Vanilla Bean Chocolate Cake

Directions

For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar and oil together until well-combined, mixing on medium speed for about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the milk, vanilla extract and paste.
3. With the mixer on low speed, stir in the dry ingredients, and once they are all added, in crease the speed to medium-high. Beat the cake batter for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Pour the hot coffee into the batter and stir by hand to incorporate it - the batter will seem a bit thin and watery, but stir and fold the batter until it is combined.
5. Pour the cake batter evenly into both pans. Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the center is set. Let the cake cool almost completely (about 25 minutes) before gently turning out onto parchment paper. Be careful as this cake is very moist and soft!
6. Cool/freeze the cake layers (up to overnight) to make frosting easier. Follow directions below for frosting. Once the frosting varieties are prepared, follow these steps for assembly:
7. Remove cake from fridge or freezer, place a layer of chocolate fudge frosting on the bottom layer of cake. Smooth and top with a big spoonful of the cocoa frosting and even it out. Top with the other cake layer.
8. To achieve an ombre frosting effect, start at the bottom and using a knife, place big scoops of the fudge frosting onto the bottom of the cake, all around. Then follow with the cocoa frosting above that layer. Finally, top the cake with the vanilla frosting and apply over and down the top edge to finish frosting the cake sides. It will look messy and that is ok! Using a knife or offset spatula, smooth the frosting out - it will run together but the colors and frosting flavors all go great together so don't worry!
9. If desired, garnish with shavings of chocolate.

Vanilla Bean and Cocoa Frosting

1. Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until creamy. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the powdered sugar.
2. Beat until the sugar is incorporated and add vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract.
3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Beat the frosting on high speed for 3-4 minutes until fluffy and creamy.
4. If the frosting seems too thick, beat in the tablespoon of milk for 1-2 minutes until combined.
5. Once the vanilla bean frosting is complete, remove half of it and place in a bowl.
6. To the bowl of the stand mixer, add the cocoa powder to the remaining frosting and beat until combined, scraping down the sides.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

1. Melt the butter and chopped chocolate together in the microwave - about 30 seconds on medium power (once or twice), stirring each time, until melted.
2. Place the chocolate in bowl of your electric mixer.
3. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and the cocoa and mix on low speed.
4. Stream in the milk and add the remaining powdered sugar, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Beat the frosting on medium speed until it comes together - it might take a few minutes until it is creamy and frosting-like.
6. Beat in the vanilla, continuing to scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixer.
7. If the frosting appears too thin, add in a bit more powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time. If it's too thick, add in a bit of milk, 1 tbsp at a time.
8. Cake slightly adapted from allrecipes. Original recipe created by How Sweet It Is for Rodelle!