Amsterdam — the answer for anyone who wants the creaminess of milk chocolate without the milk.
Why a vegan milk chocolate is hard to make
Milk powder in chocolate is not there mainly for flavour. It provides protein, and protein is what gives milk chocolate its particular soft, rounded, slightly clinging mouthfeel — the quality that makes it feel creamy rather than merely fatty. Take the milk out and replace it with nothing, and you get sweetened cocoa butter that feels greasy in the mouth.
Coconut works because it brings both halves of the problem: fat and a genuine protein and fibre fraction, plus a mild sweetness of its own. It is one of the few plant ingredients that can stand in for dairy in chocolate without a long list of additives behind it.
Be clear about what it is not, though: it does not taste identical to dairy milk chocolate. It tastes like very good coconut milk chocolate, and there is a distinct coconut character to it. If that is what you want, it is excellent; if you want an exact copy of a dairy bar, no vegan chocolate will give you one.
Raw cacao
Lovechock work with unroasted beans — only the outer shells are briefly heated, for hygiene, while the core stays raw. Roasting creates the deep toasted flavour most of us call "chocolate", so raw cacao is brighter and fruitier. Against coconut, that fruitiness stops the bar becoming heavy.
An honest word on the sugar
A milk-style chocolate is sweeter than a dark one by definition — there is less cacao in it. Sweetened without refined sugar, which changes the character rather than the arithmetic. Very good chocolate, not a health food.
Diet
Organic, dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free. Check the pack for the full allergen declaration — coconut is classed as a tree nut in some jurisdictions.