Double Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Do they even sell buttermilk in pint containers?  Every time I buy some for one thing (in this case, the quark), I have to figure out how to use a quart of it.  Hey, there are way worse uses than cake.

This cake is really a version of Red Velvet, but with a lot more chocolate.  I started with this Good Housekeeping recipe.  A cup of cocoa powder sounded like way too much, so I cut that in half.  Feeling suddenly like I was depriving myself of chocolate, I added the chips.  Since I had already bought the cream cheese frosting, this isn't a Death by Chocolate cake.  The point of the frosting was to enhance the tang of the buttermilk.  Feel free to improvise.

The cake in the photo looks a bit out of proportion because it is of one of my 1/3-recipe 6" cakes.  I kept going back and forth between that and cupcakes, rather than end up with a full-sized cake that went stale.  Since I was calling the recipe a "cake" here, a cupcake photo did not seem appropriate.

2 C flour
*1/2 C cocoa powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
*1-1/2 C buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
1-3/4 C sugar
3/4 C butter, softened
3 eggs
*1 C chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Grease two 9" pans, line bottoms with waxed paper, and dust with a bit of cocoa powder.

2.  Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  Cream together sugar and butter.  Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, then beat 3 minutes, until light and creamy.

3.  Add flour and buttermilk in stages, starting and ending with flour.  Beat until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

4.  Divide batter between cake pans.  Bake 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cakes cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out on wire racks and remove waxed paper.  Allow to cool completely before decorating.  Can even be frozen to make icing easier.

5.  Frost and decorate as desired.  Serve at room temperature.

Makes one 9" layer cake

Difficulty rating :)