2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk, room temp
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2.5 cups flour
1.25 cups hot, strong coffee
Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease sides of 2 cake pans w/ butter and flour. Combine all ingredients except coffee; then add coffee and mix on slow until smooth. Bake 35 minutes and cool for 20 minutes in pans. Cool COMPLETELY before icing. (This is key – otherwise icing soaks in).
Icing
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp milk
*I would readjust this to include much less butter (maybe a stick?) and make up for the consistency w/ milk. Thanks to Heather Hund