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!

Beatty's Chocolate Cake from Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients
Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups 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


Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 8-inch x 2-inch high round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
2. 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. 
3. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. 
4. 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.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate
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


Instructions

1. 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.
2. 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. 
3. 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. 
4. 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.

A Few Crumby Notes:

• You want to make sure the buttermilk is well combined as it can settle, but vigorous shaking can leave you with a lot of extra air in your batter. Shake it well, but make sure to tap out as many air bubbles before you add it to the batter.
• Make sure your 8 inch cake pans have two inch high walls as this cake rises very high. If they only have 1.5 inch sides, then bump up to a 9 inch round pan. 
• If you're worried about about the raw egg yolks in the frosting, it could just as easily be left out, but it does add a level of creamy smoothness that is just delicious.

This cake really is a perfect all-occasion cake that works for birthdays, house warming, showers or just a good old cake craving evening at home. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

~Happy Baking!