Chocolate cake with a hint of coffee

I spent my afternoon baking the most delicious chocolate cupcakes. I was trying to decide what dessert to bring to a get together tonight when I remembered a chocolate cake recipe I made last year. I found it on the Food Network website, which is one of my favorite places to find recipes. It is a rich fluffy chocolate cake with a light chocolate buttercream frosting with a hint of coffee. I love the color of the frosting. It is a nice fall dessert. I added chocolate covered coffee beans to the top for decoration and an extra kick. Owen stood on a chair near by and watched and I mixed and whipped things together. His favorite part was when he got to lick the chocolate off a spatula. Anything with two sticks of butter in it (just in the frosting) has to be good. I'll leave you with that. 

Betty's Chocolate Cake Recipe
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

Cake Batter Directions (Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans (I made 24 cupcakes instead). Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

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. 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. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes (about 20 for cupcakes), 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:

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

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.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 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. 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.