In 1828 Conrad Van Houten of the Netherlands made a mechanical extraction method for taking away the fat from cacao liquor resulting in cacao butter and the mostly de-fatted cacao . It was a compacted mass of solids that could be sold as it was `` rock cacao '' or ground into powder . In 1828 , Conrad Van Houten of the Netherlands developed a mechanical extraction method for extracting the fat from cacao liquor resulting in cacao butter and the partly defatted cacao , a compacted mass of solids that could be sold as it was `` rock cacao '' or ground into powder .