Em's chocolate cake

I made this cake for Christmas dinner and have been thinking about it ever since. I decided to bake a new year cake! It would be a shame to waste a perfectly good quart of buttermilk otherwise. What else would you do with buttermilk but bake? Also Michael was cooking dinner for us, someone has to bring dessert! The cake is very moist but not too dense with a surprisingly light crumb. Using the best ingredients like high grade cocoa powder and organic diary really make a difference. I like using a raspberry filling but feel free to add whatever you like. I've recently started adding a little coffee to add some punch to the cocoa flavor, a tip I learned watching the Barefoot Contessa. I've also switched over to her butter cream frosting which is fantastic! Her cake recipe is similar to mine only it calls for vegetable oil which is gross to me.

( http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html)

I only iced the top of the cake tonight to lighten up the cake, if that's possible. If you want the most decadent cake possible, use butter cream instead of fruit in between!

Em's chocolate cake

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I use valrhona)

1 cup boiling water

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 stick butter soft

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

filling: 2 boxes fresh raspberries, 1 jar of raspberry jam (not too sugary)

• preheat oven to 350 and prepare 2 X 8" pans (butter, parchment, flour)
• mix together water and cocoa, add coffee, brown sugar, then add vanilla and buttermilk
• in another bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt
• in your largest bowl beat butter on medium until light and fluffy, add sugar then eggs one at a time
• alternate cocoa mixture and flour mix into batter until thoroughly mixed
• divide into pans and bake until toothpick comes out clean (30 mins)
• cool completely before frosting