Chocolate Cake with Fudge Icing

Yes, two post In one day. Like I said in the last one, I've been being lazy and I figure  should just get this out of the way while I'm at it.
  So I have posted a lot of recipes, but never did I post my favorite type of sweet on here. Chocolate cake. I love the stuff. I can never get enough of it. This was the first layered cake recipe i have ever tried. And I must say, It was everything I thought it would be. Now I have tried more different kinds of chocolate cake, and my favorite is devil's food cake, but that recipe is for another time.
 My passion for all things sweet is shared by nearly every member of my family, so I was hardly disappointed when my little brother Adam said that he wanted my third favorite cake for his birthday.
  This cake is a very rich and sweet cake. I would recommend serving it in small slices, or you won't be able to finish your piece. It is best served as an evening dessert with a tall glass of milk to mellow the richness of the chocolate.

Ingredients:
  Cake:
3 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp powdered espresso mix dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  Icing:
6 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 tsp vanilla
10 tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) butter, melted

Directions:
  To make the cake:
1. Melt the chocolate.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.
3. In a different bowl, mix the butter with both types of sugar, and add the eggs.
4. Then beat in the vanilla, dissolved espresso, and melted chocolate.
5. Now add the buttermilk and the flour mixture. Beat until no lumps remain.
6. Grease three 8 inch pans with butter and flour, and pour the cake dough approximately equally into the three pans.
7. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Let cool completely. (If you plan on eating it the same day you make it, sticking it in the freezer for 30 minutes usually does the trick.
  For the icing:
9.Melt the chocolate.
10. In a medium sized bowl combine confectioners sugar, the butter, the buttermilk, the vanilla, and when the chocolate has melted, add that too. (If it is too thin to spread, set in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.)
  To assemble:
11. First trim the round bump off the top of each cake, to make it relatively level.
12. Put one of the cakes onto a plate and place about 1/2 cup of icing onto it.
13. Spread the icing all the way to the edge, and repeat with the other 2 cakes.
14. Take spoonfuls of icing and set the on top of the cake right close to the edge and use your knife, or spoon, or offset spatula, to spread the icing down and into all the gaps between the layers of cake. Make sure all the cake is covered.
15. Now stand back and admire your handiwork. (This can take up to 30 minutes.)

Little tips from me:
  My mother doesn't like buying buttermilk because you cant get it in small cartons and we never use all of it, so we use the substitute instead. 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. It doesn't taste as sour, and the icing remains softer than it does with real buttermilk.
  If you don't have an offset spatula for your cake decorating, GET ONE! My dad just got me one a couple weeks ago while we were in the big city and this cake was the first time I used it. It makes a heck of a lot of difference. It's so much faster. An icing job that would normally take 30 minutes, was done in 5. So seriously, get one.