• Preheat your oven to 325 and prep your baking dish or pan well for nonstick.
• In a medium mixing bowl, use a whisk to mix together the flour, sugar alternative, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and espresso powder.
• Next, in a large mixing bowl, combine together the buttermilk, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.

  Mix these ingredients until well combined.
• Add the dry ingredients from the first bowl to the wet ingredients in the large mixing bowl, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix these ingredients until just combined as overmixing can affect the texture of the cake.
• Lastly, carefully and gradually add the boiling water to the batter using a whisk to blend it in.
• Transfer the batter to your prepared baking pan or dish and use a rubber spatula if needed to evenly distribute it.
• Bake your cake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The center may puff up a bit, but do not press down on it.
• Let the cake sit in the pan for 15 minutes and then run a butterknife around the edges to loosen it. Then remove the cake from the pan (inverting in on a cutting board or similar item) so that it can fully cool on a cooling rack

For the frosting.

• Start by beating your butter in a mixing bowl on medium high speed until it is light and fluffy. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together the cocoa powder and espresso. If you do not have a sifter you can use a whisk. Make sure that you break up any clumps that are present.
• Next, turn the speed down to low and add the cocoa powder and espresso mixture to your whipped butter and mix until combined.
• For the next step we will alternate adding the powdered sugar alternative and the milk, half of the ingredients at a time. Start by slowly adding half of the powdered sugar alternative to the mixing bowl while it is mixing at a low speed and then add half of the milk.

  Repeat this step and continue beating the mixture until the frosting is smooth and creamy. Then mix in the vanilla extract.
• Once the cake has fully cooled, you can spread the chocolate espresso buttercream frosting evenly over the top of the cake using an icing spatula.
• Lastly, sprinkle the sugar free sprinkles on the cake as desired and serve.