Simply Delicious: Double-Chocolate Layer Cake

I love coffee, and I love chocolate. So this recipe for a chocolate-coffee cake by the Barefoot Contessa (...love her too!) sounded right up my alley. The coffee you put in the cake really just enhances the flavor of the chocolate, so you're only picking up the coffee flavor in the frosting. It's pretty strong when the frosting is at room temperature, but when the frosting is cold, it's much more subtle.

Ingredients
Cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Frosting:
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tbsp. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. instant coffee granules

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans (I like to use Pam baking spray). Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour with the sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In a medium bowl (I used a Pyrex measuring cup to make pouring easier), whisk the buttermilk with the vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla.

4. Slowly beat the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients until just incorporated.

5. Slowly beat in the hot coffee until fully combined. The batter will appear very "liquidy," but that is what it is supposed to do!

6. Pour the batter into the cake pans. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Let cool for 30 minutes, then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

8. While the cake cools, prepare the frosting. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate in 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until most of the chocolate is melted. Stir until completely melted. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
9. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter until pale and fluffy.
10. Add the egg yolk and vanilla, and mix for one minute.
11. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until combined.
12. In a small bowl, dissolve the instant coffee in 2 tsp. of piping hot water.
13. Once dissolved, beat the coffee and the cooled chocolate into the butter mixture until just combined.

14. Place one cake layer on the serving or storage dish you will be using. Spread one-third of the frosting evenly over the top of the cake all the way to the edge. It is okay if some spills down the cake, as you will smooth it out when you are done frosting the entire thing.