The best old-fashioned chocolate buttermilk cake recipe, so moist your visitors will assume it came from a bakery!

Ingredients
1/2 cup melted butter
1 and 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 (1-oz.) unsweetened chocolate squares, melted
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt
1 quart buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar
Chocolate icing
1/2 cup softened butter
3 cups granulated sugar
3 (1-oz) squares melted unsweetened chocolate
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
(If necessary, use half-and-half)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. flour and grease 2 cake pans, 9 in. Line the pan’s bottom with parchment paper.
Cream butter in a large mixing basin or with a standing mixer until light and creamy. Beat in the sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Mix in the melted chocolate.
Combine four and salt in a separate basin. Alternately add buttermilk and chocolate mixture. Mix in the vanilla extract.
Dissolve baking soda in vinegar in a small dish. Slowly incorporate this into the chocolate mixture. Just until combined. Avoid over-mixing.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, in prepared pans. Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing from the pans. Allow to cool completely on wire racks before icing.
Chocolate icing
Cream butter in a large mixing basin until light and creamy. Add sugar slowly, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well between additions. Mix in the chocolate and vanilla extracts. If needed, thicken the frosting with 1-2 tablespoons half-and-half.