opinions- coffee in chocolate cake for toddler bday cake ok or no

nycnola

I am baking the cake for my DD's 3rd bday party this weekend and freezing them until her party in July. I have some recipes for chocolate cake that I know are good and will freeze well, but they have brewed coffee in the batter, say, 1.5 cups. We don't have decaf around because of the way the caffeine is chemically leached from the beans (it freaks me out). Do you think 1.5 cups of coffee in a whole cake will turn my kid and everyone else's kid into nightmare children? TIA!

MommyKristin88

Um definitely asking for a nightmare. I wouldn't risk it. I'd be really pissed if my 4 year old daughter came to that party, ate the cake, then I found out you added coffee to it.

skio

Yeah, I wouldn't put coffee in a cake for toddlers.

jane.says

I wouldn't worry too much about it. 1.5 cups in an entire cake is so minimal per serving.

Soleil3

MommyKristin88:

Um definitely asking for a nightmare. I wouldn't risk it. I'd be really pissed if my 4 year old daughter came to that party, ate the cake, then I found out you added coffee to it.

This. 

PrimRoseMama

jane.says:

I wouldn't worry too much about it. 1.5 cups in an entire cake is so minimal per serving.

Yep. Should be fine.

PrimRoseMama

Also, you can find decaf that is decaffeinated by water process. It's slightly more expensive but it's out there. Not all decaf is done with chemicals.

bendicott7

There are ways to decaffeinate coffee without the chemicals.   If you find a shop that is organic certified they probably have decaf coffee that has been decaffeinated this way (you can ask if the swiss water process was used) and you can get a tiny bit that may be enough if you are sold on this cake and don't want to make your kid and everyone else's kids crazy. Good Luck!

 

https://www.swisswater.com/consumer/swiss-water-process

 

nycnola

bendicott7:

There are ways to decaffeinate coffee without the chemicals.   If you find a shop that is organic certified they probably have decaf coffee that has been decaffeinated this way (you can ask if the swiss water process was used) and you can get a tiny bit that may be enough if you are sold on this cake and don't want to make your kid and everyone else's kids crazy. Good Luck!

 

https://www.swisswater.com/consumer/swiss-water-process

 

Hmm, you've expanded my horizons. I will go on the hunt this weekend. Thanks! 

aiche Umm Ayoub

I wouldn't worry I have feed my toddler chocolate cake with coffe in it and she actually got calmer not hyper

BelhurstBride

jane.says:

I wouldn't worry too much about it. 1.5 cups in an entire cake is so minimal per serving.

That's my thought, too.

Chocolate in and of itself is caffeinated, particularly dark chocolate, so any mom that's feeding her kid a piece of chocolate cake and is irked that they're bouncing off the walls isn't really thinking through that process much...  

mittensonkittens

There are plenty of chocolate cake recipes that don't use coffee. Go to allrecipes.com and read the reviews to find a good one.

Jasmineeelizabeth

ms.mittens:

There are plenty of chocolate cake recipes that don't use coffee. Go to allrecipes.com and read the reviews to find a good one.

This. There are lots of good recipes. As PP said chocolate already has caffeine in it, why add more? 

 

Soleil3

Why does 1 1/2 cups not seem like a lot? Take out 1 1/2 cups of sugar from the recipe and see how it affects the cake...

CarolineEmma

I wouldn't worry since a cake that has been in the freezer for 1 to 2 months probably won't be exactly gobbled down.

nycnola

CarolineEmma:

I wouldn't worry since a cake that has been in the freezer for 1 to 2 months probably won't be exactly gobbled down.

Nope, it will, which is why I am so attached to this coffee recipe. I've made it and frozen before. This chocolate cake is thebomb.com, seriously. Here is the link-

https://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/07/project-wedding-cake-the-cake-is-baked/ 

A37licia

jane.says:

I wouldn't worry too much about it. 1.5 cups in an entire cake is so minimal per serving.

Agree with this. It'd be equal to about a tablespoon of coffee per slice.

provwife

I'm not sure that it would really effect the kids but I don't know if some parents would like their kids having caffeine.  

Ruger04

RedheadBaker:

Soleil3:

Why does 1 1/2 cups not seem like a lot? Take out 1 1/2 cups of sugar from the recipe and see how it affects the cake...

That's approximately 150 mg of caffeine, though the amount in a home-brewed cup of coffee can vary widely, between 40 and 170mg.

Divide that 150 among the total number of servings of cake (the cake the OP linked to will serve approximately 24 people), and that's 6.25mg of caffeine per serving. That's about the same as an ounce of milk chocolate.

 

Whoa!