Chocolate Coffee Cake: Coffee Cake For Real

Instructions

For Cake:

1. Position oven rack to lower-middle position; preheat oven to 350℉. Combine chocolate and cocoa and espresso powder in small bowl; pour boiling water over and let stand to melt chocolate, about 2 minutes. Whisk until smooth; set aside until cooled to room temperature.
2. Spray two 9-inch-round by 2-inch-high straight-sided cake pans lined with parchment rounds with nonstick cooking spray. Dust pans with flour, and knock out excess. Set aside. Sift flour and baking soda into medium bowl.
3. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, sugars, and salt at medium-low speed until sugar is moistened, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
4. Reduce speed to medium, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down bowl if necessary. Beat in vanilla until light and fluffy, about 45 seconds. Stop the mixer and add chocolate, beat on medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds.
5. With mixer running on low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream (in 2 additions), beginning and ending with dry ingredients, and beating in each addition until barely combined. Finish by stirring batter by hand with rubber spatula, scraping bottom and sides of bowl, to ensure that batter is homogenous (batter will be thick). Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans; spread batter to edges of pans with rubber spatula and smooth surfaces.
6. Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then invert cakes onto greased wire rack; peel off and discard paper rounds. Cool cakes to room temperature before filling, about 1 hour. Cut each cake into two even layers with serrated knife, set aside.

For Espresso Buttercream Frosting:

1. Dissolve instant espresso in extracts and cream. Set aside.
2. In standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl and increase speed to medium, beat until fully combined, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Cake Assembly:

1. Place one cake layer on serving platter or cardboard round, using an off-set spatula, distribute about 1 cup buttercream evenly on cake, spreading to very edge of cake and leveling surface. Place a second cake layer on top of buttercream and repeat with buttercream and cake layers until you have all four layers. Finish frosting top and side of cake with remaining buttercream.