Chocolate cake with raspberries and dark chocolate frosting

Hi! Sorry it's been a while. But to make it up to you, I made a cake! A chocolate one! With a secret layer of raspberry jam in the middle, from the raspberries I picked from the yard. Our new house has raspberry bushes like nobodies business. A giant giant one by the front of the house next to the driveway, and two smaller ones out back. I've been picking about a pint a day, yesterday I picked a pint and a half. I don't even know what to do with that many raspberries. I froze a bunch, and have been eating them out of the freezer as a surprisingly delicious snack.

I used a bunch of raspberries to make a jam which I spread in the middle of a chocolate cake, which I then frosted with easy dark chocolate frosting and promptly devoured. Chocolate cake is so good, you guys. I'm going to bring most of it to work so I don't have to eat it all. Because I will. Don't tempt me.

Chocolate cake with raspberries and dark chocolate frosting

Chocolate cake:
this is the same recipe I've used a few times before, here and here. It's easy, you use one bowl, and I always have these ingredients. 

1 3/4 c rice flour mix
1/2 t xanthan gum
3/4 c cocoa powder
3/4 t salt
1 1/4 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
2 c sugar
1 c milk, soured with 1 t lemon juice
1 c strong coffee (I use decaf because I'm sensitive to caffeine at night)
2 eggs
1/2 c oil
1 t vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease two 8" cake pans. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, and then dump in all the rest of the ingredients. Stir well, then pour into the cake pans. Bake about 30 minutes. I forget how long my cakes baked, it was something like 30 minutes. When the cake starts to pull away from the pan it is done. Cool on racks in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out and let cool the rest of the way.

Raspberry filling
1 pint raspberries (or whatever kind of berry you want, I guess)
1 T sugar
1 T juice or water (I used pomegranate)

Combine all those guys in a little saucepan. Cook on medium-low until all the berries have broken down into a mush and some of the juice has cooked out. This isn't an exact science, you're not really making jam as much as you're making mashed up cooked berry juice.
Or, you can skip this step and just use raspberry jam you buy at the store. If you do that, microwave it for a few seconds so it's soft so you can spread it without tearing the cake.

When the cake is totally cool, place one layer on your cake plate, or if they're all still packed because you moved a few weeks ago, a regular plate. Don't mess around here with waiting until the cake is mostly cool, I mean it. It's so sad when you work so hard to make a cake and then it slumps all over because the frosting melts and squishes out the sides. Spread the jammy sauce on top of the bottom layer. If you're worried about it spreading out the sides when you put the top layer on, pause here for a few minutes and stick it in the freezer to harden the jam. Then top with the second cake layer.

Dark chocolate frosting
This is adapted from Joy the Baker's recipe for peanut butter blondies with milk chocolate frosting, which I'm drying to make. The frosting is killer. It's an easy, quick frosting recipe and makes exactly enough to frost the sides and top of a cake, but not the middle, so it's a good thing we've got that jam. 

6 T unsalted butter, room temp
3 T cocoa powder
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
3 T milk (I used chocolate! I'm crazy!)
3/4 c dark chocolate chips, melted (this might be spectacular with white chocolate....)
1 t vanilla

Beat the butter and cocoa powder and salt together until creamy. Add in 1/2 c powdered sugar and 1 T milk, then beat again. Next, beat in the rest of the powdered sugar and milk. Then dump in the melted chocolate and the vanilla. Now, frost your cake! Then let it sit for a few minutes to firm up, and decorate with raspberries.