Rich Dark Chocolate Cake with Irish Buttercream

Directions

1. Chocolate Cake
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease and line with parchment paper a 10-inch tea cake pan. If you don't have a tea cake pan, no problem. Feel free to make it in a bundt pan, and the baking time will be the same. You can also make this in two 9-inch cake pans. Watch the oven for timing- I'd estimate around 25 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the ingredients from the flour to the coffee.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir it into the first bowl until evenly incorporated and relatively lump-less.
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until the center lightly springs back when touched.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, and then tip out the cake onto a rack to finish cooling while you make the buttercream.
7. You can leave the cake whole and frost the entire outside of the cake. You can follow my lead and divide the cake into thirds horizontally. You can frost between and on top of the layers using a basic butter knife, spatula, or offset spatula. I added the frosting to a piping bag, and, using a basic round tip, piped big dollops of icing here and there- no precision needed.

1. Irish Buttercream
2. To make the buttercream, whip together the butter, shortening, powdered sugar, Irish cream, vanilla, and salt for several minutes. It should be light, fluffy, and caramel in color.