Dark Chocolate Cake with Buttermilk Pecan Frosting

 
This Dark Chocolate Cake with Buttermilk Pecan Frosting was a fantastic surprise. My friends mom requested it for her 70th birthday and sent me the recipe her recipe was called Rumble Cake. I have to admit its a new favorite! If you love this cake and I know you will dont miss my Pecan Buttermilk Cake!
Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe with Coffee
I have many recipes on my site for chocolate cake and most of them use coffee. Coffee will enhance the flavor of the chocolate not overpower it. If your recipe is good and this one is you will not taste the coffee at all you will only taste the richest chocolate cake you have ever had.

This recipe utilizes brewed coffee. Some recipes will call for instant coffee crystals or espresso coffee.
What Can Be Substituted for Coffee in Chocolate Cake?
You may substitute WATER for the coffee if you prefer but the chocolate flavor will not be as intense.
Cocoa Powder vs. Dark Cocoa Powder
Basic unsweetened cocoa powder works great in most chocolate cake recipes. For this recipe I used Hersheys Special Dark but Dutchprocess cocoa powder and black cocoa powder will also work. Dutchprocessed and black cocoa powder gives a beautiful color and more complex depth of flavor i e. more pure bitter chocolate flavor. When testing this cake without frosting we noticed that while it had powerful chocolate flavor it did not taste as sweet as when I used traditional natural cocoa powder.
When using dark chocolate the final appearance of the cake can appear black so some have referred to it as a blackout cake.
The beauty in this specific recipe is the pairing of the dark chocolate cake with the buttermilk pecan frosting. The frosting is so beautifully sweet that it complements the cake.
Buttermilk Pecan Frosting
This recipe was so similar to my Pecan Buttermilk Cake glaze recipe that I knew it would be amazing before even trying it.
I do not recommend making your own buttermilk for this recipe unless you are using the sour cream method. More information on the 4 common methods for homemade buttermilk here. When testing this