Perfectly Dark Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two 9-inch round baking pans, line the bottoms with a circle of parchment paper and then dust the pans with the extra cocoa.

Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed with your mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in the hot coffee until well mixed. At this point, the batter will be thin.

Pour batter into pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Then remove the pans from the oven. Let cakes cool for about 10 minutes before removing them from pans.

While the cake is baking place the chopped dark chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over medium low heat until simmering. Remove milk from heat and then pour over the chocolate and let it sit for 5 or 6 minutes to soften the chocolate. Then stir mixture briskly until you have a smooth and glossy ganache.

Place the bottom layer of the cake on a platter or plate and pour about 1/4 of the ganache onto it. Smooth the ganache over the top and sides of that layer and then add the top cake layer and repeat with the remaining ganache.