Upgrade Your Next Chocolate Cake With An Instant Ingredient

Whether you use an instant mix or ingredients from your pantry to make it from scratch, chocolate cake is almost always a crowd-pleaser. Still, every recipe has room for improvement. There are plenty of sweet elements that can give your cake a boost of chocolatey flavor, but sometimes, a little contrast is the way to go. One flavor that complements the sweetness of chocolate like no other is the divergent bitterness of rich coffee — and if you want to keep things simple as you bake, adding an instant version to your batter can give your cake a brand-new personality.

Just a teaspoon or so of instant coffee mixed into your dry ingredients is all it takes to incorporate a rich flavor into your batter. If the coffee is coarsely ground, you will want to pulverize it in a clean coffee grinder or spice grinder so it becomes similar in texture to your other dry components. 

The same concept works with more flavorful espresso powder. Because it is typically a finely ground ingredient, you can skip the grinding step and just toss it right into the chocolate mix. And don't worry about your finished cake tasting too much like coffee, if you're not a fan — it won't. The slight bitterness and complexity it brings will actually make the result taste even more like chocolate.

There are many different types of chocolate and dozens of flavors of java to experiment with — and other desserts, as well. Instant coffee may be a powerhouse ingredient in chocolate cake mix, but it can also elevate other desserts like brownies and cookies. Wherever there is a chocolatey batter, instant coffee can take it to another level. You could even add it to the frosting or icing.

If you find yourself without instant coffee or espresso powder to add to the dry ingredients, you could swap brewed liquid coffee that has been cooled for a portion of the water called for in the recipe — it's a great way to use leftover coffee. You still want a chocolate batter as opposed to one that is solely coffee-flavored, so only substitute a maximum of half the water needed for java. 

Brewed coffee can also be subbed in for milk in recipes that don't call for water, but you will also want to mix in ingredients like half-and-half or heavy cream to make sure you still get a luscious texture. Alternatively, just dissolve your espresso powder or granules into the milk or other dairy before adding it to the other ingredients.