Step 1

Start out by preheating your oven to 350ºF, grease and line your cake tins. Even if you're using silicon cake pans, I'd recommend lining the base with parchment paper. This is an extremely light and delicate cake and prone to sticking to the bottom.

Step 2

In a large mixing bowl, cream together your sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Step 3

Next add the vanilla and eggs one at a time. Mix until just combined into a smooth batter.

Step 4

In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and vinegar. This will create a paste and help to activate the cocoa - making this deeper in color and richer in taste. Add this paste to the cake along with the buttermilk.

Step 5

Sift the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. This should be the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Mix this until just combined.

Step 6

Slowly add in the warm water, stirring until combined and smooth.

Step 7

Pour the batter into your prepared cake tins and bake in the center of your pre-heated oven until a toothpick comes out clean.

Step 8

Remove from the oven and allow to cool until you are able to handle the pan. Gently remove the cake from the pans - any bits that fall apart can always be stuck together with some of the handy frostings!

Step 9

Start by heating the condensed milk, flour and cocoa in a small saucepan over a medium low heat. Whisk until thick and reaches a deep black shade. This is quite quick as the condensed milk will already be fairly thick. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Step 10

In a large bowl beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy (about 2-5 minutes).

Step 11

Add the condensed milk mixture to the butter mixture and beat to combine. Your goal is a thick consistency, a bit like a whipped cream.

Step 12

Finally add in the chopped nuts and coconut, folding to combine. The filling is now ready for adding to your cake!

Step 13

Cream the softened butter and cream cheese to loosen it up until smooth.

Step 14

Sift the dry ingredients on to the butter. This is the cocoa powder and powdered sugar. You can do this is a couple of additions to prevent the powders erupting from the mixing bowl!

Step 15

Add the vanilla and a splash of milk, beating until smooth. You can add more milk if necessary for the sake of consistency, but do so sparingly as adding too much will make this runny.

Step 16

To assemble this cake, start off with a layer of cake. Place this in the center of your cake plate - you can secure it to the plate with a dollop of cream cheese frosting if you're worried about slippage.

Step 17

Spread a thin layer of the cocoa cream cheese frosting over the surface and the pipe a ring of frosting around the outer rim of the top of the cake layer. This will act as a border for your filling.

Step 18

Fill the ring of cream cheese frosting with about one third of the filling mixture. Spread as evenly as possible.

Step 19

Add another layer of cake on top of the filling and repeat the process of frosting and filling.

Step 20

Add the top layer of cake on and frost the top and sides in a layer of chocolate cream cheese icing. Reserve some of the icing to pipe a border around the top edge of the cake. For this one I tend to make a slightly more decorative finish than the inner borders. Spoon the rest of the filling on top.