Most chocolate cakes are oil based and not butter based. For a chocolate cake, mix all the dry ingredients together EXCEPT for the cocoa powder. Instead, bloom the cocoa powder in hot coffee or boiling water. Mix the wet ingredients (buttermilk, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla) and add them to the dry ingredients mixing using a rubber spatula to avoid over mixing the batter. Then, slowly pour in your bloomed cocoa powder and stir until combined. For dry ingredients make sure you use baking powder AND baking soda as your leavening agents because the acids of the buttermilk, cocoa powder (only if not Dutch process) and sour cream will activate the baking soda, and the baking soda will help neutralize that acid. Baking powder already has an acid (cream of tartar) in it so all that acid in this cake needs the baking soda to neutralize. Hope this helps.

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