Ever invite someone over for dinner at your house only to get a nice little reminder on Facebook that your dinner guest is in fact celebrating their birthday...with you...tonight? Ooops! I did and dang it, I was not going to be the bad hostess who didn't even have a celebratory cake when I was the one who invited him over! So what's a girl to do when you don't have time to stop at the store because you still have to get home, clean and cook dinner on top of dessert? Turn to the Barefoot Contessa, of course and whip up one of the best chocolate cakes you've ever had: Beatty's Chocolate Cake.

Rich with dutch process cocoa powder and the secret ingredient--Coffee, this is one of my go to chocolate cakes. If you don't want to spend the extra dough on the dutch process cocoa, then don't bother with this recipe because it just won't be the same if you skimp. My favorite brand is Pernigotti, which you can pick up at most Williams-Sonoma locations, but any good quality dutch process will do. The cup of hot coffee just balances out the chocolate oh so perfectly to make this cake an absolute can't miss!