Dark Chocolate Mocha Cake

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange racks in middle of oven. Grease 2 9″ round pans and line bottoms with parchment paper (which makes removal of this ultra-moist cake easier).
2. Stir dry ingredients together.
3. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla to dry mix. Mix for 2 minutes with a whisk.
4. Pour in hot coffee and mix thoroughly.
5. Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 20 minutes or more before turning onto wire rack to completely cool.

For the Ganache:

1. Melt 1/2 cup dark chocolate and 1/2 cup butter in microwave at 30 second intervals. Stir between, and do not overheat!
2. Arrange first layer of (cooled) cake on cake plate. Pour half of chocolate mixture over first layer. Place second layer of cake on top of first. Pour remaining chocolate mixture over second layer.
3. Set cake in fridge or freezer to harden.

For the Frosting:

1. In bowl of electric stand mixer, pour cream, sugar and vanilla.
2. Beat on medium high until soft peaks begin to form.
3. Add cocoa and coffee and whip until stiff.
4. Frost cooled cake completely on all sides. You may want to begin with a crumb coat, but it doesn’t matter too much as the frosting is already speckled with coffee.