Serve this moist, flavorful cake to your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, or make it for a special birthday treat. Frost with a dark chocolate frosting (use your favorite recipe, substituting cold coffee for the milk).
3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1/3 cup strong coffee
3/4 cup butter
2-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup strong coffee
dark chocolate frosting
Melt the chocolate in 1/3 cup coffee over very low heat, stirring constantly. When melted, set aside to cool slightly. Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add vanilla and blend in chocolate. Beat well. Combine and fork-sift dry ingredients, and add alternately with 1 cup coffee, mixing just enough to combine.
Pour the batter into two well-greased 9-inch cake pans lined with buttered waxed paper. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not remove the cake too soon or it will fall. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then remove and cool on a rack. (Layers are fragile; handle carefully.) Frost and serve.