I cooked the cacao in the creme Anglaise, and so it was no longer raw. First I boiled it for at least a minute in one cup of cream, and then I cooked it with the eggs, milk, and additional cup of cream until it reached 175°F.

I was unaware that cacao and cocoa were not the same thing. I updated my original post to correct the spellings. I had thought that "cacao" was a Spanish word for "cocoa"!

I very seldom use this ingredient, and so I do not have to worry about having it on a regular basis. This is the first time I've used it in a couple of months, I think. It is definitely more bitter than regular cocoa, and so I may need to compensate for that a bit. I think a bit more sugar would do the trick. I've also read that dairy inhibits absorption of the healthful enzymes in cacao, but I do not know to what extent.

Here's a description of what happens to turn cacao into cocoa:

https://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/processing-cocoa.html

So as you see, they're really quite different although the powders look very much alike. The removal of the cocoa butter and the alkali treatment are the most important differences, I think, besides roasting the beans.

As for whether cacao is healthy/unhealthy, the answer depends a lot on whom you ask. Some people believe it's not good for your liver.

That link says that roasting brings out the chocolate flavor, but I detect more flavor in the raw cacao than in roasted cocoa. I had already noticed that Dutch process cocoa was less bitter than regular cocoa. I've also decided that salt really does not do much to reduce the bitter flavor - I think sweeteners do a better job. I wonder if baking soda (a tiny amount) would affect the bitter flavor. I do not mind bitter, but some people do. Some people have excessive taste receptors for bitter, and these are the people who like to add extra salt.

I detect more flavor in the raw cacao than in roasted cocoa

I agree, but it is a bit more bitter, too.

If you want a really intense, super rich, deep chocolate ice cream, try Valrhona cocoa powder. If I let her, the college girl would bath in it...

I've used Valrhona chocolate and cocoa powder. My sister did not like it, but I did. In French, cocoa powder is poudre de cacao, and in Spanish, cocoa seeds are called semilla de cacao. It's no wonder I was confused.

At this point, my chocolate ice cream is as intense as I would want it! I have Godiva chocolate liqueur as well, but I prefer to use nut liqueurs in chocolate ice cream, although I think Kahlua would be good also. I would not use pecan liqueur either because I do not like pecans with ice cream, but I have used Nocello, which is a mixture of walnut and hazelnut.

BTW, I checked my recipe at lunch, and I used 5 oz bittersweet chocolate instead of 6 oz. I use 6 oz when I use semi-sweet chocolate, but I do that only when I buy semi-sweet chocolate by mistake.

When I first posted this, I had not had a full serving of the ice cream - only a small taste, but now that I have had a full scoop, I am able to critique it better. There is still an underlying bitter taste to it, but it is not objectionable, and I rather like it this way. The one change I would make would be to use blanched almonds, as I think the almond skins contribute to the bitter taste, and without those skins, I think the ice cream would be perfect. I do like the combination of almond and Amaretto almost as much as I like the hazelnut/Frangelico combination, but I can buy blanched almonds and I have not found blanched hazelnuts. I also like the intensity of the cacao powder, even though I did not know what it was when I bought it. I'm going to try using it in a banana smoothie.

To blanch almonds, boil some water, through them in and use a big skimmer to pull them out after 30-45 seconds. Squeeze them lightly and they pop out of the skins.

To skin hazelnuts, roast and agitate them. I've also read, but not tried, do them pretty much the same way as almonds but put a few big spoons of baking soda in the water. It's supposed to work much better.

I forgot to mention that another difference between cocoa and cacao is that cacao is not as shelf-stable as cocoa. You can't keep it around forever, the way you can with cocoa. The extra oils mean that once you first open it, it's got about the same shelf life as vegetable oil before it starts to get a bit rancid.

While that opened two-year old tin of cocoa you just found in the back of the cupboard will only have lost a bit of flavor, cacao of the same age will be nasty.

I've blanched hazelnuts in water with baking soda, and toasted them afterwards, but I did not like the results as much as hazelnuts that I toasted without blanching. I might try blanching raw almonds, but I would rather just buy them already blanched, as those are readily available. Almond skins are more objectionable to me than hazelnut skins, but I don't mind them in biscotti.

I put the cacao powder in the freezer - I've only had it a couple of months, but it might take me a while to use it.

So, line dry a couple of old terrycloth towels so they're nice and stiff and put your toasted hazelnuts on them. Rub them all around and most of the skin will come off.

If you can find them, however, the machine skinned hazelnuts are usually cleaner. They use wires or something to scrape the peels off.

That's what I've always done with hazelnuts that I toast myself. But the hazelnut skins do not bother me that much, although they they are most noticeable in ice cream. I'll keep looking for blanched hazelnuts, however. Hazelnuts are my favorite nuts, although I grew up eating a lot of pecans because my parents had a huge pecan orchard. I guess I've always taken pecans for granted, but they are fairly expensive to buy here.