I am a coffee hater ..I know, I know, don't judge me. I skip over chocolate cake recipes immediately that call for coffee, but people say you really can't taste the coffee. Has any other coffee hater tried a chocolate cake recipe with coffee in it an NOT been able to taste the coffee? I don't want to waste my time if it's going to taste coffee-ish in any way!

Thanks for your feedback!

My best, darkest, chocolate cake recipe is one of the coffee added recipes (similar to the Hershey's one).  I have fed it to coffee haters (you are not alone) and not one has ever noticed a coffee flavor, and most have come back for seconds and/or asked for it specifically for their occasions.  I use a good quality instant and add the granules (one tablespoon) to the dry ingredients, and use hot water where the recipe calls for coffee.  I do think if one used a poor quality coffee it would probably leave an undefined bitter undertaste.  You probably wouldn't recognize it as a coffee flavor, but the cake would taste "off".  A good bet would be to find out what brand of coffee is most popular with people in your area and use that.

you absolutely can't tell there is coffee in there. It really does deepen the taste of the chocolate. Try it--only you can be the judge of your own palette. The Starbucks VIA packets (pick medium roast) are an easy way to get a quality cup of coffee withouth the trouble of brewing. 

I hate coffee too and use it in all my chocolate cake recipes.  It's very strong in the batter, but not in the final cake.

AI love coffee! Gonna go have some now ;-) I don't put it in a standard chocolate cake, but I use it in my dark chocolate and can't taste it.

I am a coffee HATER (can't even stand the smell of it) as well, but found that I do like the chocolate cakes that have coffee in them.  But, I have started using choffy in place of the coffee in the chocolate cake recipes that call for coffee.  Choffy is a brewed chocolate drink made from roasted and ground cacao beans.  It adds the same depths of flavor that adding coffee does, but you don't ever have to worry about that one time you end up adding to much coffee and making that a very dominate flavor.   Choffy offers different blends of cacao beans from different areas of the world, so you just like chocolate bars you can change the flavor complexity depending on which blend/area you choose.  You can learn about choffy on their website which is: www.drinkchoffy.com

Teresa

Along the same lines as the Choffy.

Bolthouse farms makes a mocha cappuccino soy beverage, and a vanilla chai tea soy beverage. 

I used the mochaccino to replace the milk (but not the buttermilk) in my white white reverse creamed cake (a totally neutral flavor canvass when you leave out the almond extract), then I added 1/2 Tablespoon of instant coffee and 1 Tablespoon of hot chocolate mix.  The result was fandamntastic with a mocha buttercream (also made with instant coffee and hot chocolate mix. 

I did the same with the vanilla chai (used the egg yolks from the white cake plus two whole eggs instead of just whites and again replaced the milk with the soy beverage) and added 2.5 tsp cinnamon, 1tsp cardamom, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp allspice, and 1/4 tsp ground black pepper.  I found it a bit eggy when fresh, but a couple days in the freezer fixed that.  Again, it was a hit, especially with the coffee hater in our group.  I offered it as a dessert with plain whipped cream.  I haven't paired it with a buttercream flavor yet, but I'm thinking caramel.

Each recipe yields three eight inch layers which rise just above a two inch pan and always perfectly level.

Y'all have talked me into it! :) Think I'll try it both -- the regular coffee and the chofee (if I can find it or order it without it being too pricey!)

Thank you guys so much for all the info! :)

opps choffy. I'm also going to try the bolthouse farms soy -- oh the possibilities!!

Also, if the smell of coffee really make you want to urk, I'd go with the instant.  If you mix it with the dry ingredients, then add the hot water at the end, you don't even smell it.

I love the smell of coffee -- just can't stand the taste! :)

No, you can't taste the coffee in the final cake. I use espresso powder which I added to hot water, let it sit for a minute or two. Pass it through a fine sieve and use it in the recipes. Brilliant!

I use coffee in all my chocolate cakes too (and even my red velvet cake) and you cannot taste it at all. It just makes the chocolate flavor POP!

I've even had total coffee haters not be able to taste any coffee at all- and I use espresso coffee (as that is what I drink)

I just skip it.

I prefer recipes that use cocoa mixed with boiling water and cooled.  That seems to bring out all possible cocoa flavour.  If it needs to be even deeper, I just add some grated chocolate at the end (no adjustments to recipe). 

I don't drink coffee, but do add a bit (1/2 tsp) of coffee extract to my chocolate cake recipe.  Works the same!

Liz
 

AYou don't have to sieve it if using instant coffee. Mine is the kind that goes into coffee filters if you were to drink it. So I sieve it throught those japanese tea bags. I use a tablespoon of espresso to a cup and 2 tablespoons of water for every cup of coffee the recipe calls for.