Chocolate Cake - Yummy!!

I love baking and having others enjoy the fruits of my labor. After baking cheesecake for Christmas and bringing in the leftovers to work I have decided (much to my co-workers begging) to start a desert of the month club for work. I will bake and they will eat, pretty simple! Chocolate cake is wonderful when it is done right and the recipe below is right. It is from the Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa cookbook and I couldn't be more pleased with her recipe.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

• 1 3/4 all-purpose flour


• 2 cups sugar


• 3/4 cup good cocoa powder


• 2 teaspoons baking soda


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1 teaspoon kosher salt


• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken


• 1/2 cup vegetable oil


• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature


• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes , until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place one layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Frosting

• 6 ounces good semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut


• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature


• 1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature


• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


• 1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
  

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

WW points: 8 (for 1/20th slice)