Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Grease the bottoms of three 8 inch round baking pans, and dust with cocoa powder. Line the bottoms of pans with parchment.

Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer, and combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk all of the wet ingredients (pour in the hot water slowly so you don’t cook the eggs)

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and beat on medium for 2-3 minutes. The batter will be very thin.

Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans, and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean (they’ll finish baking as they cool).

Let cool ten minutes, then turn the layers out onto a rack to cool completely.

To make the cherry syrup, combine the cherries, water, and sugar in a small saucepan. Simmer for one minute, and remove from heat. Stir in the liqueur, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the frosting:

Beat 24 ounces of cold heavy cream, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar using your electric mixer, until medium peaks form. At the same time, combine the gelatin and 3 tablespoons cold water. Let bloom for five minutes, then microwave for ten seconds. Stir in one tablespoon heavy cream, and drizzle into the cream mixture. Beat just until stiff peaks form.

To assemble the cake, turn one layer out onto your serving plate, brush generously with the cherry syrup, then top with a layer of the whipped cream and 1/2 of the cherries. Repeat with the next layer, then top with the final layer of cake. Brush with cherry syrup, then frost the outside of the cake with the remaining whipped cream.

Pile the second batch of drained cherries into the center of the top of the cake. Using a vegetable peeler, shave curls of chocolate from the chocolate bar, and sprinkle over the top and sides of the cake.

Refrigerate until serving time.