Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease and flour THREE 8 inch cake pans

In a mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk for 1 minute to blend.

Add softened butter a few pieces at a time while the mixer is on low speed. Mix until the dry ingredients look like coarse sand and the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, milk , oil and vanilla until blended.

Method is important when using the Reverse Creaming Method. With the mixer on low speed, SLOWLY add approximately ½ of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 ½ minutes at medium speed. Don't mix above medium speed. Scrape the bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each pour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.

Slowly add the cup of hot coffee and mix another 30 seconds until blended. The batter will be very runny. Don't worry!

Pour into 3 prepared 8" pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool the cakes 10 minutes on a rack and then turn out of the pans.

*Yields approx 9 cups of batter.

Making cupcakes? Check out our Classic Chocolate Cupcake Recipe (conventional method of mixing for fluffier cupcakes) Holds up well to fondant

In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Cook over medium heat bringing to a boil. 

Once it comes to a boil, stir constantly for 1 minute being very careful with this hot boiling sugar. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool to room temperature.

You can speed up the process by refrigerating. The filling will thicken as it cools. Makes 2 cups, enough to fill a 3 layer cake and add to the top of the cake

Add butter and beat for approximately 1 min. on medium speed. Add vanilla and blend into the butter. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add most of the milk. Begin beating at low speed so you won't have a cloud of powdered sugar in your kitchen. Beat at medium speed 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat an additional two to three minutes, adding remaining milk as needed.

This is my favorite chocolate frosting! Recipe can easily be doubled or halved.

This recipe makes approximately 4 cups of frosting.

Place the bottom cake layer on a cake board or pedestal. Pipe a dam of buttercream about ¼ from the outer edge of the cake layer, and fill with your pecan pie cake filling. Repeat. Frost the cake with chocolate buttercream (a thin layer on top is fine.) Spread the top center of the cake with the remaining pecan pie filling and pipe a shell border or two around the top of the cake as well as the base of the cake.